Frequently Asked Questions

EGI provides advanced computing and data services tailored to small international groups and individual researchers. These services include high-throughput computing, cloud services, data management tools, training, and expertise across research domains.

Join the thousands of users who benefit from our services and access large-scale computing and data analytics for faster breakthroughs. Expect innovation, speed, openness, user support, and a federated approach that optimises resources and improves opportunities for the co-location of compute and research data.

Explore our services in the Services for Research. Identify resources aligning with your needs and follow the instructions for access. The types of access policies are further described below. 

Contact support@egi.eu for guidance.

We have three types of policies:

1. Sponsored access | EC funding | No cost associated: 
   For smaller user groups as well as complex use cases with large resource needs and dedicated service customisation, EGI offers its services via the EGI Open Call 
2. Sponsored access | In-kind contribution on the national level | No cost associated: Single users or small user groups are granted access based on policies defined by the EGI resource providers or by the EGI Foundation; such policies usually apply to resources being offered “free at the point of use” to meet a specific national or EU level objective. For instance, a country may offer free at the point of use resources to support national researchers involved in international collaborations.
3. Paid access | Direct charge | Paid access: Users can negotiate a fee to access services either directly with EGI resource providers or indirectly with the EGI Foundation. 

EGI provides services covering a wide range of research fields, including but not limited to physics, life sciences, environmental studies, bioinformatics and engineering. Our Infrastructure is adaptable and can accommodate diverse scientific disciplines

For details, browse our website for documentation, success stories, and contact details. Reach us anytime at support@egi.eu.

EGI offers advanced computing and data services for research communities and infrastructures, including high-throughput computing, cloud services, data management, training opportunities and expertise in various research domains.
EGI Federation is tailored to the needs of large-scale collaborations and infrastructures with distributed data under the control of different hosting entities.
We help communities and research infrastructures with the uptake and creation of customised solutions, considering their needs and those of their users. Our technical solutions are co-developed and operated with Research Infrastructures.
The EGI internal service catalogue addresses the needs of research data centres participating in distributed Research Infrastructures and operating as part of a single seamless federated network. The services of the internal catalogue offer capabilities to securely access, process and analyse distributed data managed by different research groups and organisations.

Our large-scale computing and data analytics services are designed to help your team make scientific breakthroughs faster than ever before. With EGI, you can expect the following features and benefits:

• Innovative technologies: Our services are provided by leading cloud providers and data centres, mostly publicly funded organisations, ensuring access to the latest and most powerful computing resources available. EGI creates customised solutions taking into account your needs and those of your users.
• Speed and efficiency: Our services help you accelerate the process leading to research outputs. With EGI, you can expect faster simulations, higher-quality data analysis, and more accurate results.
• Openness: Our services are based on open-source software, open standards and protocols. They can be requested by any research group or research infrastructure involved in academic research, regardless of location or field. The services can be accessed as a managed service, or they can be deployed by the research community in their in-house infrastructure, with the  technical support of EGI.
• User support: Our services are run and supported by experts with knowledge of the research landscape and experience with the specific needs of the research communities and infrastructures.
• Federated approach: Our federated resource providers are geographically distributed, thus improving the use and opportunities for the co-location of compute and research data. We are open to expanding this federation with research data centres from our users that need to be federated and integrated.

Established legal entities can become long-term partners of EGI, benefitting from our Services for Federation. For more information visit the dedicated page.

Explore our services in the Services for Research. Identify resources aligning with your needs and follow the instructions for access. The types of access policies are further described below. 

Contact support@egi.eu for guidance.

• Sponsored access | EC funding | No cost associated: 
  For complex use cases with large resource needs and dedicated service customisation, EGI offers its services via the EGI Open Call.

Organisations can also become project partners of EGI to get access to our services. Contact us if you want to explore the options of project collaboration with EGI.

