The Eclipse Foundation provides our global community of individuals and organizations with a mature, scalable, and business-friendly environment for open source software collaboration and innovation. The Foundation is home to the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE, and over 430 open source projects, including runtimes, tools, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, systems engineering, distributed ledger technologies, open processor designs, and many others. The Eclipse Foundation is an international non-profit association supported by over 330 members, including industry leaders who value open source as a key enabler for their business strategies.

The Eclipse Foundation has 10 years involvement in EU research programs. We help organizations to successfully create, publish, and sustain their open source software platform, making the results of the research projects available for commercial or public exploitation.In the NEMO project, Eclipse leads the “Liaison with Clusters, Open Source communities & standardization” task, focusing on several key responsibilities:

• Eclipse serves as the hosting platform (Eclipse Research Labs) for the project’s open-source code. It ensures that the consortium members collaborate openly and govern the code effectively, adhering to established open-source best practices and principles.
• It facilitates access to the broader Eclipse ecosystem, specifically focusing on the Cloud to Edge to IoT domain. This access enables communication and dissemination of the NEMO project’s vision and outcomes to developer communities operating within these domains.
• Eclipse takes steps to prepare the project’s code for review under Eclipse’s Intellectual Property (IP) guidelines. This includes:
• License Selection: Choosing a business-friendly license that aligns with the project’s objectives while ensuring compatibility with open-source principles.
• Copyright Compliance: Defining and completing copyright headers for the code to establish ownership and clarify licensing terms.
• Third-Party Dependency Verification: Ensuring that dependencies used within the codebase comply with licensing requirements and are compatible with the chosen license for the project.

In addition to its role within the NEMO project, Eclipse’s partnership with CSA EUCloudEdgeIoT.eu further expands its involvement within the MetaOS call projects.

• It serves as a partner within CSA EUCloudEdgeIoT.eu, which broadens the NEMO project’s perspective on the MetaOS call projects. This partnership provides the NEMO project with a more comprehensive and global view, enabling it to understand and engage with a wider network of initiatives related to MetaOS.
• It aims to facilitate collaboration among various projects involved in the MetaOS call. Its overarching goal is to foster cooperation and synergy among these projects, with a particular focus on defining a unified and shared open-source stack.
• Last not least, Eclipse’s vision involves assisting these MetaOS call projects in working collaboratively. The emphasis is on establishing a common open-source stack that can be leveraged and shared among these projects. This joint effort aims to streamline development, enhance interoperability, and promote a cohesive ecosystem within the MetaOS framework.

AEGIS IT RESEARCH GmbH is a research and development company (SME) based in Germany developing and managing innovative IT solutions for numerous business sectors. It is based on a highly effective professional team consisting of talented researchers and top-class IT experts from all over the world. This team empowers the company with a strong, diverse skill set which helps AEGIS offer innovative products and high-tech business solutions to the market.

AEGIS has a long-term involvement in the entire lifecycle development of cybersecurity, criminal investigation and data management and visualisation solutions, through both research and innovation driven initiatives and commercial projects. The main area of expertise is on providing tools and services in the field of cybersecurity, including digital forensic analysis and investigations, adaptive data visualization systems, access control and network security systems, and privacy preserving systems, and the complete lifecycle of IT systems (design, development, deployment, optimisation and maintenance).

In the context of NEMO project AEGIS is leading T4.1 Plugin & Applications Life-Cycle Manager, a mechanism for plugins and applications life cycle management across the NEMO ecosystem. AEGIS will provide the interface to NEMO end-users to register, deploy and manage workloads and monitor events and security incidents.

The Smart Energy Living Lab in Terni stands as a beacon of innovation, providing an ideal platform for the exploration and showcasing of cutting-edge technologies and models in the realm of smart energy. In an era where decentralized renewable energy sources pose both opportunities and challenges to the existing distribution network, the Living Lab serves as a real-world testing ground. By replicating actual operating conditions, the Living Lab not only addresses the practical challenges of decentralized energy generation but also plays a crucial role in shaping the future of the energy landscape, paving the way for sustainable and efficient models to thrive in the market.

The living lab of ASM headquarters district includes two substations, a distribution feeder network branch comprising decentralized RES generation (240 kW peak power PVs), controllable loads (via Building Energy Management System), HVAC (around 100-120 kW), and three EV charging stations (two at 22 kW and one at 50 kW). Additionally, there’s a biodiesel cogenerator and a hybrid power grid handling both direct and alternating current, currently in the construction phase.

