RAISE was officially announced at the AI in Science Summit held in Copenhagen in early November and represents a significant milestone in strengthening AI-enabled scientific research across Europe. The initiative aims to bring together data, computing resources, expertise and funding to accelerate the uptake of artificial intelligence across all scientific domains.

In her announcement, European Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva highlighted the SCIANCE consortium as having been positively evaluated and invited to enter grant preparation. She underlined the strategic role SCIANCE will play in shaping RAISE through a bottom-up, community-driven approach that mobilises Europe’s leading research and digital infrastructures, organisations and networks — including BDVA.

Within SCIANCE, BDVA will contribute its recognised expertise in data, AI innovation ecosystems and industry–research collaboration. Its involvement will help ensure strong alignment between AI-in-science priorities, data-driven innovation and European policy objectives, reinforcing the link between scientific research, technological development and socio-economic impact.

RAISE is conceived as a European virtual institute to support scientists in developing and applying AI for transformative discoveries. As a flagship initiative under the European Strategy for AI in Science, it is designed to position Europe as a global leader in AI-enabled research.

SCIANCE (AI in Science) will support the development of RAISE and coordinate AI-enabled scientific research across Europe across five pilot areas: fundamental physics and astronomy, materials science, life sciences, earth sciences, and social sciences and humanities. The project will also identify research and innovation priorities and pilot the future RAISE Secretariat. Key outputs of SCIANCE will include a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for AI in Science, an implementation roadmap for infrastructure upgrades, and the establishment of the RAISE Secretariat to support long-term collaboration and capacity building.

The SCIANCE consortium brings together 13 leading European organisations and research infrastructures: ESF, EGI Foundation, OpenAIRE AMKE, CNR, Euro-BioImaging ERIC, EMBL, CU, MU, UT-ITC, Nikhef, DFKI, SZTAKI, and BDVA.

BDVA is both glad and proud to be part of SCIANCE, as it is dedicated to strengthening coordination and the strategic direction for Artificial Intelligence in Science across Europe. SCIANCE brings together leading scientific communities, research infrastructures, AI centres of excellence and policy stakeholders to establish the foundations of the Resource for AI in Science in Europe (RAISE). Through a comprehensive landscape analysis and an inclusive co-creation process, the project will develop a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) and a roadmap to identify priority scientific challenges where AI can accelerate discovery, while promoting open, trustworthy and sustainable AI approaches and improved access to data, computing and research infrastructures.

BDVA believes that progress in Data and AI depends on strong connections between research, innovation, industry and policy. Our participation in SCIANCE reflects our commitment to fostering a sustainable European Data and AI ecosystem, supporting excellence in research, and ensuring that strategic agendas are informed by real-world innovation dynamics and European values. By contributing our experience in ecosystem building and cross-sector coordination, BDVA supports SCIANCE’s ambition to align scientific excellence, technological capabilities and societal impact, helping to shape a coherent and future-oriented European framework for AI-enabled science.

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Officially launched on June 19th, 2025, the Forum is connecting Member States, academia, industry, NGO, policy makers and civil society to turn research into actionable solutions and drive systemic change.

Those solutions were the key topics of discussions of the Women in Digital Summit, hosted in Brussels on 13th and 14th November, 2025 and part of the Digital Skills EU Days 2025. The Summit brought together leaders from industry, government and education to share insights and best practices aimed at closing the gender gap in digital roles both in education and career.

The event was a great learning occasion as it saw the official launch of the Women in Digital Index & Scoreboard, aimed at assessing with data the situation of women in digital across the different EU countries and beyond.

To inspire the change, the event hosted fireside chats with women in leadership positions, who can play as role models for future careers and drive the systemic change for empowering women in the ICT sector. Also, the Summit hosted technical yet practical sessions with policy makers who provided an overview of key actions to boost the number of women in digital in their respective EU Member States.

Be part of the change!

The Forum envisions a Europe where digital innovations is inclusive, diversity is valued, and ICT careers offer opportunities for all, especially women and future generations. It serves as a primary platform for shaping inclusive policies and strategies.

The Forum is composed by Thematic Working Groups, which are unique spaces where experts, innovators, and changemakers collaborate to shape a more inclusive digital future. You can act now by joining the Forum or apply to be part of the experts in the latest groups launched: Thematic Working Groups 3 – Reprogramming Skills: VET as a Catalyst for Women’s Digital Transitions (apply here) and Thematic Working Group 4 – Intersectional Approaches (apply here) (registrations open until November 26, 2025 at 18:00 CET).