• Sponsored access | In-kind contribution on the national level | No cost associated: Another avenue for free access is made possible by national funding. Users can access EGI services, support, or engage in co-development, provided their projects align with national roadmaps and priorities. The sustainability of this access depends on the priorities of the respective nation or institution. Interested parties can initiate the process by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the EGI Foundation, facilitating matchmaking.
• Paid access | Direct charge | Paid access: Users can negotiate a fee to access services either directly with EGI resource providers or indirectly with the EGI Foundation.
• EGI Federation membership  | Paid: Another option is establishing a long-term partnership with EGI, which guarantees long-term support and collaboration.  Federation membership does not only offer access to EGI services for research but also to the services for the federation.. A legal entity is required to establish such a partnership. Interested parties can join the EGI Federation as Participants or Associated Participants.

EGI provides services spanning a wide range of research fields, including but not limited to physics, life sciences, environmental studies, bioinformatics and engineering. The infrastructure is adaptable and can accommodate diverse scientific disciplines.

We have many success stories explaining how others benefited from our services.  

In 2022, 48 Research infrastructures used our services, with 22 RIs listed on the ESFRI Roadmap.

• Join our Federation – Organisations with an established legal entity can become long-term partners of EGI, benefitting from our Services for Federation. Learn how to Join the EGI Federation as a Participant or Associated Participant, its benefits and more.
• Collaborate with us through funded projects
  • EGI is a trusted partner with experience in management and contribution to dozens of EC-funded projects
  • Contact us if you are interested in project collaboration with EGI
• Establish a bilateral partnership with us through the Memorandum of understanding

Browse our website for services, documentation, success stories, and contact details—email support@egi.eu for personalised assistance.

EGI offers a partnership programme, known as EGI Digital Innovation Hub, tailored to the needs of private entities. Digital Innovation Hubs are one-stop-shops where SMEs can test the latest digital technologies before investing, develop new products or processes, implement proof of concepts, get training, obtain financing advice, and finally, market research and networking opportunities to improve their business. The EGI DIH specialises in advanced computing and data services for research. Through the EGI DIH, we assist companies in leveraging services and resources for compute- and data-intensive research and innovation. In addition, EGI DIH offers a multi-country environment, enabling businesses to broaden their networking and market opportunities, joint participation in projects, access to external funding opportunities, and training support. 

• EGI helps companies adopt, test and validate advanced computing technologies (HPC/HTC, Cloud, GPUs, Notebooks, Data transfer, AAI, Online storage, etc.) to assist them with digital transformation and enhance productivity and competitiveness.
• EGI offers a research and innovation ecosystem for market and networking opportunities, with the possibility of including services from the private sector in the federated EGI service offer. 
• EGI provides knowledge on technical offers through webinars and consultancy services. Moreover, it facilitates access to funding opportunities and investment mechanisms to support innovation sustainably and connects SMEs and companies with the EGI community to enable interaction and open new market opportunities.

Either through a project collaboration with external funding resources or your company becoming a partner through our EGI DIH programme. We have three partnership schemes for you to choose from 1) Community Level, 2) Content Level, 3) Federated Level. 

Our website outlines the details and annual fees for the partnership. To initiate the application process, complete the Application form by sharing your motivation and specific needs. Following your submission, we will contact you for additional details and to discuss the terms of the partnership.

If your primary interest lies in computing and data services and you prefer a pay-for-use model based on resource consumption, please direct your inquiries to business@egi.eu.

Additionally, keep an eye on upcoming EU-funded projects that support experiments and use cases. Stay informed about our open calls for opportunities to engage and collaborate.

EGI provides services across diverse business sectors, including but not limited to energy, life sciences, IT, mobility, agriculture, and engineering. Companies working with simulations, optimisation, and AI/ML models. 

Yes, several companies have been working with EGI. Go to our success stories and see examples of how we supported other businesses.

Long-term collaboration is best facilitated through our EGI DIH programme. Visit here and check the different partnership levels.

Digital Innovation Hubs by Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) are multi-partner collaborations that act as a one-stop-shop to test solutions before investing, providing access to technical assets, knowledge, expertise, and support on business, market, and finance to help SMEs increase their competitiveness. 

The EGI DIH is an EGI initiative to collaborate with the private sector. Companies can become part of the EGI community as customers, getting access to our computing and data services and support, or as providers, getting access to our exclusive federated services and bringing their products or solutions to be included in our service offer.

