You will probably see the term "3C Initiative" often on this website, so let's explain what it means, and why it matters for Europe's digital future.
Two journeys, one destination
For years, Europe advanced its digital infrastructure along two parallel tracks. On one side, the Cloud-Edge-IoT community worked to connect devices, data and computing power across the continent. On the other, the telecom and smart networks community drove Europe's progress from 5G towards 6G.
Two strong ecosystems, each with its own roadmap, its own community, and its own momentum. But the digital services of the future, from AI to autonomous mobility to real-time industrial systems, don't live neatly in one world or the other. They need networks, cloud, edge and devices working together as a single, seamless system.
That meeting point is the 3C Initiative: Connected Collaborative Computing Networks. It represents the moment Europe's cloud story and its telecom story converge into one continuum, a sovereign Telco-Edge-Cloud fabric stretching from the smallest device all the way to the data centre.
Why it matters
Today, Europe depends heavily on non-European providers for its digital infrastructure. Building a strong, sovereign alternative is not about closing the door to the world; it is about giving European industry, and European citizens, a real choice over where their data lives, who governs it, and on whose terms the digital economy of the next decade is built.
A converged, European Telco-Edge-Cloud offers a path to exactly that: infrastructure that is open, interoperable, trusted, and governed under European rules, playing to Europe's genuine strengths in telecoms, open source and industrial know-how.
The pieces of the puzzle
The first phase of the 3C Initiative brings together several complementary Horizon Europe projects, each responsible for a different part of the picture:
- The supply-side Large-Scale Pilot (DATA-08) builds and demonstrates real, end-to-end infrastructure.
- The Open Internet Stack (DATA-11) develops the open building blocks for a sovereign digital infrastructure.
- The Roadmap for Next-Generation Computing Technologies (DATA-10) sets the strategic direction for the computing continuum.
- And INCLUDE acts as the coordination backbone, aligning all of the above with real-world demand, shared governance and a common catalogue of building blocks.
Each project is strong on its own. Together, coordinated rather than fragmented, they form something far greater: a shared foundation for Europe's connected, collaborative computing future.
INCLUDE's role
INCLUDE exists to make sure the pieces connect. By facilitating dialogue between the projects and the wider community, consolidating a shared roadmap, and helping build the trust and governance that turn individual results into a coherent ecosystem, INCLUDE helps the 3C Initiative become more than the sum of its parts.
In the coming months, we'll be sharing much more about each of these building blocks through our #3CExplained series. Follow along as we unpack Europe's digital sovereignty story, one piece at a time.