GEANT VERENIGING

Their core work

GÉANT is the pan-European research and education network organization, operating the backbone infrastructure that connects universities, research centers, and laboratories across Europe and beyond. They build and manage high-capacity optical fiber networks, federated authentication systems (eduroam, eduGAIN), and cloud service aggregation platforms for the research community. GÉANT also plays a central role in the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) ecosystem, providing the connectivity and trust frameworks that allow researchers to share data and computing resources across borders.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early H2020 period (2015–2018), GÉANT focused on foundational e-infrastructure services — building service catalogues, establishing open science and FAIR data frameworks, and extending connectivity to Latin America via the BELLA submarine cable. From 2019 onward, their work shifted decisively toward large-scale network operations (the massive GN4-3 grants totaling EUR 102M), EOSC integration, commercial cloud procurement for researchers (OCRE), and an unexpected foray into precision timing over optical fiber (CLONETS-DS). The trajectory shows GÉANT evolving from an infrastructure builder into an infrastructure-as-a-service platform operator with growing reach into HPC governance and commercial cloud aggregation.

GÉANT is consolidating its position as Europe's research connectivity backbone while expanding into cloud service brokering and precision timing — expect future collaborations to involve multi-domain network services rather than simple connectivity.

How they like to work

GÉANT operates as a true consortium leader — coordinating 10 of 22 projects, including the largest ones (GN4 series, BELLA, OCRE). With 316 unique partners across 61 countries, they function as a hub organization that connects national research networks into a pan-European fabric. Their consortium sizes tend to be large (reflecting infrastructure-wide deployments), making them an ideal anchor partner for projects requiring broad European or global reach.

GÉANT has collaborated with 316 unique partners across 61 countries, making it one of the most broadly connected organizations in H2020. Their network spans all EU member states and extends to Latin America, Africa, and Asia-Pacific through sister research networks.

What sets them apart

GÉANT is essentially the only organization that operates the pan-European research network backbone — there is no direct competitor for this role. This makes them an indispensable partner for any project requiring cross-border data transfer, federated authentication, or access to the EOSC ecosystem. Their ability to coordinate 60+ country networks into a single infrastructure, combined with EUR 151M in H2020 funding, gives them unmatched convening power in the research infrastructure space.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GN4-3N
  At EUR 50.3M, this is one of the largest single grants in H2020 — dedicated to expanding long-term backbone network capacity across Europe.
• BELLA-S1
  EUR 9.6M to build a dedicated submarine cable between Europe and Latin America — a rare physical infrastructure project in the H2020 portfolio.
• OCRE
  EUR 10.3M to aggregate commercial cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, SaaS) and make them accessible to the entire European research community through framework agreements.