Azioni della Commissione Europea per l'Europa Digitale

Commission launched consultation on EU initiative to develop Europe's supercomputers

With the aim of creating a European initiative on high performance computing, the Commission launched yesterday afternoon a consultation calling for opinions on the future development of supercomputing. The results of the consultation will help support the development of the next generation computing and data infrastructure in Europe. High performance computing carries enormous potential for science, society, and investment in the European Union because of its ability to analyse vast quantities of data in real time. It can effectively address societal and scientific challenges in areas such as the development of personalised medicine, decoding the human brain, forecasting climate change and mitigating large-scale industrial and natural disasters. In the 2017 Mid-Term Review of the Digital Single Market Strategy and in the 2016 European Cloud Initiative, the Commission announced proposals for a European high performance computing initiative, underlining it as crucial element for the future of European research and industry. Major investments are needed to develop the next generation of supercomputers. It is therefore essential that EU Member States, the public and private sectors join forces through a European initiative. Support for the development of an integrated world-class high performance computing and data infrastructure in Europe was boosted this year by the 'EuroHPC' Declaration signed by nine EU Member States so far: Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain. All other Member States are invited to sign the declaration. The consultationruns until 5 September 2017. The results will be used to prepare the European high performance computing initiative. The Commission intends to adopt the initiative in 2018. Everyone interested – academic and researchers, private and public sector representatives and associations – can participate in the consultation here. More information is available online.(For more information: Christian Wigand – Tel.: +32 229 62253; Julia Bräuer – Tel.: +32 229 80707)

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Commission launches consultation to help law enforcements to combat crime in the digital age

Today the European Commission is launching a public consultation on improving cross-border access to electronic evidence. Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Vera Jourová, already presented three legislative options to improve access to e-evidence at the last Justice Council (8/06). Based on the discussion between Justice Ministers and input of the public, the Commission will prepare a legislative proposal. Commissioner Jourová said: "It is our duty to keep Europeans safe and make sure that criminals are brought to justice. Crime knows no borders, criminal investigations often do. We will change that. The online world cannot serve as safe haven for criminals." Crime often leaves digital traces that can serve as valuable evidence in criminal proceedings and provide significant leads for investigators. E-evidence could include subscriber information, traffic or metadata as well as content data, for the purpose of criminal investigations.  Although the procedures for gathering this type of electronic evidence are usually defined at national level, obtaining electronic evidence frequently has cross-border implications. Present-day solutions often prove unsatisfactory and can even bring investigations to a halt. The consultation is available here and will be open until 27 October 2017. (For more information: Christian Wigand – Tel.: +32 229 62253; Sara Soumillion – Tel.: + 32 229 67094)