The Commission has approved, under EU State aid rules, an Important Project of Common European Interest (‘IPCEI') to support research, development and first industrial deployment of advanced cloud and edge computing technologies across multiple providers in Europe.

The project, called IPCEI Next Generation Cloud Infrastructure and Services (IPCEI CIS), was jointly notified by seven Member States: France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, and Spain.

The Member States will provide up to €1.2 billion in public funding, which is expected to unlock additional €1.4 billion in private investments. As part of this IPCEI, 19 companies, including small and medium-sized enterprises (‘SMEs'), will undertake 19 highly innovative projects.