The living lab also includes a total of 150 near real-time IoT smart meters deployed in multi-apartment residential buildings, public schools equipped with PV local generation, and households with residential consumers equipped with PV. Ten IoT analyzers have been deployed in the secondary stations to monitor electric parameters. These are three-phase power meters capable of measuring current, voltage, and power on up to four electric lines connected to the same node. Data are transmitted via ethernet or 4G to the LV SCADA.

A state-of-the-art Scalable SCADA System has been integrated with part of the LV network to monitor data from sensors and IoT devices deployed throughout the grid. This real-time platform ensures reliable grid performance and allows for continuous enhancements in visibility. One of the standout features is its openness, allowing other software experts to create customized apps that can seamlessly connect different types of technology without causing problems. This helps make operations smoother and more efficient while improving the visibility of the grid. The System Platform is a versatile and collaborative tool that streamlines operations, promotes continuous improvement, and is able to communicate with every device or back-end system by using standard interfaces such as OPCUA, OPC DA, SQL, SOAP, HTTP/S, .NET.

The trajectory of technological advancements has established a lanmark after the European Union has introduced a comprehensive legal framework addressing the complex space of Artificial Intelligence (AI). A European Law of Artificial Intelligence has been published. This legislation, recently approved by the European Parliament, stands as an evidence to the EU’s commitment to both fostering innovation and safeguarding fundamental rights. The key aspects of this groundbreaking law looks to provide precise definitions of AI systems, categorizing them into three levels of risk: Unacceptable Risk, High Risk, and Low to Minimal Risk. This granularity aims to create a nuanced approach tailored to the potential societal impacts of different AI applications.

Also, this means that for AI systems deemed of high risk, such as those employed in critical infrastructure, healthcare, and law enforcement, the law mandates stringent requirements. These include thorough risk assessments, data quality and traceability, robustness and accuracy, human oversight, transparency, and the provision of clear user information.

Certain AI applications will be considered as to be of “unacceptable risk” and will be outright prohibited. These include systems designed to manipulate human behavior, exploit vulnerabilities, and those posing a clear threat to safety. Non-compliance with the regulations can result in substantial fines, underscoring the seriousness with which the EU takes these matters.

Protecting Fundamental Rights

The legislation emphasizes the protection of fundamental rights, ensuring that AI systems adhere to principles such as human dignity, non-discrimination, and fairness. It sets the stage for responsible and ethical AI development, emphasizing the need to avoid biases and discriminatory practices.

To enforce these regulations effectively, the legislation proposes the establishment of a European Artificial Intelligence Board. This will be an independent body that will oversee compliance, provide guidance, and facilitate cooperation among Member States.

The EU acknowledges the future role of AI as a driver for innovation and economic growth. The legislation seeks to create an environment where European businesses can thrive in the global AI landscape. So this regulation aims to set a standard for responsible AI development and deployment, it also looks to contribute to shaping international norms and practices in the field.

As Europe takes this bold step into the future, the new law on Artificial Intelligence reflects a delicate balance between encouraging innovation and safeguarding the values and rights that underpin our societies. It sets the stage for a responsible, ethical, and accountable approach to AI, with the potential to shape the global discourse on the development and deployment of artificial intelligence.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/headlines/society/20230601STO93804/eu-ai-act-first-regulation-on-artificial-intelligence

The regulation included in the Data Governance Act creates a new European way of data governance based on increasing trust in data sharing. This will bring significant benefits for both companies and citizens.

The benefits of the application of this act are broad and affect all strategic sectors of the economy, such as energy, health, environment, agriculture, mobility, finance, manufacturing, public administration and skills.

The initiative aims to make more data available and facilitate data sharing across sectors and EU countries in order to leverage the potential of data for the benefit of European citizens and businesses.

This will enable industries to develop innovative products and services, making them more efficient and sustainable. Also, it will be key for training AI systems.

As for the public sector this data availability will permit the development of better policies, leading to more transparent governance and more efficient public services.

Actually, the Data Governance was established already on 23 June 2022, but it had a 15-month grace period that ended last September 2023. To conclude, it will be a powerful engine for innovation and it will create new job opportunities.

More information here: https://mobispaces.eu/data-governance-act