A successful event to celebrate a successful project

On December 16th we had the opportunity to showcase the latest developments of the COGNIT project as part of the COGNIT Day event. Launched in 2023 under the Horizon Europe programme for research and innovation, COGNIT has defined and implemented the first Cognitive Serverless Framework for the Cloud–Edge Continuum, leveraging European open source technologies like OpenNebula and SUSE Linux.

Our all-day online event brought together the 10 organizations that form the COGNIT consortium, highlighting how their diverse technical knowledge and real-world use cases have collectively contributed to advancing this ambitious vision. It was a unique opportunity to reflect on the project’s journey, share results, and discuss its broader impact on Europe’s cloud and edge ecosystem.

Agenda and key highlights

The event was held online and streamed live on YouTube, featuring a rich program of keynotes, panel discussions, and use-case demonstrations. The agenda was designed to offer space for technical depth, strategic discussion, and community engagement.

The day opened with a brief welcome speech by Dr. Alberto P. Martí (VP of Open Source Innovation at OpenNebula Systems) who set the tone for the event, followed by two keynotes providing a comprehensive overview of the project and its scientific contributions. These sessions were followed by a keynote from the European Commission, delivered by Ana Juan Ferrer (Programme Officer at DG CNECT), who analysed the contributions from the COGNIT Project within the broader European digital and research landscapes.

Panel discussions

The second part of the event hosted several panel discussions featuring representatives from across the consortium and several guest organizations from the European innovation ecosystem:

Bringing IoT into the Cloud–Edge Continuum
This panel explored the challenges and opportunities of integrating IoT into highly distributed cloud–edge environments. Participants included Acisa, CETIC, Ikerlan, Phoenix Systems, and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (coordinators of the O-CEI Project). The discussion emphasized how COGNIT can play a vital role in managing and orchestrating IoT devices across the cloud–edge continuum, addressing a key challenge for delivering a truly seamless user experience.

AI for sustainability in cloud infrastructures
The next panel addressed AI for sustainability, a particularly timely topic given the rapid growth of AI workloads in cloud environments. This session featured contributions from OpenNebula Systems, RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), and the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (coordinators of the CLOUDLESS Project). Speakers discussed how AI-driven cognitive and serverless approaches can help optimize resource usage, reduce energy consumption, and support more sustainable cloud infrastructures.

Open source for Europe’s tech sovereignty
The final panel focused on Open Source as a foundation for Europe’s technological sovereignty. Participants included the European Digital SME Alliance, OpenNebula Systems, RISE, SUSE, and the open source community organization OW2. While touching on policy and governance aspects, the discussion remained firmly grounded in technological aspects, highlighting how open source tools foster innovation, transparency, and long-term sustainability—and why supportive public policies are essential to make this ecosystem thrive in Europe.

Use cases & project results

To conclude the event, the consortium presented its four Validation Use Cases, demonstrating the results achieved so far and their implementation on the latest version of the COGNIT framework. These demonstrations clearly illustrated the potential impact of the project in simplifying the deployment, management, and orchestration of workloads in highly distributed cloud–edge infrastructures.

We would like to warmly thank all speakers, panelists, and participants, as well as the support we’ve received from the European Commission through both DG CNECT and the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). If you would like to learn more about the project or watch the recordings of the sessions hosted in this end-of-project COGNIT Day 2025, the full information about this event is available here.

Thank you all for being part of the COGNIT journey! 🚀

🇪🇺 This work has been funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program through Grant Agreement SovereignEdge.Cognit – 101092711.