The 8ra Annual Summit 2026, held on 19-20 March in Rotterdam, brought together key stakeholders from across Europe’s cloud and edge ecosystem to reflect on progress and define the next steps for the initiative.
The Summit opened with strong political and strategic signals: representatives from Member States and the European Commission underlined the importance of digital sovereignty, highlighted the progress of IPCEI-CIS and emphasised the need to further evolve 8ra into a long-term, industry-driven ecosystem.
Bringing together the IPCEI-CIS General Assembly and an open conference, the event created a space for strategic exchange between Member States, the European Commission, industry and research. Discussions focused on how to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness while advancing digital sovereignty in the cloud and edge domain.
Entering the next phase
A key takeaway from the Summit is that the 8ra Initiative is entering a new phase. Building on the foundations of IPCEI-CIS, the initiative is evolving into a broader, industry-driven ecosystem designed to extend beyond the funding period.
Opening 8ra to new partners across Europe is central to this transition. The aim is to expand collaboration, enable new joint offerings and create a durable framework for long-term cooperation.
Collaboration as a driver of innovation
Across sessions and discussions, participants explored how to translate Europe’s ambitions into scalable, real-world solutions. Topics such as federation, interoperability, multi-provider architectures and governance highlighted the importance of coordinated approaches across countries and stakeholders.
Dedicated sessions highlighted pilots and results across diverse domains and use cases, while also exploring the role of open source and community-driven collaboration.
The 8ra Initiative continues to provide a concrete framework for this collaboration, bringing together diverse actors and aligning them around shared goals.
Looking ahead
The strong engagement at the Summit underlines the growing momentum behind 8ra. With an expanding community and a clear strategic direction, the initiative is well positioned to further develop into a sustainable European ecosystem.
Organisations interested in shaping this next phase are invited to engage with the 8ra Initiative and become part of Europe’s cloud-edge future via welcome@8ra.com.
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