INFRA

Partners to this proposal include the six major global programmes exploring the full extent of species diversity, a core dimension in human knowledge of global biodiversity.

Solar System Science has traditionally been undertaken within a number of separate disciplines. However, like any system its aspects are inter-related and it has been difficult to address these aspects because of the lack of the integrating technology required to span the inter-disciplinary boundaries. While advances in technology means that the intrinsic differences between disciplines (manifest in differing data formats and dependencies) are beginning to be addressed, it is necessary to coordinate our efforts in order to help break down the barriers.

A coherent classification and species checklist of the world's plants, animals, fungi and microbes is fundamental for accessing information about biodiversity. The Catalogue of Life provides the world with a unique service: a dynamically updated global index of validated scientific names, synonyms and common names integrated within a single taxonomic hierarchy. The Catalogue of Life was initiated as a European Scientific Infrastructure under FP5 and has a distributed knowledge architecture.

The Heliophysics Integrated Observatory, HELIO,will deploy a new Europe-wide distributed network of services that will address the needs of a broad community of researchers in heliophysics.This new research field explores the Sun-Solar System Connection and requires the joint exploitation of solar, heliospheric, magnetospheric and ionospheric observations. HELIO will provide the most comprehensive integrated information system in this domain; it will coordinate access to the distributed resources needed by the community, and will provide access to services to mine and analyse the data.

FP7 neuGRID (www.neuGRID.eu) is being developed aiming to provide large sets of brain images paired with grid-based computationally intensive algorithms for studies of neurodegenerative diseases. Two infrastructures with similar aims are operational or under construction overseas. In Canada, the Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) aims to develop a pan-Canadian platform (CBRAIN http://cbrain.mcgill.ca) for exchange and distributed processing of 3D/4D brain imaging data.

The Cyprus Institute is developing a Computation-based Science and Technology Research Centre (CSTRC) that will include a high-performance computing (HPC) facility on a scale expected to be in the tens of teraflops, with an associated research and educational centre devoted to computational science. The CSTRC will be designed primarily to serve the needs of Cyprus and the Eastern Mediterranean region.

E-Infrastructures are one of the key enablers for large-scale scientific research and the development of Information Society in Europe. Scientific software and the middleware components providing grid services act as the framework for many scientific developments. Different and incompatible implementations of the services, disconnected and short-lived software repositories, lack of clear procedures for software build, test, validation and maintenance hinder the widespread adoption of grid technologies by many diverse communities.

A globally distributed computing Grid now plays an essential role for large-scale, data intensive science in many fields of research. The concept has been proven viable through the Enabling Grids for E-sciencE project (EGEE and EGEE-II, 2004-2008) and its related projects. EGEE-II is consolidating the operations and middleware of this Grid for use by a wide range of scientific communities, such as astrophysics, computational chemistry, earth and life sciences, fusion and particle physics.

The Eastern Mediterranean is one of the world s richest areas in terms of archaeological remains, and cultural heritage in general; it has yielded an extraordinary variety of finds spanning all aspects of human activity. However, due to the scarcity of scientific and technological resources in the region, the analysis of these finds has occurred largely in research institutions far removed from the region.

RadioNet is an integrating activity that has pulled together ALL of Europe's leading radio astronomy facilities to produce a focused, coherent and integrated proposals that will significantly enhance the quality and quantity of science performed by European astronomers.

RadioNet FP7 has 25 partners. They range from operators of major radio telescope facilities to laboratories that specialise in micro-electronics. This proposal has brought these institutes together in a unique partnership that builds and extends on RadioNet FP6.