"In this Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) the European National Research and Education Networks, united in the GÉANT partnership, propose to implement the European Communications Commons, as stipulated in the GÉANT Expert Group report of October 2011.
The proposal defines the scope and priorities to be observed in the Specific Grant Agreements (SGAs) that will define the work in detail.
The FPA aims to ""...make every European researcher digital, increasing creativity and efficiency of research and bridging the divide between developed and less-developed regions.”
The future GÉANT infrastructure will provide secure, cost-effective, highly available and reliable services for very high-speed connectivity, identity inter-federation, resource virtualisation, mobility, security and trust, ensuring the digital continuum of services to the Research and Educational users anywhere in the EU whether at home or on the move.
Further development of the Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure, in terms of footprint and providing seamless and unimpeded access to relevant data and computing resources from anywhere, is a strategic component in this endeavour and will be undertaken in cooperation with the other European e-infrastructure providers and projects.
By the very nature of the FPA, the current proposal does not include any specific work, budgets, deliverables or milestones. These details belong to the future SGAs. The vision presented here is a general overview of the actions to be proposed under the framework.
The FPA will be governed by a General Assembly with advisory bodies and committees ensuring that users’ views, as well as senior industry and service provider expertise, contribute to the strategic governance. One of the most successful attributes governed by the Cost Sharing Committee of the GEANT cooperation over the past decade is the ability to agree and to share costs across a greatly diversified Europe."