1. European Commission - DG INFSO
The e-VLBI Effelsberg Inauguration:
European Commission perspective
Effelsberg, 19 November 2008
Jean-Luc Dorel
European Commission - DG INFSO
"The views expressed in this presentation are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission"

2. a new vision for Science a new vision for Science
Global & complex challenges with high societal impact
Data deluge… born digital material… virtual-labs
Cross-disciplinarity
Spread of skills and competences
empirical
experimental
theoretical
computational science
e-Science
Global Virtual Research Communities

3. GÉANT: connecting Europe GÉANT: connecting Europe
Pan-European coverage (40+ countries /4000 institutions / 30+ million students)
Hybrid architecture:
connectivity at 10 Gb/s (aggregated traffic)
dark fiber wavelengths (demanding communities)
NREN aggregator
Global reach
GEANT3

4. a staged approach a staged approach
Innovating the scientific process:
global virtual research communities
Accessing knowledge:
scientific data
Designing future facilities:
novel e-Infrastructures
Sharing the best resources:
e-Science grid
Linking the ideas at the speed of the light:
GÉANT

5. involving scientific communities involving scientific communities
neuGRID
EUFORIA
D4SCIENCE
ETSF
IMPACT
METAFOR
EuroVO-AIDA
GENESI-DR
EXPRES
FEDERICA
EVALSO
EGEE
DEISA
DRIVER
GÉANT
network grids data
generic e-Infrastructure… user communities involvement

6. policy debate policy debate
ESFRI: European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures
e-IRG: e-Infrastructures Reflection Group
ENPG: European Network Policy Group
Council of European Union: research infrastructures, scientific data, regional dimension
ERA (European Research Area) green book
Communications to the Council and Parliament: scientific data, ICT infrastructures for Science

7. conclusions conclusions
e-Infrastructures implement a key EU policy and strategy.
Each project has a dual role: to reach its own objectives, to ensure the advancement of e-Infrastructures. The nature of infrastructure highlights this second objective. The value of a project is directly proportional to its ability to establish synergies within the domain.
EXPReS and e-VLBI is part of this strategy by both advancing the radio-astronomy towards new ways of doing science as well as a promoting the usage of e-infrastructure