NCM eScience ad hoc workgroup

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NCM eScience ad hoc workgroup

• Task, WG members, time plan
• eScience scope Points of departure
• Draft goals/recommendations
• New eScience programmes (SE and NO)
• Scope and focus of Nordic effort?
• Draft organisation structure

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Task

• To produce an eScience strategy document in
  language adequate for political decision makers,
  focusing on the point if, how and why the Nordic
  countries research ministries and research
  councils can cooperate, aiming to make eScience a
  Nordic strength in a global context.
• Not just in terms of ICT infrastructure, but as
  an enabling factor for advanced ICT applications,
  which will serve not only research but society at
  large
• Technologies may exist policy decisions
  lacking!
• NCM supplies a political rationale and a
  cooperation platform for stakeholders to jointly
  address the five Nordic Ministers.
• Stakeholders decide how to use the invitation
• If a good point is made NCM might help carry the
  strategy further into policy/funding debates.

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WG members

• Gard Titlestad, Nordic Council of Ministers
  representative, DK
• Erik Elmroth, Scientific secretary, SE
• Stakeholders (representatives)
• NOS-N (Juni Palmgren, SE) - Chair
• NOS-M (Kalevi Väänänen, FI)
• NOS-HS (Hege Torp, NO)
• NordForsk (Torkild Vinther, NO)
• HØGUT (Rolf L Larsen, NO)
• eIRG (Leif Laaksonen, FI)
• Industry (Kimmo Koski, CSC FI)
• Industry (Karsten Vandrup, Nokia Technology
  Platforms DK) vice Chair
• Industry (Rene Buch, NORDUnet A/S and NDGF)
• WG invited members
• John Renner Hansen, DK
• Ebba Thora Hvannberg, IS

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Time plan

• 2006-08-17 NOS-N letter to NCM
• 2006-09-20 NCM invitation to stakeholders
• 2006-12-06 WG appointed
• 2006-12-04 Mt1 Background, vision, workplan
• 2007-01-10 Mt2 Knowledge sharing, what is
  happening on the Nordic, European, global scene
• 2007-03-16 Mt3 Draft strategy formulation
• 2007-05-15 Mt4 Final strategy formulation
  Initial action plan Tentative budget outline
  short term/long term
• 2007-06-20 Mt5 Closing Agreeing on a final
  version of an eScience strategy document.
• 2007-08-29 Tabling the eScience strategy at
  meeting in Nordic Committee of Senior Officials
  for Educational and Research Issues (EK-U)
• 2007-10-31 Tabling the eScience strategy at the
  meeting in Nordic Council of Minister for
  Education and Research Issues (MR-U)

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eScience scope

• Three legs to science
• Theory, observation, computation
• Basic components
• Mathematical modelling and simulation
• Data collection and handling
• Data visualization
• Data processing (supercomputing or gridcomputing)
• Touches on many/all scientific disciplines
• Traditional fields physics, astronomy,
  theoretical chemistry etc..
• Emerging fields Social sciences, biology,
  medicine, earth sciences, humanities etc..

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Points of departure

• National HPC and eScience programmes
• Ongoing Nordic collaborations
• NORDUnet and Nordic Data Grid Facility (NDGF)
• Nordic Grand Challenge Initiative (March 2007)
• NCoEs (NCoEDG, NECCwith eScience components)
• Scientist initiated collaborations
• ...
• Efforts in Europe and beyond EU FPs and ESFRI
• Existing eIRG, Deisa, EGEE, Sirene, FP6
  programmes
• New European High-performance computing cervice
  (eHPC)
• New European Grid Initiative (EGI)
• New Preparatory phase for ESFRI roadmap
  projects 35 projects with eScience interface.
  FP7 programmes.
• Can Norden make a meaningful leap?

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Buzz scenarios...

• ICT propelling the shift to a knowledge-based
  economy
• Grid services linking together research
  infrastructure/facilities (telescopes, imaging
  facilities, archives, databases etc)
• Sharing ICT processing and storage capacity on a
  global scale, across to wider societal ICT
  applications like telemedicine, digital
  libraries, distance education, eGovernment
  services etc.
• Open access data repository policy Open access
  to resources across both thematic and country
  borders.
• ...

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Draft goals/recommendations

• Added value by enabling
• A Nordic eScience eco-system - shared Nordic
  resources
• Cooperation in key Nordic eScience research and
  application programmes
• A Nordic eScience education programme
• A sustainable (virtual) Nordic eScience
  organisation and funding plan
• A joint Nordic gateway to Europe and beyond.

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The Swedish Research CouncileScience (Committee
for Research Infrastructures)
SUNET
SNIC (2001-)
DISC (2006-)
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DISC Database InfraStructure Center

• Spectrum of sciences
• Micro data in social sciences and medicine
• Climate and the environment
• Biotechnology, genomics, biobanking,
  bioinformatics
• Linguistics and the humanities
• etc.
• Adapting administrative registers for research
  (documentation, harmonization, quality control,
  ontologies, meta-data etc.)
• Data collection
• Software for distributed databases technology
  development
• Open Access, authentication, security and
  integrity

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Example Population Registers

• Sweden
• Similar structures in Nordic countries
• Added value for research on
• Society, Economy and Health

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Miljö- och klimatdata i Sverige(Utredning Lars
Eklundh, Mars 2007)

• Data från myndigheter (SMHI, Lantmäteriverket,
  SGU, SCB, SGI, FOI) utgör basen för svensk
  miljöforskning
• Problem med basdata för forskning
• Dyrt och svårtillgängligt
• Varierande dokumentation, kvalitet och
  kvalitetsmärkning
• Brist på standarder och harmonisering
• Brist på resurser för professionell
  datahantering.
• Modellering, validering, tvär- och
  mångvetenskaplig forskning försvåras
• ....

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The Norwegian Research CouncileVITA Programme
Focus areas Energy and the environment Oceans
and food Health
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Einar Jensen Statens kartverk 2007-01-17
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Scope and focus of Nordic effort?

• Infrastructure/Eco-system
• Research
• Research on the development and efficient use of
  the eScience eco-system
• Generic research within eScience methodological
  disciplines
• eScience research targeted towards specific
  applications
• Applications
• Education

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Nordic eScience organisation (draft)

• Strategic Committee, hosted by NordForsk.
• Representation from Research Councils (5),
  NOS-organisations, HØGUT and industry (5)
• Excecutive with own budget
• Will lead the implementation of the joint Nordic
  eScience strategy. (Administer open calls, and
  coordination of national and Nordic funding for
  eScience infrastructure, research and education
  within all research areas).
• Advisory and Operational Committee(s)
• Instrumental for the Strategic Committee in
  performing its tasks