The CoGNETs project, an EU-Japan Horizon Europe initiative, has officially launched with a Kick-Off Meeting held on July 16-17, 2024, hosted at the CERTH Campus in Thessaloniki, Greece. This event marked the beginning of an exciting journey toward advancing IoT-to-Cloud systems through swarm intelligence and adaptive, self-organizing networks.
Setting the Stage for Innovation
As industries increasingly depend on interconnected devices, the need for smarter, autonomous networks is paramount. CoGNETs—Continuums of Game NETs: Swarm Intelligence as Information Processing—aims to bridge this gap by developing a Middleware Framework that enables IoT, Edge, and Cloud devices to autonomously manage data and services.
The Kick-Off Meeting in Thessaloniki provided a crucial platform for the CoGNETs consortium, which brings together leading research institutions, industry pioneers, and innovative SMEs from Europe and Japan. Over two days of intensive discussions, partners aligned on key objectives, refined technological approaches, and set the groundwork for collaboration in the coming months.
Engaging Discussions and Strategic Planning
Hosted by CERTH (Centre for Research and Technology Hellas), the meeting featured a sequence of overarching and work package presentations stipulating CoGNETs’ core vision and methodologies. The various partners provided insights into their respective project contributions. As the project envisions bringing together objectives related to swarm intelligence, decentralized data processing, and real-time IoT adaptations, key topics included:
- The architecture of the swarm continuums framework.
- AI-driven self-organization for IoT devices.
- Ensuring security and resilience in distributed networks.
- Pilot use cases: Sustainable digital transformation for Industry 4.0, Mobility, and Health 4.0.
The meeting also served as a forum for cross-sector collaboration, with participants from major industry players such as Siemens, AVL, Netcompany-Intrasoft and Meditech, as well as innovative SMEs including Axon Logic, K3Y, Beyond Semiconductor, Ubitech and Martel Innovate. Contribution from academic partners will be brought forward by University of Lancaster, Hellenic Mediterannean University, Avignon Université.
A Milestone for EU-Japan Cooperation
The project reinforces the importance of international collaboration in tackling complex technological challenges. With contributions from Japanese partners like the National Institute of Informatics (NII), AVL Japan and The University of Electro-Communications (UEC), CoGNETs is set to bridge expertise from both continents, ensuring a well-rounded, globally impactful research initiative.
Looking Ahead
Following the successful Kick-Off Meeting, the CoGNETs team is moving forward with a well-defined roadmap, focusing on prototype development, experimental validations, and real-world deployments. The momentum from Thessaloniki will drive further breakthroughs, setting the stage for the next generation of AI-driven IoT ecosystems.
