Current VENUS-C user scenarios include bioinformatics, systems biology, drug discovery, civil engineering, civil protection and emergencies, and data for science. To expand this user community, gather additional requirements for the VENUS- platform, test and validate it, VENUS-C has launched an Open Call to fund between 10 and 20 new pilot prototypes with applications suited to the Cloud. The Call is open to European public and private research organisations involved in Research and Technology Development (RTD) from the 27 Member States and the 13 Associated Countries.  The Call targets a spectrum of application areas, spanning the Arts & Humanities, Engineering, Health & Life Sciences, Economics and Financial Services, Natural Sciences, as well as Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics with application characteristics such as dynamic scaling requirements, peak demands and ubiquitous availability.The Call is open from 11 January to 11 April 2011.

While Cloud computing has reached a stable level, it still remains at the cutting edge. What will be the next generation of scientific applications taking advantage of the Cloud? Where will the new, smart ideas come from by letting scientists be scientists? “It’s early days for the Cloud but exciting times lie ahead. The Open Call is an ideal opportunity not only to bring on board new users of the Cloud but also help answer these important questions. Industry and resource partners in VENUS-C aim to demonstrate that you do not need to be a scientist to be ambassadors of scientific innovation,” remarked Andrea Manieri, Engineering Group and VENUS-C co-ordinator.
Full details on the Open Call can be found on the dedicated Open Call VENUS-C Channel pages.