Eight international researchers have completed the European Industrial Doctorate programme FogGuru, pioneering the next generation of Fog Computing experts in Europe.

Fog Computing is emerging as a new paradigm for powering novel applications and services through the provisioning of a distributed computing infrastructure able to process data closer to users. Fog Computing is a natural evolution of Cloud Computing infrastructures, as it provides substantial advantages in terms of scalability, interactivity and better usage of network resources. Major leaders in the ICT sector (like Cisco, Huawei, IBM etc.) are heavily investing into this innovation line, which is expected to have a major impact on several application domains, in much the same way the cloud is impacting them now.

In order for Europe to stay competitive in this domain, it is of utmost importance to nurture a generation of technology professionals, specifically trained on Fog Computing infrastructures and applications. The FogGuru project, funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 Programme Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (grant number 765452), has trained eight talented, early-stage researchers (ESRs) with an innovative and intersectoral research programme to establish the next generation of European Cloud and Fog Computing experts.

Throughout the programme, each ESR dedicated 40% of their time to academia, 40% to a collaboration with high-tech SMEs, and 20% to experimentation in a living lab. Besides their scientific and technical education, FogGuru ESRs have received extensive training programme in technological innovation and entrepreneurship as well as in soft skills. These combined skills have enabled them to fully master the innovation process which stems from fundamental research towards invention and development of innovative products and services.

During a unique living-lab experience in Valencia (Spain), the ESRs have deployed their technologies in a real urban Fog Computing platform, while providing valuable benefits to the citizens of Valencia in Spain. Working closely with EMIVASA, the company responsible for water management in Valencia, the first group of researchers deployed Fog Computing technologies for detecting abnormal water consumption. The second group developed a FabLab at La Marina de Valencia, an open space where anyone can learn to process IoT data, while helping La Marina to measure and analyse a number of relevant parameters such as sea level, wave height, wind speed and other weather conditions. Thanks to the measurement results, La Marina may improve its services and provide an enriching experience to the port’s visitors. The benefits of the FabLab will be further exploited through joint collaboration between Las Naves and the Polytechnic University of Valencia.

In addition, during the hackathon ‘Hack the Fog!’, the FogGuru project brought the Fog Computing technologies close to end users. This event enabled some experiments and engagement with external beta-testers to evaluate the existing technologies, and to support them in building their own Fog Computing applications.

Finally, the various open source Fog Computing technologies, created by the project, have been released under open source licences granting any researcher, company or project the rights to use them for free.

The FogGuru project, which lasted for 4 years, brought together leading academic institutions (Université de Rennes 1 and Technische Universität Berlin), high-tech SMEs (Elastisys from Sweden and U-Hopper from Italy), complemented by EIT Digital Rennes and the Valencia smart city living lab Las Naves.

Contact

To discover more about the project, visit the FogGuru website or contact the project coordinator Guillaume Pierre, Professor at Université de Rennes 1 and head of the research team Myriad, at guillaume [*] pierreirisa [*] fr

See others articles:
1) Eight young international researchers design novel technology for smarter water management
2) 63 participants from 10 countries around the world have competed during the FogGuru’s hackathon Hack the Fog!