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Data is one of Europe’s most valuable economic assets, central to the ambitions of the European Data Union strategy. The European Data Union strategy is designed to strengthen data sovereignty, foster trust and ensure a fair distribution of the value created by data, which are key ingredients to scaling up AI effectively across the EU.

In this context, the European Data Spaces Awards have been launched with the objective of promoting the best-in-class European data sharing initiatives. The awards will put the spotlight on the achievements of leading initiatives that exemplify excellence in data sharing, providing visibility and guidance for others while encouraging a stronger and improved data community. Organised by the Data Spaces Support Centre (DSSC) in collaboration with the European Commission, the awards are closely tied to the Maturity Model for Common European Data Spaces, reinforcing shared principles and long-term goals.

The 2025 edition will feature two categories, offering applicants from across the ecosystem the chance to showcase their impact:

Category 1: Excellence in end-user engagement and financial sustainability

This category recognises data spaces that demonstrate strong user focus and a viable long-term financial model. Download the application form here.

Category 2: Most innovative emerging data space

This category celebrates promising new initiatives that bring fresh ideas and impactful innovation to the data space ecosystem.

Key dates for applicants include:

• Application period: 23 September – 7 November 2025
• Nominee announcement: 17 December 2025
• Awards ceremony: 10 February 2026, during the Data Spaces Symposium 2026 (DSS 2026)

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Launch Event: 19 June 2025, 9:30–13:00
Location: Brussels (by invitation only)

The Forum is dedicated to boosting women’s participation in digital fields across Europe. The launch event will mark several important milestones, including:

• The formal establishment of the Governing Board
• The kick-off of Thematic Working Groups
• A strategic dialogue on gender, competitiveness and digital policy

With the backing of the European Commission and Member States, the Forum will provide evidence-based recommendations and practical guidance to accelerate gender equality in digital, STEM and ICT sectors.

The Forum presents a unique opportunity for experts, organisations and institutions to play an active role in shaping Europe’s digital future — through engagement in working groups, co-creation of policy inputs and access to a growing pan-European community committed to inclusive innovation.

What could our digital future look like if every woman had an equal say in shaping it?

We invite you to be part of the answer. Become a changemaker by joining the Women in Digital Forum — a European initiative dedicated to breaking down gender barriers and promoting inclusion in the digital sphere.

Funded under the Digital Europe Programme, the Women in Digital Forum is a flagship initiative at the heart of the EU’s commitment to gender equality in the digital domain. It is envisioned as a permanent expert stakeholder platform that addresses the structural challenges women face in digital careers — from early education to leadership roles.

Through collaboration, peer learning and policy dialogue, the Forum provides a vital space for committed actors like you to contribute meaningfully to an inclusive digital transformation, both nationally and at European level.

As a WiD Forum partner, you will: 

• Join a pan-European network of institutions, experts and changemakers;
• Co-create influential outputs such as policy recommendations, consultation papers and advocacy campaigns;
• Participate in exclusive events, including the Annual WiD Summit;
• Boost your organisation’s visibility through joint communications and co-branded initiatives. 

How does the Forum work? 

The Forum operates through Thematic Working Groups, collaborative spaces that focus on the most critical stages of the Women in Digital pipeline, such as early education, career access, retention and leadership.
As a registered Forum member, your organisation or nominated experts will be eligible to join one or more TWGs and co-develop tangible, high-impact outcomes that shape the future of digital inclusion in Europe. 

Ready to make a difference? Complete your registration here.

We look forward to welcoming you as a valued partner of the WiD Forum and working together to build a more inclusive and equitable digital future. 

BDVA`s mission is to develop the innovation ecosystem that enables and accelerates the Data and AI economy with European values and focus. Having a Europe where women will achieve parity across fields will boost Data and AI innovation. To achieve this, BDVA will work closely with a team of leaders in the advanced skills and digital technologies ecosystem BluSpecs, European Vocational Training Association – EVTA, IDC, EIT Digital, AIOTI, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

BDVA looks forward to collaborating with all of the partners to see STEM, ICT, digital and leadership roles develop more equality.

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This is why OPENVERSE is organising a workshop on 24 April titled “National initiatives and the European Partnership on Virtual Worlds”, which serves as a platform for discussing how to bring together national-level projects with the European Partnership on Virtual Worlds, particularly through OPENVERSE, which aims to streamline investments and reduce fragmentation in EU research and innovation landscapes.

