In the first reporting period, three DISCOVER-US workshops were held at major international events. From July 14-20, a summer school with four courses on DISCOVER-US research themes took place in Italy.
Additionally, monthly webinars were organized and promoted within the community, with recordings made publicly available.
In preparation of the first DISCOVER-US vision document, an in-person vision workshop took place in Sabaudia, Italy from 24 to 26 June 2024. The workshop welcomed 34 experts from the US and the EU and consisted of a mix of short talks, brainstorming sessions and discussions. The outcome was a set of ideas and topics that formed the basis for the DISCOVER-US Vision 2024 outlining the short-term and mid-term research challenges.
The DISCOVER-US vision paper on "Distributed Computing and Swarm Intelligence," was officially announced during the DISCOVER-US workshop on 22 January 2025 in Barcelona. The paper reflects EU and US researchers’ collective knowledge, experience, and insights, offering a framework for building a robust transatlantic research ecosystem in distributed computing and swarm intelligence.
To follow-up on the progress of the joint collaboration efforts, several coordination meetings with NSF and several coordination meetings with a set of European projects in the research domain of computing continuum, distributed computing and swarm intelligence took place.
The research challenges outlined in the DISCOVER-US vision were used as a basis for research exchanges in the 2025-2026 timeframe. An exchange typically lasts one month.
The first call was opened in July 2024 and closed on 17 October 2024. The first call for exchanges saw a total of 23 applications, all of which built on pre-existing collaborations. Out of the 23 received proposals, 7 applications were selected for funding. The second call opened on 3 February and closes on 2 May 2025.
All grantees and hosts are asked to sign a collaboration agreement before they get their research grant. The people who were selected are monitored throughout their collaboration. At the end of their mobility, they need to write a report and DISCOVER-US then helps them disseminate the results.
The DISCOVER-US project is coordinated by Koen De Bosschere, Ghent University. The DISCOVER-US steering committee meets monthly, either physically or virtually via a conference call. DISCOVER-US has three staff members. Vicky Wandels (UGENT) does the project management, Eneko Illarramendi (UGENT) is the technical officer and Madeleine Gray is the communication officer. The staff members discuss the progress of the project in a bi-weekly conference meeting. In addition, task meetings are organized to discuss the work that needs to be completed for the more complex tasks.
Between 1 January 2024 and 31 March 2025, the DISCOVER-US community grew to 80 experts. DISCOVER-US membership is free but members have to comply with the membership charter. By becoming a member, they enter a dynamic ecosystem that is set to shape the future of distributed computing and intelligence.
The current list of members is available at
https://discover-us.eu/membership/#/members/(opens in new window).
Beyond attracting new members, we also want to retain them by offering them services and opportunities to network and to collaborate. Therefore, we organized events that stimulate the community to connect, and the members to interact.
Our dedicated communication officer assures the high quality of the DISCOVER-US communications. This is done by focussing on several activities: (1) branding and corporate image, (2) promotional material, (3) website news and content updates, (4) social media, (5) monthly newsmails, (6) audio-visual material and (7) media relations.
