NGI @ MyData 2020

A sustainable internet for a greener data economy

NGI FUNDING: A SUSTAINABLE INTERNET FOR A GREENER DATA ECONOMY

Presenters: Dr Giovanni Rimassa, Dr Monique Calisti
Host: Dr Monique Calisti

Goal: To present the Next Generation Internet initiative and invite newcomers to join, calling attention to the main challenges and opportunities to transform the internet of today into a more inclusive, trustworthy, democratic, resilient and sustainable one.

Description:
The Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative (ngi.eu) has been launched by the European Commission with the ambition to gather and empower the community of researchers and innovators in Europe at work to transform the Internet in a way that it responds to people’s fundamental needs, including trust, security, and inclusion, while reflecting the values and norms all citizens enjoy in Europe. The NGI has been evolving and growing right from its inception, gathering a large community of about 550 Internet researchers and innovators supported in 366 third-party projects. These projects cover a number of applications and technological building blocks that are essential to improve both the way the internet works and how it empowers people and communities.

As a matter of fact, the internet and its supporting technologies are essential to accelerate the twin digital and green transitions our society and economy need, especially to overcome the major crisis induced by the COVID19 pandemic. However, while advanced internet technologies are essential for this transition to happen rapidly and efficiently, they are also part of a major problem: the overall impact on the environment of digital technologies themselves.

Data traffic is increasing tremendously (+25% on average a year), corresponding to 55% of the annual energy consumption of the whole ICT sector. This year, due to the COVID19 pandemic and its effects on our lives, the Internet traffic, for instance, has been generally 25% to 30% higher than usual. This leads of course to an enormous growth of energy consumption, which calls technologists, policy makers, private and public organisations to adopt the proper measures to move to a more sustainable internet in the wider context of a greener data economy.

In this session, in line with the vision recently presented in the  “Vision for the future internet” NGI working paper, we will discuss and present challenges, opportunities and recent initiatives that focus on the development and promotion of green digital technologies for a more sustainable internet in the context of a greener data economy.