Register NOW!

The workshop’s primary objectives are to promote the visibility of European initiatives across member states, strengthen collaboration between national and European efforts and continue the momentum of fostering joint projects and cooperation in the Virtual Worlds space.

One of the key features of the event will be a presentation from the European Partnership on Virtual Worlds, which is working to align priorities and pool resources to drive innovation in this rapidly expanding field. Additionally, OPENVERSE will present a mapping of the current landscape of national Virtual Worlds initiatives, providing participants with an invaluable overview of ongoing efforts and projects across Europe.

By the end of the workshop, participants are expected to have gained important insights into the status of the European Partnership on Virtual Worlds and a clearer understanding of the national initiatives and collaborations shaping the future of Virtual Worlds. A critical outcome of the event will be the development of actionable steps that will help to grow the ecosystem of Virtual Worlds initiatives at a European level, as well as fostering stronger networks to encourage community building and innovation.

The workshop is targeted at a wide array of stakeholders involved in Virtual Worlds initiatives across Europe. This includes associations, NGOs, technology platforms and collaborative partnerships working on Virtual Worlds as a central theme or focus area. Participants will also include those running multi-country initiatives or skills development projects with international outreach, such as summer schools or European Digital Infrastructure Consortia.

The European Partnership on Virtual Worlds tackles Europe’s most pressing challenges through coordinated research and innovation. By aligning priorities and pooling resources, partnerships play a vital role in advancing the EU’s political objectives and promoting collaborative solutions to complex technological and societal issues.

As the EU continues to navigate the complexities of the digital future, the collaboration between national and European initiatives could become the key to unlocking the true potential of Virtual Worlds. Through strategic dialogue and continued partnership, Europe will lead the way in Virtual Worlds innovation, ensuring that its impact is felt across all industries, economies and societies.

About OPENVERSE

The vision of the OPENVERSE project is to create inclusive, open and ethically responsible European Virtual Worlds, enhancing the European Union’s technological sovereignty in the global arena. Its strategy involves integrating diverse technological expertise, fostering collaborative innovation, and ensuring interoperability, privacy, and security in digital environments. OPENVERSE aims to lay the foundational framework for these Virtual Worlds, combining user co-creation with extended reality technologies, addressing legal and ethical challenges, and guiding future policy and industry standards for globally influential Virtual Worlds.

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GraphSys’25 will be a full-day (in-person only) workshop, running a single track (i.e., no parallel sessions). They plan to feature one keynote, 6-10 paper presentations, 1-2 invited presentation(s) and one panel. Submissions of full papers (12 pages) are invited, as well as work-in-progress, experience and position papers (6 pages). Organisers will run a thorough revision process to select the papers featured in the proceedings.

When and where:

GraphSys’25 will be Co-located with EuroPar 2025 (August 25-26, 2025, Dresden, Germany)

Contributions and important deadlines:

• Paper Submission: submit a paper or disseminate the opportunity for paper submission within your community.
• Paper submission deadline: May 5, 2025
• Share proposals of key experts: for very good profiles related to the workshop topic, the committee will evaluate candidates for keynotes, invited presentations and participation in the panel. They could also enrich the Program Committee.

Submit your proposal here!

Call for Papers

Aligned with Euro-Par, the premier European conference addressing all facets of parallel and distributed processing, GraphSys’25 is the first Workshop on Serverless, Extreme-Scale and Sustainable Graph Processing Systems. GraphSys is a cross-disciplinary meeting venue focusing on state-of-the-art and emerging (future) graph processing systems.

The workshop is designed for researchers, practitioners and students interested in sustainable graph processing. Participants from academia, industry, (government) research labs and nonprofit organisations are encouraged to attend and contribute to the GraphSys discussions and collaborations.

Topics of interest for GraphSys’25 include:

· System architectures and system designs for graph creation, enrichment, graph query and graph analytics.

· Programming and data-level interfaces, APIs and models for graph processing.

· Benchmarks, performance monitoring, measurement techniques, methods, metrics, tools and instruments for graph processing.

· Sustainability metrics, tools and instruments for real-world, analytical and simulation-based approaches to performance analysis for graph processing systems.

· Parallel and distributed (including heterogeneous) algorithms and methods for graph processing.

· Serverless techniques, addressing graph processing challenges of full-automation software and data services with fine granularity and utilisation-based billing.

· Empirical case studies of graph processing environments, applications and systems, including comparative performance studies and benchmarking of real-world and production graph-processing systems.

