Research - 17.02.2025 - 11:00

Horizon project: digital sovereignty and sustainable cloud computing for Europe

The CAPE project seeks to position Europe as a leader in green cloud-computing infrastructure. As part of the project consortium, a team at the University of St.Gallen (HSG) has received 750’000 Euros to ensure the secure and sustainable deployment of software applications in the cloud.

Horizon-Europe-Projekt CAPE: HSG-Forschende tragen zu sicherer Infrastruktur für europäische digitale Souveränität und nachhaltiges Cloud Computing bei

The recently initiated Horizon Europe project CAPE (Compute Architecture for Powerful Edge) with a total volume of roughly 7.5 million Euros aims to achieve European digital sovereignty by developing the next generation of edge-to-cloud computing systems. These are systems that prioritize sustainability, efficiency, and innovation in the digital landscape. Thus, CAPE seeks to optimize data center operations to position Europe as a global leader in green cloud-computing infrastructure. The goals are to reduce electronic waste, maximize the reuse of hardware and energy resources and to integrate renewable energy sources within cloud infrastructure.

Sovereign but also sustainable

The project focuses on designing scalable, disaggregated and open computing platforms that stretch from embedded high-performance systems to micro data centers. By enabling users to dynamically and flexibly configure infrastructure according to evolving needs, CAPE will increase resource utilization rates, optimize server and networking performance, and support the efficient management of heterogeneous computing environments. In the mid to long term, CAPE will drive technological advancements in edge and orchestrated edge-to-cloud computing, laying the foundation for a resilient, collaborative, and sovereign European digital infrastructure.

Great opportunity for researchers at HSG

The University of St.Gallen is one of twelve members of the research consortium across seven countries. The Programming Group at the Institute of Computer Science will contribute to the projects by ensuring secure and sustainable deployment of software applications in the cloud. “We are looking forward to participating in a project that aims to protect European Digital Sovereignty with a new, secure, European, green cloud-computing infrastructure,” says Prof. Dr. Guido Salvaneschi, head of the Programming Group. “I believe it is really rewarding for our student, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers to work on an international project with such a strategic goal.”

More Info about the project: cape-project.eu