Universities should co-invest in research clouds - Science|Business

"Research institutes across Europe should get serious about opening up their giant data troves and co-invest in shared cloud computing facilities, says Jukka Mönkkönen, rector of the University of East Finland.

'It is nonsense that we all operate our own clouds, we should all be co-investing together,' he told Science|Business.

Mönkkönen’s vision is for higher education institutes to step up cooperation to build clouds, not only to save on the expense of server space, but also to better organise the vast amount of knowledge generated across the region. This would create resources scientists could tap easily and cheaply.

'We could separate topics by discipline or theme. The clouds should combine all the issues you can think of. There would be health-specific clouds and climate-clouds,' he said.

Efforts similar to those Mönkkönen describes are underway, but things are not going not fast enough for the rector’s liking."