· Methodological aspects of software engineering, performance engineering and computer systems related to graph processing.

All submissions are required in PDF format and must be sent via EasyChair.

Important dates: 

· May 5th, 2025         Paper submission deadline

· June 23rd, 2025      Paper acceptance notifications

· July  7th, 2025         Camera-ready due

Organisation:

· Jože Martin Rožanec, University of Twente, Netherlands / Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia

· Tiziano De Matteis, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Looking forward to your submission!

Contact Nuria De Lama for more information at: ndelama (at sign) idc (dot) com

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Other calls of interest that did not receive pitching requests have been compiled into a Mural, accessible to all BDVA members. This initiative aims to foster networking and facilitate consortium-building in the coming months. 

Organised in collaboration with members of the BDVA Task Force Healthcare, the event follows a bottom-up approach to identify the most relevant calls for the community. It will serve as a platform for discussions and partnerships on topics primarily linked to Horizon Europe’s Cluster 1, with additional opportunities from Cluster 4, the EU Mission: Cancer and the EIC Pathfinder. 

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On average only 19% of women work in ICT. What are the factors that limit women to having careers in tech? The European Commission plans to gather data and best practices on the state of Women in Digital in the EU. There is an increase of women in STEM, but not necessarily in ICT and this is why the EC wants to figure out what keeps women out of the digital field.

The aim of WIDCON is to look at the factors that are keeping women out, to build an inclusive digital Europe, where women will achieve parity in tech, from STEM to digital and beyond. WIDCON will look at the gaps and barriers for women to enter the ICT field. For the next 24 months, WIDCON will be leveraging data, knowledge and networks to drive forward and address the gender imbalance within the digital sector.

In a pivotal kick-off meeting, project partners convened to lay the foundation for the next steps, with a strong focus on key initiatives such as the WiD Index & Scoreboard and the WiD Forum. Gender disparities persist throughout the digital landscape, from early education to leadership roles. Addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive approach. The project aims to foster gender equality by ensuring equal exposure to STEM subjects in primary and secondary education, which plays a crucial role in shaping future career paths.

Beyond education, the transition into digital careers remains a critical phase. Higher education and vocational training influence the number of women entering the tech sector, while retention challenges lead many to leave the industry early. Supporting women at entry- and mid-level roles is essential to reversing this trend. Women remain significantly underrepresented in decision-making positions, emphasising the need for structural reforms. Increasing female representation in digital research and innovation remains a challenge, as barriers in academia continue to hinder their progress. With these priorities in focus, the project seeks to drive meaningful change and create a more inclusive digital future.

The focus will be on 3 key areas: data, community engagement and reporting.

WIDCON will:

👉Produce a replicable index for Women in Digital, including an overview of key national actions across Member States.

👉Develop a Women in Digital Forum of experts based on a sustainable operation and financial model

👉Produce an online repository to systematically collect best practices.

👉Each year, we’ll mark our progress with a milestone Women in Digital Summit to share results and provide key recommendations for stakeholders

Soon, the Governing Board of the Women in Digital project will be announced, which will provide strategic direction and oversight to the operations of the WiD Forum. The structure will consist of high-profile experts in the field of the project. Thematic Working Groups (TWG)​ will also be developed, each coordinated by a chair from within the Women in Digital consortium.​ Stay tuned for more news!

BDVA`s mission is to develop the innovation ecosystem that enables and accelerates the Data and AI economy with European values and focus. Having a Europe where women will achieve parity across fields will boost Data and AI innovation. To achieve this, BDVA will work closely with a team of leaders in the advanced skills and digital technologies ecosystem BluSpecs, European Vocational Training Association – EVTA, IDC, EIT Digital, AIOTI, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya.

BDVA looks forward to collaborating with all of the partners to see STEM, ICT, digital and leadership roles develop more equality.

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• Representatives from the four projects
• BDVA Task Forces (both sectorial and cross-sectorial)
• The DSSC
• The European Commission (Project Officers of the projects)

This intro meeting exemplifies BDVA’s commitment to driving responsible data innovation and it served for launching an engagement plan designed to connect these projects with relevant BDVA and DSSC activities, establishing a pathway for future collaboration.

