The Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) sector has become pervasive in recent decades. In this field, technological innovation has developed integrated communication systems, for example through the Internet, wireless networks, mobile phones and other means of communication. Information Technologies (IT), including hardware and software, infrastructures and architectures, methodologies for exchanging, using and storing data, support the enormous spread of ICT. This makes ICT and IT complementary and present in many aspects of our daily lives, in the economy and also in research.
INFN is actively participating in this technological revolution. For instance, with specific research and development projects that are also financed in the European area, it contributes to the dissemination and specialisation of Cloud Computing as a tool to empower all scientific users through the development of an open source platform for multidisciplinary scientific computing that enables the optimization of physical computing resources and that is agnostic to the computational model required by the user as well as to a particular physical implementation (both public and private). From the point of view of Cloud model-based infrastructure management, the Institute is participating, together with leading European research institutions, in a project to create a competitive market for Cloud service providers that is innovative for the scientific sector.
However, the Institute’s role is not limited to the scientific field alone. Indeed, thanks to its heavy investment in research and development in the area of distributed systems and the capabilities it has developed in the consistent management of distributed computing resources, INFN contributes with ideas and solutions for Smart Cities. Innovative IT and ICT technology systems are indeed central to a better integration of the city’s physical infrastructure with its human, intellectual and social capital, to optimize and innovate services for a future in which interaction between citizens, public administrations and businesses is within everyone’s reach.
In this area, INFN contributes with the application of Cloud Computing for Smart Government in collaboration with large, small and medium-sized companies, engaged in the development of applications being tested by regional and municipal public administrations. It also looks at the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions for urban mobility, which will contribute to improving the energy and environmental performance of cities.In research and development projects in the field of Cloud Computing and Storage, the participation of CNAF, INFN’s national centre dedicated to research and development in the field of computing and telematics and to the management of the distributed scientific computing infrastructure and services for the Institute’s research activities, is significant. CNAF coordinates, together with the Bologna and Ferrara divisions, the Technology Transfer Laboratory (TTLab) in Emilia Romagna, accredited as an industrial research laboratory at the High Technology Network (HTN) of the Emilia Romagna Region. The connection with the regional industrial fabric is a strong point for bringing the research results and know-how developed at the INFN to the benefit of innovation in the territory. TTLab specialises in different areas, from Mechatronics & Electronics, Device Systems and Nanotechnology to ICT. In addition to the study and development of Business Intelligence techniques, Big Data Analysis, Data Warehouse or the development of applications for the analysis of large volumes of data, topics linked to TTLab are the development of open source ICT applications in the fields of Smart Cities, e-Government, sustainable mobility, e-Health, environmental impact reduction, Cultural Heritage or Smart Manufacturing.
