EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities of the CSA "Roadmap for Next-Generation Computing Technologies"

1. Single Market Access – 450+ Million End-Users

• Pan-European visibility for results: Annual roadmaps will be endorsed by the Commission, automatically reaching policy makers, national digital agencies and the 27 Member States’ ecosystems.

• One reference architecture, many markets: Aligning edge-to-cloud/HPC requirements across Europe enables solution providers to design once and deploy everywhere – dramatically reducing localisation costs and time-to-market.

• Early standard-shaping power: By proposing unified technical and security requirements, the consortium can influence CEN/CENELEC and ETSI work items, locking‐in compatibility across the Union before national deviations appear.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Mandatory multi-country consortium fosters 360° expertise – semiconductor design (e.g. IMEC, Leti), cloud/hyperscaler know-how (e.g. GAIA-X DE, OVH FR), and industrial verticals (automotive DE, agro-tech NL, health FI).

• HIPEAC legacy network (2 000+ researchers, 800+ industrial members) gives instant access to established working groups, summer schools and conference slots, saving >18 months of community-building.

• Mobility of excellence: Secondments, twinning and joint PhD programmes supported by MSCA can be plugged in for added talent circulation.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• Digital Europe Programme & Data Act: Roadmaps will operationalise the legal push for interoperable, secure data spaces and edge-cloud continuum.

• Green Deal & Fit-for-55: By embedding ultra-low-power processor targets (Destination 4) the project concretely links computing efficiency to EU climate goals.

• EU Chips Act: Tight coordination with Chips JU ensures that identified R&I gaps feed into forthcoming IPCEI-Chips waves, accelerating strategic autonomy.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation Benefits

• GDPR-ready reference implementations reduce compliance overhead for SMEs.

• Cyber-Resilience Act compatibility: Security work packages help industry pre-qualify devices and platforms for future mandatory CE marking, lowering certification costs when scaling EU-wide.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Co-creation sandboxes: Linking to EDIH network (241 hubs) opens regional testbeds for piloting roadmap concepts with local SMEs.

• Synergies with KDT JU, SNS JU & EuroHPC give privileged entry to €10 bn+ of downstream TRL-4-8 funding.

• Living-labs integration: The CSA can federate ongoing cloud-edge pilots from Horizon Europe Clusters 4 & 6, collecting real-world KPIs that increase credibility of the yearly updates.

6. Funding & Investment Leverage

• Cascade funding: The CSA can earmark a portion of its budget for open calls (€60k–€150k vouchers) to seed high-risk, high-gain studies feeding the roadmap work.

• Structural Funds alignment: Identified regional specialisations (e.g. RISC-V design in ES/PT, photonics in BE/NL) can guide ERDF Smart Specialisation investments, multiplying impact.

• EIC Pathfinder/Transition pipeline: Breakthrough concepts spotted by the roadmap can be fast-tracked to deep-tech equity/blended finance instruments.

7. Scale & Long-Term Impact

• Annual, public deliverables guarantee sustained policy relevance for at least 3–5 years after project end, influencing successive Horizon work programmes.

• EU-wide skills uplift: Summer schools & MOOCs create a talent pool versed in secure, energy-aware edge-to-HPC programming – critical for Europe’s digital decade targets (20 million ICT specialists by 2030).

• International positioning: A consolidated European voice in ISO/IEC JTC 1 and the Global Partnership on AI strengthens the EU’s normative power versus US/Asia standards.

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Strategic Value at EU Scale: Only a pan-European CSA can merge fragmented national agendas into a single, annually updated compass guiding public R&I (€95 bn Horizon Europe) and private investment. This critical mass cannot be achieved at Member-State level, making the grant a unique accelerator for Europe’s sovereign, sustainable, and competitive computing ecosystem.