NeIC will retire at the end of 2026
After 15 active and successful years, it has been decided that the Nordic e-Infrastructure Collaboration (NeIC) will be discontinued on 31 December 2026. The announcement was made by NeIC’s Strategic Committee in their meeting on 11 June, following a decision by the leaders of the Nordic e-infrastructure provider organisations on 9 June.
The decision does not reflect NeIC’s ability to fulfil its role but rather the changed e-infrastructure landscape. The national e-infrastructure providers nowadays collaborate directly on topics and in other contexts beyond NeIC, which has rendered the added value and distinct role of NeIC less clear. The lack of external funding and the participating organisations’ focus shifting from Nordic collaboration towards broader international cooperation have influenced the interest in collaboration through NeIC.
With current resources, it has proven challenging for NeIC to keep supporting meaningful and impactful e-infrastructure development projects.
Ongoing projects will remain running at CSC
Since its establishment in 2012, NeIC has been pivotal in strengthening and bringing together Nordic research e-infrastructures and enabling cross-border collaboration. Originally created to manage the Nordic Tier-1 facility, NeIC has expanded its activities to managing Nordic-Baltic projects in various key areas. NeIC also contributed considerably to NordForsk’s eScience Action plans, to further develop eScience and e-infrastructures in an international context across the Nordic region.
Starting in January 2025, NeIC has been hosted by CSC - IT Center for Science Ltd, and the activities have been aligned with the strategies and joint interests of the partner organisations: CSC, DeiC, ETAIS, NAISS, RHnet and Sigma2. Operations continue throughout 2026, with the addition of bringing people together around topics of shared interest through the newly established NeIC forums. The traditional staff gathering, NeIC All-hands meeting, will take place in Copenhagen in late October.
A particular priority has been on ensuring the continuation of the three development projects that extend beyond 2026: CodeRefinery, NordIQuEst and Puhuri. NeIC’s Strategic Committee has approved a proposal to use any and all savings from 2026 in running the projects until at least the end of 2027. As the legal entity behind NeIC, CSC has offered to seek and hire a coordinator to support the projects until their completion, and to continue providing some administrative services.
“A true privilege to work with NeIC”
For 1,5 decades and through 31 development projects, NeIC has provided researchers with access to advanced computing resources, improved data-sharing capabilities and strengthened cross-border collaboration, and helped align Nordic efforts with major European initiatives such as EOSC and EuroHPC. NeIC’s Director Tomasz Malkiewicz emphasises that keeping the legacy alive and sustaining the outcomes of the collaboration is the main focus in the months leading up to closing down NeIC.
– It has been a true privilege to work with NeIC. In general, but also for me personally: first in charge of project portfolio and benefit realisation, and since two years ago, leading the organisation. What a journey it has been!
Having worked with NeIC since January 2017, Malkiewicz has witnessed the collaboration’s development up close. Over the years, NeIC evolved into a motivated community of digital infrastructure experts and researchers learning from one another; a platform to share experiences and common problems as well as solutions; an incubator of ideas; and an agile tool for the stakeholders to identify and pursue opportunities otherwise unreachable. Collaboration through NeIC has resulted in vast investments in Nordic computing infrastructure, fruitful testbeds and smooth uptakes with regard to European collaboration, and services solving issues too diverse and international for one single organisation to tackle alone.
– The evaluation by Technopolis in 2022 concluded we have managed to create significant Nordic Added Value by fostering collaboration, building competence, supporting scientific excellence, and establishing the Nordic region as a recognised model for international e-infrastructure cooperations, Malkiewicz says, referring to the report published in May 2022.
– I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to NeIC over the years: the Nordic founders, current NeIC partners, NeIC personnel and stakeholders – none of this would have been possible without your expertise, hard work, and enthusiasm. Quoting the founder and the former director of NeIC, Gudmund Høst:
“When I look back,
It seems all like a dream.
What a nice one.”
I think we can all adhere to it!