International Activities

Strategy and policy

NWO is actively working to improve innovation and quality in scientific research and ensures that the knowledge generated in this process is being disseminated and utilised. Science, after all, by definition has no borders. NWO wants to excell in both cooperation and competition; for that a clever combination of forces and means is indispensable. The internationalisation policy mainly aims to increase cooperation in Europe.
The development of the European Research Area (ERA) is a key element in this. In its turn ERA contributes to the development of the knowledge economy. Apart from this NWO cooperates and maintains contacts with Russia, Asia, Africa and America.

Foundation policy

Apart from the network maintained by researchers themselves, NCF actively seeks to join international intiatives to bring together the best research groups and researchers in the field of advanced computing facilities.

International collaborations and projects

• e-IRGSP
  In October 2007 was the two-year EU-funded project e-IRGSP to support European policy-making body of the e-IRG (e-Infrastructure Reflection Group) off. The e-IRG consists of representatives of governments of all EU Member States and the EU has an important role in establishing and maintaining policies and Grids infrastructures for e-Science. The secretariat, located at NCF, was responsible for all support to the e-IRG in the form of study analysis, reports, publications and coordination with other partners and stakeholders. The implementation of the e-IRGSP was reviewed in December by the EU qualifications excellent.

• e-IRGSP2
  In September 2007, the EU in Brussels the e-IRGSP2 project, the extension of e-IRGSP formally submitted. The e-IRGSP2 end of December for the next 3 years (2008-2010) financed by the EU with the objective of e-IRG to continue. The main tasks within this project are to maintain and develop the e-IRG Knowledge Base, as well as advising on issues of importance for proper and efficient functioning of the e-IRG and providing the core editorial for the e - IRG publications.

• PRACE
  PRACE (PaRtnerschip for Advanced Computing in Europe) consist of an group initiative and a project.
  
  The Prace initiative has 5 principal partners (Germany, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands), and 9 traditional partners. The principal partners to potential money stabbing in a major European supercomputer facility within their borders. Prace The initiative has a rotating presidency, with the Netherlands in 1st half of 2008 as chairman.
  
  In addition the Prace initiative is also Prace project submitted to the EC in December 2007. Prace engages in the development and creation of a pan-European HPC network with different nodes of world HPC infrastructures accessible to European scientists and engineers. 14 countries are already involved: Germany, England, France, Spain, Finland, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Switzerland. From the Netherlands NCF is the main representative and RUG-CIT SARA and the implementation question, which SARA is by far the largest.

• OSIRIS (towards an Open and Sustainable ICT Research Infrastructure Strategy)>
  The European Commission has funded this two-year project that started on January 1st 2010. The project OSIRIS will identify common European policies, activities and priorities related to ICT Research Infrastructures (ICT RIs) and aims to build the platform, mechanism and models required to secure the efficient involvement of Member States, Associated Countries and regions to develop cross border public-public partnerships and to establish a coordinated approach to future large scale investments in transnational European ICT RIs. A Stakeholder Group has been established which advises the project and that will evolve into a permanent working group after the project has ended.

• SIRENE
  On January 22, 2007 NCF has in Brussels in the framework of the new connection SIRENE (Sharing Infrastructure and REsources iN Europe) signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation with eleven other European countries in the area of grid infrastructure. SIRENE should facilitate scientific cooperation and the member countries to more weight in the European landscape for computer infrastructures. SIRENE is not a project, but the expression of political will jointly build an advanced ICT infrastructure to support scientific research. In addition to the Netherlands to Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland participated in this cooperation.
  
  SIRENE would build half generation Grids, based on a simple access to the grid for all scientific disciplines who want to use, supported by the most advanced network technologies currently available. The Netherlands leads the world when it comes to advanced networking techniques, using different light through a fiber optic network can be established. SIRENE is interesting for the Netherlands because in their own country work is a robust research grid,BIG GRID.