About SPECTRUM
From January 2024 to June 2026, SPECTRUM brought high energy physics and radio astronomy together with Europe's e-infrastructure providers to plan a compute and data continuum for data-intensive science.
About the project
The amount of data gathered, shared and processed in frontier research is set to increase steeply in the coming decade, leading to unprecedented data processing, simulation and analysis needs. High energy physics and radio astronomy in particular are preparing groundbreaking instruments that need infrastructures many times larger than today's.
SPECTRUM, an EU-funded Coordination and Support Action, brought together leading European science organisations and e-infrastructure providers to answer that need. Over 30 months it produced a Strategic Research, Innovation and Deployment Agenda (SRIDA) and a Technical Blueprint for a European compute and data continuum: the plan for an exabyte-scale research data federation and compute continuum serving data-intensive scientific collaborations across Europe. Its Community of Practice, set up to source and validate that work, continues after the project.
In numbers
months
From January 2024 to June 2026.
partners
From five countries, coordinated by EGI Foundation.
experts
In the Community of Practice's six working groups.
key exploitable results
From the Community of Practice to the SRIDA.
The project in time
- Jan 2024
Kick-off in Amsterdam
The ten partners agree the plan of work and the six key exploitable results.
- Apr 2024
Community of Practice launched
SPECTRUMCoP opens to scientists and infrastructure managers, organised in six working groups.
- Jul 2024
Survey on the future of scientific computing
With JENA, a community survey on computing needs; more than 70 responses by October.
- Oct 2024
External Advisory Board installed
Five experts join to advise the project and review its documents.
- Jun 2025
First-period results
The Community of Practice's interim report, the use cases, the access policies and the landscape of research infrastructures.
- Dec 2025
Public consultation opens
The draft SRIDA and Technical Blueprint are published for feedback, introduced in a public webinar.
- Feb 2026
Experts Meeting in Barcelona
More than ten external experts review the final results before publication.
- May 2026
Technical Blueprint published
The Blueprint for a compute and data continuum, in its print version.
- May 2026
SRIDA published
The Strategic Research, Innovation and Deployment Agenda, in its print version.
- Jun 2026
Final event in Brussels
The SRIDA and the Technical Blueprint presented to the communities, infrastructures and policy makers.
- Jun 2026
Project ends
SPECTRUM closes on 30 June; the Community of Practice carries on.
Partners
Ten organisations from science and e-infrastructures in five countries, coordinated by EGI Foundation.
