“e-Infrastructures for excellent science in Southeast Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean” conference will be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, on 15-16 May 2018. The conference will be a unique opportunity for regional scientists to showcase their work in selected research fields relevant for the region, as well as for presenting the latest achievements resulting from the collaboration of countries in the region of Southeast Europe and Eastern Mediterranean in the area of e-Infrastructures and their use. The conference will gather e-Infrastructure providers, scientists and researchers, and the policy makers from the region and beyond.

Prof. Ivan Dimov, Deputy Minister for Education and Science, Bulgaria, will open the conference on 15 May. Dr Augusto Burgueno Arjona, Head of the e-Infrastructure & Science Cloud Unit of the European Commission will provide a keynote presentation on the EOSC implementation roadmap. The conference will provide a holistic view on the history, present status and perspectives of the regional e-Infrastructure collaboration, including the analysis of the key developments and regional contribution to the European goals. Further, digital services for Open Science offered in the framework of the H2020 VI-SEEM project will be presented, as well as the flagship Digital Cultural Heritage user Community of South East Europe & Eastern Mediterranean, and the regional perspective of the Bulgarian e-Infrastructures.

The first day of the event will close with a panel to discuss regional collaboration for research, education and technological development and the value of regional e-Infrastructures for scientific achievements in the region.

The second day is dedicated to scientific results in the areas of climatology, life sciences and digital cultural heritage, which have been achieved using the integrated regional e-Infrastructure VI-SEEM platform. Also, a poster session will feature further research projects from these fields. Also a number of related regional and pan-European initiatives from the 3 relevant scientific fields will present their views.