In both cases, EGI offers companies technical services along with a collaborative environment with dedicated support, networking activities, and funding opportunities to help them digitalise, improve their productivity, and grow.  

EGI considers innovation to be one of its core values, and innovation is something that cannot be done alone. With the EGI DIH, EGI aims at:

• Helping and supporting companies, SMEs, Startups and Spinoffs  in the adoption/ test/ validation of advanced computing technologies (Cloud, HPC, Data management tools) to become more competitive and digitalised
• Providing an open and dynamic innovative environment for experimentation, training, and networking where small companies can find opportunities to grow and big companies can find new marketers to operate.
• Expanding the EGI service offer with complementary commercial solutions leading to a sustainable open innovation.
• Facilitating the relationship between the EGI community and business sectors for a broader economic and societal impact.

EGI stands as a trusted partner for public authorities, offering expertise, secure and robust compute and data-intensive services.

Yes, we have been supporting Public Authorities by contributing to projects such as DECIDO.

In DECIDO, EGI has contributed to identifying the services, tools and data made available by EOSC to better address the specific needs of public authorities, providing the cloud-based infrastructure for supporting policy-making from the DECIDO portal. EGI will also spearhead the establishment of the DECIDO-EOSC Competence Centre to support data-driven evidence-based policy making.

EGI’s expert advice empowers policymakers to craft impactful policies aligned with their priorities, driving positive outcomes.

Yes, we have been supporting Policymakers through our contributions to projects such as AI4PublicPolicy, where Policymakers and Cloud/AI experts unveil AI’s potential for automated, transparent, and citizen-centric development of public policies. 

We can facilitate science communication by connecting journalists with researchers who utilise our infrastructure. This could involve arranging interviews, providing access to experts, and offering resources to help journalists understand complex scientific concepts.

Please contact press@egi.eu. We will support you in story creation, find the right experts for an interview, send you facts and figures and provide you with background materials.

Imagine there’s a massive jigsaw puzzle representing complex problems like climate change or COVID-19. Each puzzle piece contains vital information concerning the challenge. Just as every puzzle piece is essential to grasp the entire image, scientists require data and insights from across the globe to address these significant challenges.

Now, envision tackling an enormous puzzle with millions of pieces simultaneously. It is not solely about possessing the pieces; it also entails assistance in analysing and arranging them. This is where EGI steps in.

EGI serves as puzzle support, aiding researchers in acquiring the puzzle pieces they need from diverse sources and establishing the space to fit them together. Think of EGI as the one who readies the puzzle pieces on the table, arranges them, and enables researchers to assemble them quickly.

So, when researchers encounter substantial challenges demanding powerful computing, EGI stands as their support, ensuring they possess the necessary resources to assemble a comprehensive research picture efficiently.

In simple terms, EGI empowers scientists across countries and disciplines to collaborate, using advanced computing solutions, to unravel the mysteries of big science problems. While scientists often have access to powerful computers, some challenges require more than just individual resources. That’s where EGI comes in. It provides researchers with distributed computing resources, specialised tools, and an interconnected network that amplifies their abilities. When researchers succeed, it benefits society as a whole.

True, but big computers are expensive. Moreover, researchers often need distributed computing close to their data; by pooling computing resources from different countries, EGI helps researchers access these resources, optimising the process, saving costs and making research faster.

EGI speeds up discoveries by providing a wide range of computing services. From advancing medical research that could lead to new treatments to enhancing our understanding of climate change and its impact, EGI’s collaborative platform supports research that directly impacts our lives. By accelerating the pace of scientific breakthroughs, EGI contributes to innovations that shape our future, making our world safer, healthier, and more sustainable. In essence, EGI’s work ripples outward, enriching the lives of regular people through the progress it drives in critical areas of research and innovation.

Good question! EGI is like a tool for researchers. Just like schools and libraries help us learn, EGI helps scientists explore and find answers. Public funds make sure EGI keeps running and supporting important discoveries for the benefit of us all.