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Their core work

GWDG is the joint computing and IT competence center for the University of Göttingen and the Max Planck Society, providing high-performance computing, cloud infrastructure, and data management services to the German research community. In EU projects, they contribute expertise in virtualization, cloud optimization, and large-scale research data infrastructure. They are a key node in Europe's open science and e-infrastructure ecosystem, helping build and operate the services that researchers across disciplines rely on for data storage, processing, and sharing.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

GWDG's early H2020 work (2015–2017) was deeply technical — optimizing hypervisors, guest OS performance, and application packaging for high-performance cloud and HPC systems (MIKELANGELO, NEPHELE). From 2018 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward the European Open Science Cloud ecosystem, contributing to federated data infrastructure, service integration, and research data management (EOSC-hub, DICE, EOSC Future). This evolution mirrors a broader move from building raw computing performance to enabling open, interoperable research services at European scale.

GWDG is firmly embedded in the EOSC ecosystem and will likely continue as a core infrastructure operator for Europe's federated research cloud and data services.

How they like to work

GWDG operates exclusively as a participant or third party — never as coordinator — which reflects their role as an infrastructure provider contributing technical services to large, multi-partner initiatives. Their 213 unique partners across 40 countries indicate they work in very large consortia (typical for e-infrastructure projects) rather than leading small focused teams. This makes them a reliable, experienced consortium member who knows how to deliver within complex, distributed projects.

With 213 unique consortium partners spanning 40 countries, GWDG has one of the broadest collaboration networks in the European e-infrastructure community. Their partnerships are concentrated in the EGI/EUDAT/EOSC ecosystem, connecting them to virtually every major research computing center in Europe.

What sets them apart

GWDG sits at the intersection of academic computing and the Max Planck Society — one of the world's premier research organizations — giving them direct insight into what large-scale research institutions actually need from IT infrastructure. Their progression from low-level virtualization optimization to EOSC service delivery means they understand the full stack, from hypervisor performance to researcher-facing data services. For consortium builders, they bring operational reliability and deep integration with the European e-infrastructure landscape that few partners can match.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MIKELANGELO
  Their largest funded project (EUR 534K), focused on micro-kernel virtualization for HPC — shows deep technical capability in cloud performance optimization.
• DICE
  Second-largest funding (EUR 425K) and represents their current strategic direction: building data infrastructure capacity for the European Open Science Cloud.
• EOSC-hub
  The flagship EOSC integration project connecting EGI, EUDAT, and INDIGO-DataCloud — positions GWDG at the heart of Europe's research cloud ecosystem despite modest direct funding.