EC publishes study on Next Generation Internet 2025

NLnet and Gartner deliver study for EC's Next Generation Internet initiative

[Deze tekst in het Nederlands ]

Brussels/Amsterdam, October 5th 2018

The European Commission's Directorate-General CNECT has published the much anticipated study "Next Generation Internet 2025", an in-depth analysis of the state of the internet performed by NLnet foundation and Gartner Europe. We believe that the Next Generation Internet initiative has actual potential to vastly improve the internet and change the current course of the internet, states Michiel Leenaars, director of Strategy at NLnet and leader of the study. The strategic topics we have identified in the report are essential to reach those goals.

The NGI initiative was started in 2016, with the mission to "re-imagine and re-engineer" the Internet "for the third millennium and beyond". It clearly states that the information age can and should be an era that brings out the best in all of mankind. The NGI initiative sets out to enable human potential, mobility and creativity at the largest possible scale — while dealing responsibly with our natural resources. The study by NLnet Foundation and Gartner released today lists a number of strategic R&D priorities as well as relevant linked policy topics for this important initiative, which is currently still in a bootstrap phase.

Underpinning the NGI are important social objectives that desperately need to be met: an internet that more than anything is an open, fair and inclusive internet of human values, that has equal opportunities for all, that actually delivers trustworthiness in the online environment, comments Michiel Leenaars. It becomes clear from the study that those goals are actually realistic, and with the right amount of ambition and strategic operations Europe can become a determining factor in the establishment of the Next Generation Internet.

Read more about NGI.

Summary of "Next Generation Internet 2025"

• Technological analysis on Next Generation Internet future key technologies and research topics explaining the technical issues involved and current gaps
• Key research communities and actors
• Impact of the research topics on the drivers for change which construct the Vision for an NGI
• Benefits linked to the research topics and the potential risks of not addressing them
• Recommendations to shape the programme for a Next Generation Internet Initiative based on specific selection criteria
• The proposed NGI research topics for the H2020 programme
• The proposed NGI research topics for the Horizon Europe programme

Read more about NGI.