Transformation and Innovation Consortium SPICE to Drive Next-Generation Smart Data Platforms for Digital Transformation

The international project Smart Data Pipelines for the Cognitive Compute Continuum (SPICE.) has officially launched, marking a major step toward transforming how data is gathered, processed, and used across key industrial and scientific sectors.

Funded by the European Union through the Recovery and Resilience Plan of the Slovak Republic, the initiative began in April 2025 and will run for 30 months. It is a part of the Transformation and Innovation Consortia call for proposals.

SPICE brings together a strong consortium of ten partners from Slovakia, Poland, Spain, and Austria, coordinated by the project applicant InterWay a.s. As part of the Transformation and Innovation Consortia programme, the project aims to build a smart, secure, and AI-driven data pipeline platform that supports advanced decision-making across the emerging compute continuum—from cloud to edge to IoT environments.

At the core of S.P.I.C.E. is the development of a novel, human-centric architecture capable of processing vast amounts of heterogeneous data efficiently, transparently, and responsibly. The platform will provide AI-assisted composition of smart data pipelines, optimized resource management, and high-performance data processing tools designed to overcome today’s technical and organizational barriers to large-scale data adoption.

Peter Kišša, CTO and lead IT architect from InterWay, a.s., stated: “SPICE addresses the quality, performance and dependability challenges of data-driven analytics by providing a knowledge-centric platform for distributed data pipelines across the entire compute continuum — from edge devices to cloud environments. The platform is designed to enable secure, transparent, and efficient distributed decision-making for industrial and scientific use cases, empowering Slovak companies to adopt advanced digital capabilities and unlock new innovations and growth opportunities. We are delighted to cooperate with a variety of experts from four European countries, bringing together strong expertise in data engineering, AI, and distributed systems. With this collaboration, we expect SPICE to deliver practical and impactful results that can be adopted beyond the project’s duration.”

The project comprises 18 work packages, covering system architecture, intelligent functions, decentralized data management, resource provisioning, quality assurance, testbed integration, and dissemination. Dedicated work packages will also ensure alignment with European initiatives, including potential integration with the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and European common data spaces.

Five pilot application areas included in the work packages — manufacturing, energy transmission, smart grids, radiology, and histopathology — will validate the platform through real-world use cases. These pilots represent only a fraction of the broader potential of the technology, which is envisioned as a transformation incubator enabling further innovation across industries.

Through its cutting-edge research and collaborative structure, the consortium aims to accelerate Europe’s digital transformation and strengthen its position in advanced data-driven innovation.

Gradiant is a partner of the Smart Data Pipelines for the Cognitive Compute Continuum.

Project Code: 09I02-03-V01-00012

Funded by the European Union from the Slovak Republic’s Recovery and Resilience Plan.