Setting the course for the final year: CISERO partners aligned on strategy at Consortium Meeting

The CISERO consortium met in Pisa, Italy for a two-day internal meeting to take stock of progress and set the strategic direction for the project's final year. The agenda covered the status of ongoing work, but the discussions went well beyond operational updates. With CISERO running until August 2027, partners focused on how the project can leave a lasting mark on the IPCEI-CIS community and on the wider 8ra Initiative, which is now opening up to new European partners as it evolves beyond the IPCEI-CIS funding period. 

Digital assets take centre stage

CISERO's digital assets were the protagonists of the two days. Partners reviewed the revamped CISERO website and the CISERO Platform, which has grown steadily since its launch at the 8ra Annual Summit in Rotterdam in March 2026 and is now the single access point for IPCEI-CIS tools. Its toolset includes the Marketplace, the OSS Discovery Point for open-source components, PartnerLink with more than 300 clusters, companies, DIHs and ecosystems seeking IPCEI-CIS partnerships, the interactive IPCEI-CIS Reference Architecture (now at version 3.0) and the interactive map of IPCEI-CIS projects. The discussion centred on how these tools can tell the IPCEI-CIS story more clearly and better serve project teams, policymakers and the wider market.

A stronger bridge to IPCEI-CIS projects

A central thread was the "bridge" between CISERO and the IPCEI-CIS projects. Partners drew on feedback gathered directly from the projects and explored how to make CISERO's support more visible, more accessible and more closely matched to their needs. That support spans dissemination and exploitation services, matchmaking and compelling storytelling around their results. 

Policy and the next iteration of the roadmap

Policy was firmly on the agenda. Partners discussed how the evolving European policy landscape on cloud, edge and digital sovereignty is shaping opportunities for IPCEI-CIS results. The consortium also discussed a new iteration of the CISERO roadmap, which builds on the IPCEI-CIS Sustainability Roadmap published in March 2026 and its market-oriented insights into adoption pathways. 

Synergies with INCLUDE

The meeting also welcomed representatives of the INCLUDE project ("Integrated cloud, edge and device stakeholder alignment"), a Horizon Europe Coordination and Support Action that started work in July 2026. The exchange explored complementarities between the two initiatives, which share a focus on roadmapping, governance and stakeholder engagement for an open, sovereign European cloud-edge ecosystem.

Looking ahead

The consortium leaves the meeting with a shared vision for the months ahead: put CISERO's digital assets to full use, deepen engagement with the IPCEI-CIS projects, keep contributing to the policy debate and deliver the next roadmap iteration ahead of the project's close in August 2027.