The Italian EOSC Node, operated by the Italian Research Center on High Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing (ICSC), federates resources from over 50 members, including national research infrastructures, ERICs, service providers, and e-Infrastructures.
Supported by the Italian government, the Node provides federated cloud and HPC infrastructure, national research product catalogues, repositories, AAI, and training services. With ISO27001-certified cloud regions and national HPC centres (Cineca, INFN), the Italian EOSC Node integrates compute, storage, and data analysis services into EOSC. It will contribute to the EOSC Federation with federated services and cross-node use cases.
To enrich the EOSC Federation with state-of-the-art federated HPC, cloud, and data services, enabling cross-node workflows, secure sensitive data analysis, and support for AI and quantum technologies.
FAIR data
The Italian EOSC Node provides access to repositories with Open Access publications and datasets, as well as other resource repositories. FAIR compliance is ensured via metadata registries, catalogues, and semantic interoperability policies.
Scientific use cases
Federating CERN's REANA pipelines
The REANA science case focuses on enabling near-data computation—sending computational workflows to where large scientific datasets are stored, rather than transferring massive volumes of data to the researcher.
The use case demonstrates this concept through particle physics—a field that generates enormous data volumes—but it is applicable to many other domains, including astronomy and life sciences. The project aims to show how researchers can execute their analyses directly at the data source, using REANA—CERN’s Reproducible research data analysis platform—to manage containerized workflows across federated computing resources.
Multi-centric validation of AI models for prostate-cancer screening
Advances in digital pathology are transforming cancer diagnosis by enabling high-resolution imaging of tissue samples and the application of artificial intelligence (AI) for clinical decision support.
Prostate cancer, one of the most prevalent malignancies among men worldwide, represents a critical case for early and accurate diagnosis, as survival rates are strongly tied to timely detection and treatment. The objective of the multi-centric validation of AI models for prostate-cancer screening (MCVAL) use case, coordinated by the BBMRI-ERIC EOSC Node, is to create a secure environment in which AI models for prostate cancer screening can be validated using data from different hospitals. Rather than building new diagnostic systems from scratch, the project focuses on testing an existing model trained on whole-slide images and assessing how well it performs when applied to data processed elsewhere.
Other use cases
- Italian Indico instance for federated agenda services, backup, and disaster recovery for EU Node Indico
- Federated sensitive data analysis using interactive notebooks, HPC-enabled distributed resources, ISO-certified cloud regions
Status
Candidate EOSC Node (build-up phase)
Deliverables
- Project Charter
- Analysis of EOSC EU Node federation capabilities and build-up plan
- Governance and Management documentation
- Stakeholder and community engagement strategy
- Interoperability policies and procedures
- Node Core Services (AAI, registries, monitoring, accounting, helpdesk)
- Use Case Reports (cross-node demonstrators with CERN and BBMRI)
Technical status
Completed
- Federated AAI (eduGAIN, IDEM, LifeScience-AAI, EOSC AAI)
- Onboarded service catalogues (national research products, service registries)
- Application workflow management (REANA, Jupyter, notebooks)
- Management system (ISO27001-certified, IT governance, FAIR-based policies)
Planned
- Service monitoring
- Service and research product accounting
- Order management
- Helpdesk
Interactions with other EOSC Nodes
The Italian EOSC Node collaborates with the EOSC Nodes listed below by providing cross-node REANA workflows, and sensitive data analysis environments.
How to access the Node
Rules of Participation
The PaNOSC RoP policy is aligned with EOSC Federation principles, and:
- GDPR
- ISO27001
- FAIR data principles
- EHDS-compliant policies for sensitive data analysis
Federated AAI ensures EOSC User access.
Access points
- Through the ICSC federated infrastructure
- Via EOSC AAI
- Portals that will be integrating Italian research repositories and HPC/cloud services provided by multiple entities
Node capabilities
Federated services
- AAI
- Registries
- Catalogues
- Workflows
Data repositories
- National repositories
- OA publications
- OA datasets
Compute and storage
- HPC/cloud centres
- ISO27001-certified cloud regions
- Quantum computing pilots
VRE
- Jupyter
- Notebooks
- REANA workflows
- Training environments
File sync-and-share
Integrated cloud federation
Other
- ISO-certified policies
- Stakeholder engagement
- Education and training services
Coordinating organisation
Node organisation
Coordinator
Matteo Zanaroli (ICSC)
Management
- Alessandro Costantini (INFN)
- Paolo Manghi (CNR)
- Giacinto Donvito (INFN)
- Mauro Campanella (GARR)
- Davide Salomoni (ICSC)
Contributing organisations
50+ Italian Research Performing Organisations, e-Infrastructures, and Research Infrastructures coordinated by members of ICSC, including, but not limited to CNR, INFN, GARR, and 20+ ERICs/ESFRIs.
