The 8ra Initiative aims to establish a true Multi-Provider Cloud-Edge Continuum, a pioneering cloud ecosystem, designed to revolutionise data processing. The Initiative represents a united European effort toward creating a decentralised and federated digital infrastructure that enhances innovation, sovereignty, resilience and sustainability.

Building on the foundation set by IPCEI-CIS (Important Project of Common European Interest – Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services), the 8ra Initiative will extend the capabilities of Europe’s digital landscape beyond existing cloud services. It will serve as the core enabler of real-time, secure, and energy-efficient data services across industries such as manufacturing, mobility, healthcare, and energy. The first-ever Cloud-Edge Continuum combines real-time capability, scalability, interoperability and low latency and thus offers the ideal starting conditions for AI, the industrial metaverse or autonomous systems.

The SIChain-EIPS project is pivotal for society as it enhances interconnectivity among blockchain infrastructures, leveraging the energy-efficient Hashnet protocol to foster widespread adoption of blockchain applications. This will significantly reduce the need for intermediaries in transaction validations, lowering operational costs and spurring the creation of innovative services and business models. Additionally, the project’s integration of AI, DLT, IoT, and DTs with user-friendly interfaces will offer advanced data infrastructures, catalysing the development of new start-ups and streamlining the adoption of cutting-edge technologies across Europe.

The project’s goal and scope is to develop:

• the national blockchain infrastructure from the test to the FID phase and integration of the national blockchain infrastructure into the common European Data and Services Infrastructure,
• interoperable connection of national blockchain infrastructures and their integration into a common European data and services infrastructure,
• IPFS Decentralised Data Storage as an integral part of the European data and services infrastructure (for storage of blockchain applications outside the national blockchain infrastructure (off-chain storage)) as an integral part of the European data and services infrastructure, and
• pilot integration of a blockchain user application for document authentication (notarisation and timestamping) and digital identity of natural and legal persons.

The SIChain-EIPS project innovates with the high-performance Hashnet protocol, enabling up to 50,000 transactions per second, which addresses scalability issues present in most blockchain infrastructures. Furthermore, by adapting the Ethereum Virtual Machine to Hashnet, it allows seamless integration of Solidity-based decentralised applications, offering a competitive, energy-efficient blockchain solution with lower operating costs.