A new era for the GÉANT Project

GN5-1 and its sister project GN5-IC1 (see here for the interview with the project team) are the first two projects under GN5-FPA, the 7-year strategic framework under Horizon Europe – the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation.

The 24-month GN5-1 project is the latest phase of the long-running and highly successful GÉANT Project that, in close collaboration with the European Commission, has supported Europe’s research and education communities for over 20 years. The project’s mission is to provide scientists, researchers, and students secure access to the world’s most advanced connectivity and collaboration services, enabling effective and secure collaboration within virtual research communities around the world.

Vast research initiatives often involving hundreds of participants across multiple countries utilising advanced computing facilities, continue to rely on the infrastructure provided by GÉANT and its NREN partners, in areas as diverse as climate change, medicine, and energy research.

GÉANT’s Chief Programme Officer, Matthew Scott, comments

“Europe’s research environment is becoming increasingly diverse, with multiple disciplines and data types brought about by the new data spaces and applications. GN5-1 is fundamental to this environment and the evolution of Open Science, linking researchers in vast projects such as the LHC, eVLBI, the Square Kilometre Array, the Human Brain Project, and Destination Earth to advanced High-Performance Computing resources, so they can focus on the ground-breaking innovation that brings socio-economic benefits for all of Europe.”

The GÉANT Project: a history of success

Benefiting from the continued support and commitment of the EC, the GÉANT Project has grown during its many iterations (GN1, GN2, GN3, GN3plus, GN4-1, GN4-2, and GN4-3/N) to incorporate not just the award-winning pan-European network, but also a catalogue of advanced, user-focused services, and a successful programme of innovation that is pushing the boundaries of networking technology to deliver real impact to over 50 million users.

What does GN5-1 look like?

GN5-1 is arranged around nine Work Packages covering 42 Tasks:

WP1 Project Management
WP2 Marketing Communications, Events, and Policy Engagement
WP3 User and Stakeholder Engagement
WP4 Above the Net Services
WP5 Trust & Identity Services Evolution and Delivery
WP6 Network Development
WP7 Network Core Infrastructure, Core Service Evolution, and Operations
WP8 Security
WP9 Operations Support

Interconnecting with GN5-1 are sister projects GN5-IC1 and GN4-3N (which continues until the end of 2023).

37 Partners (including GÉANT Association), 2 Associated Partners (SWITCH, Jisc), 43 countries

Total Costs: €82.64M, of which EC funding: €55M

Behind the facts and figures are hundreds of people representing over 200 FTEs (full time equivalents) from 43 countries, and it is these people who will strive to deliver against GN5-1’s objectives. Together, we are proud to be part of the GÉANT project!

What is the GN5 Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA)?

The GN5-FPA is a seven-year programme agreed with the EC and the NRENs under Horizon Europe. It includes six core action areas, to be delivered over a series of projects starting with GN5-1 and GN5-IC1.

Action A: Understand and respond to the requirements of R&E communities.
Action B: Evolve the Communications Commons towards data-driven research and education.
Action C: Deliver state-of-the-art network connectivity and operational excellence.
Action D: Deliver interoperable and distributed trust and identity infrastructure, security, and above-the-net services, and procurement.
Action E: Ensure innovation of key infrastructures and service development as an indispensable part of the GÉANT partnership.
Action F: Strengthen the collaborative ecosystem of GÉANT and the NRENs and develop the human capital of the GÉANT partnership.

Learn more about the GÉANT project’s history of success: https://resources.geant.org/project-output/project-achievements