Objectives
During the past decade, public distributed computing initiatives have demonstrated their ability to provide unprecedented computing capabilities by harnessing the unused processing resources of millions of volunteer computers connected through the Internet. Projects such as SETI@home, Folding@home, ClimatePrediction.net and a growing number of BOINC-based initiatives have shown that citizen-driven computing can contribute significantly to scientific discovery in domains ranging from astrophysics and medicine to environmental and engineering research.
Despite these successes, public distributed computing remains a fragmented research domain involving multiple disciplines, technologies and stakeholder communities. Advances in distributed systems, network infrastructure, security, reliability, high-performance computing and scientific applications are often developed independently, limiting opportunities for collaboration and technology transfer.
The increasing scale of distributed infrastructures, the emergence of cloud computing, the growing importance of data-intensive research and the rising participation of citizens in scientific projects create new challenges and opportunities which require a coordinated European response.
Main Objective
CONCORD aims to establish a sustainable European research network dedicated to the advancement of public distributed computing and collaborative computing infrastructures for scientific research and practical applications.
The Action will facilitate collaboration between academic institutions, research organisations, industry stakeholders and operators of volunteer computing platforms in order to define future models for large-scale citizen-driven computing.
Specific Objectives
| Promote collaboration between European research teams active in distributed and volunteer computing. |
| Improve the reliability, robustness and scalability of public distributed computing infrastructures. |
| Investigate security, integrity and trust mechanisms suitable for large-scale computing platforms. |
| Foster the development of scientific applications capable of leveraging heterogeneous volunteer resources. |
| Encourage the exchange of methodologies, datasets and best practices between research communities. |
| Evaluate emerging technologies including cloud computing, virtualisation and hybrid computing architectures. |
| Promote training and knowledge transfer activities for researchers, students and practitioners. |
Expected Impact
CONCORD will contribute to strengthening the European Research Area by creating a common framework for collaboration in the field of public distributed computing. The Action will support the development of reliable and sustainable infrastructures capable of addressing future scientific and societal challenges.
Through workshops, short-term scientific missions, training activities and joint research initiatives, CONCORD will help accelerate innovation while increasing the visibility and adoption of distributed computing technologies across Europe.
To foster the next generation of open, reliable and scalable distributed computing infrastructures supporting European research, innovation and collaborative scientific discovery beyond 2015.