Announcement - e-IRG workshop, Paris, 21-22 October

The best-known landmark in Paris. Image courtesy Paul Szustka, stock.exchng

The next e-Infrastructure Reflection Group (e-IRG) workshop and delegates meeting will be held in Paris on 21st and 22nd October, 2008.

The e-IRG is an inter-governmental policy body comprising national delegates from more than 30 European countries. The main objective of the e-Infrastructure initiative is to support the creation of a political, technological and administrative framework for an easy and cost-effective shared use of distributed electronic resources across Europe. Particular attention is directed towards grid computing, storage, and networking.

The previous, 14th e-IRG meeting, held in Lugano, Switzerlandm established the Education and Training Task Force (ETTF) report that proposed strategic actions to establish, promote and resource the Grid and e-Science curricula in Europe.

The report stressed the need to invest in education in appropriate computational thinking or digital-systems judgments in every scientific, medical, engineering and humanities first degree. This allows graduating students to fully contribute to the knowledge economy with an appreciation of the potential of e-Infrastructures and rich information sources, and well prepares them to make competent ethical and socio-economic judgments about their use.

The Lugano meeting also reformulated the e-IRG vision and mission statements. They were reformulated four years after the original proposals, to reflect the broadening scope and maturation of the e-Infrastructures and to flexibly support the needs of the user communities that may use the European e-Infrastructure in response to European spearhead initiatives that have— within their scope—successfully realised parts of the vision. The new e-IRG vision statement: The e-IRG vision for the future is an open e-Infrastructure enabling flexible cooperation and optimal use of all electronically available resources. 

At the Paris meeting, members hope to similarly further consensus on policies, in order to provide relevant recommendations on the shared use of electronic resources in Europe.