In alignment with the DSSC’s engagement with R&I projects contributing to data spaces—where BDVA leads on community and stakeholder engagement—participating projects will be part of the Liaisons & Collaborations group of the DSSC Network of Stakeholders (NoS) and have been invited to contribute to Thematic Group discussions on Business, Governance, and Technology of data spaces. This collaboration fosters co-learning across initiatives and will contribute to the creation of DSSC Assets, such as the Blueprint for data spaces.

This introductory session marks only the beginning. We look forward to deepening our partnerships – fully aligned with the defined plan of actions –  through upcoming workshops—including workshops to be explored in future community events (including Data Week and beyond).

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Led by a consortium of 20 renowned research institutions, companies and EuroHPC centers, OpenEuroLLM is set to build a family of performant, multilingual, large language foundation models. Coordinated by Jan Hajič (Charles University, Czechia) and co-led by Peter Sarlin (AMD Silo AI, Finland), the project will deliver cutting-edge AI solutions tailored for commercial, industrial and public sector applications. 

“In this project, co-led by Peter Sarlin (AMD Silo AI, Finland), we will build a fully open set of large language models that will cover all EU languages (and beyond), with as equal, as high quality as possible. These models will come in several sizes for easy deployment, and, of course, be compliant with the European regulations. We will show that this is possible with a transparent, collaborative effort, with the relatively moderate computing power available to us in Europe. Evaluation benchmarks will respect all the languages and the associated cultural aspects. All these features together will bring new-generation models, processes and datasets for European companies and further research efforts.” (Jan Hajič) 

Jan Hajič is part of the Data and AI innovation community of BDVA and was the main host and major contributor to the success of EBDVF 2022, our event in Prague. 

By prioritising transparency and compliance, these open-source models will democratise access to high-quality AI, empowering European businesses to compete globally and enhancing public services with advanced technology. The project offers a good example of the type of technology infrastructure needed to lower thresholds for European AI product development and refinement. OpenEuroLLM aligns with Europe’s strategic vision for digital sovereignty and competitiveness, reinforcing the importance of openness, collaboration and community-driven innovation, values that are the pillars of the BDVA community. 

“The project has a strong community-building component. The project will establish and Open Strategic Partnership Board with Open Science and Open Source advocates, experts in LLM building, data acquisition and evaluation. Everybody is welcome to suggest additional textual datasets to use, contribute to the community-based effort to help with evaluation datasets for language- and culturally-aware benchmarks and with their expertise.” (Jan Hajič) 

Developed within Europe’s robust regulatory framework, the models will uphold European values while achieving technological excellence. By collaborating with open-source communities such as LAION, open-sci and OpenML, alogside additional experts in the field assembled in the project’s Open Strategic Partnership Board, the project ensures that its AI models remain fully accessible and adaptable to diverse industry and public sector needs. With a strong emphasis on linguistic and cultural diversity, these performant multilingual models pave the way for impactful AI solutions, allowing European companies the possibility to develop high-quality products. 

Recognised with the prestigious STEP (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) seal, the project builds on the expertise and achievements of past European AI initiatives, including large repositories of high-quality data and pilot LLMs developed previously. Supported by the European Commission under the Digital Europe Programme, the consortium was officially launched on February 1st, 2025 – ushering in a new era of AI excellence for Europe and beyond. 

We are very proud to see that part of our community is at the core of this project, as most of the consortium consists of BDVA members. Congratulations to all and we look forward to your contribution to the next-generation of European open-source language models!

We are thrilled to see the incredible participation of BDVA members in this shared endeavour! Together, we look forward to shaping the next generation of European open-source language models, as we will join our efforts in this exciting journey! 

Full list of partners 

Universities and Research Organisations: 

• Charles University, Institute of Formal and Applied Linguistics, Czechia (coordinator) 

• Alliance for Language Technologies EDIC, (ALT-EDIC), France 

• Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands 

• ELLIS Institute Tübingen, Germany 

• Fraunhofer IAIS, Germany 

• Research Center Juelich, Germany 

• Lindholmen Science Park, (AI Sweden), Sweden 

• University of Helsinki, Finland 

• University of Oslo, Norway 

• University of Turku, Finland 

• University of Tübingen, (Tübingen AI Center), Germany 

Companies: 

• Silo GenAI, (AMD Silo AI), Finland (co-lead) 

• Aleph Alpha Research, Germany 

• ellamind, Germany 

• LightOn, France 

• Prompsit Language Engineering, Spain 

EuroHPC centres: 

• Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Spain 

• Cineca Interuniversity Consortium, Italy 

• CSC – IT Center for Science, Finland 

• SURF, the Netherlands

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