Representatives of the companies Hashnet, Telemach, and Pro-Bit have presented the SIChain EIPS project, through which they will develop and integrate blockchain infrastructure as a service and decentralized data storage as a service. The project offers extraordinary opportunities for the Slovenian economy, encouraging innovation and digital transformation.
As part of the project, the partners will develop blockchain infrastructure to be offered as a service for commercial use, enabling companies and organizations in both the public and private sectors to utilize blockchain technology as a service. This will pave the way for new business models and services based on reliable, immutable, and transparent data flows.
At the same time, they will develop decentralized data storage to ensure greater transparency and traceability in business and technological operations. This solution will provide secure, reliable, and immutable data storage, crucial for further development of advanced data processing services. The project also includes the creation of corresponding building blocks and components to enable easy integration of user applications with the blockchain infrastructure. By providing interoperable connectivity and data exchange among various applications, SIChain EIPS will facilitate efficient and intelligent data processing.
At the opening, Tomislav Čizmić, President of the Management Board at Telemach Slovenia, addressed the attendees:
“We are delighted that Telemach Slovenia is part of the SIChain project. It marks a key step in developing Slovenia’s blockchain infrastructure and opens exceptional opportunities for the Slovenian economy and digital transformation. At Telemach, we continually invest in network development and cutting-edge technologies. We host the SIChain platform in our state-of-the-art data center, of which we are very proud, as it provides reliable services in line with the highest standards.
Continuous investments are extremely important for the competitiveness of operators, and the consolidation of the Slovenian and European telecommunications markets will definitely contribute to this. I believe that, through our combined efforts and knowledge, we will successfully shape the digital future of Slovenia and Europe with the SIChain project.”
Collaboration for European Digital Sovereignty
Giovani Frattini, Head of Research and Development at the Italian company Engineering—which holds direct partner status in the project—highlighted the involvement of more than 100 of the most innovative companies from 12 EU Member States. These companies have pooled their knowledge and resources in the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPCEI) on Cloud Infrastructure and Services (CIS), with the goal of developing the next generation of infrastructure and cloud services. The project aims to establish a shared European infrastructure and services for all of Europe, built upon the principles of openness, interoperability, security, sustainability, and independence, and to carry out the first industrial implementation in numerous strategic sectors.
Tadej Slapnik, Director of Hashnet, emphasized the current oligopolistic structure dominated by non-European providers of data storage and cloud services—owned by large tech corporations outside the European Union:
“This strategic project clearly demonstrates a commitment to jointly develop open-source technologies for data storage as well as cloud and edge services, which the European Union needs to strengthen its digital and data sovereignty. With 1.2 billion euros in public European funds plus an additional 1.4 billion euros in private investment, IPCEI CIS will become the largest open-source project in the history of the European Union. We are proud that SIChain EIPS (European Infrastructure for Data and Services)—developed by Slovenian companies Telemach, Hashnet, and Pro-Bit—is part of this important European project.”
Nena Dokuzov from the Ministry of Economy, Tourism, and Sport noted that the SIChain EIPS project is part of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, with a total value of 2,440,000 euros and EU co-financing amounting to 1,288,600 euros. The investment is among the measures of Slovenia’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, which serves as the basis for the country’s use of the European Recovery and Resilience Mechanism. The project will run from July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2026.
Roles in Development
The technology for the development of advanced blockchain infrastructure as a service—crucial for enhancing the interoperability and security of the European data infrastructure and services (EIPS)—will be developed by Hashnet. Telemach will oversee the establishment and operation of the data infrastructure, and Pro-Bit will be responsible for developing decentralized data storage as a service.
