The HUB4NGI project, together with the European Commission/E3 unit organised an interactive webinar for the Next Generation Internet (NGI) Contact Points in the Member States and in the Associated Countries of the European Union. The webinar was filled with the NGI Contact Points engaged in lively discussion on NGI topics. The nominated Contact Points can be found out in the NGI interactive Map.

The objective of the NGI Contact Points webinar was to go through in practical terms topics on:

● The Next Generation Internet (NGI) in general, including the Background, Roadmap, Activities

● How to organise workshops in the Member States and in the Associated Countries

● The supporting tools for the NGI Contact Points

● The NGI survey.

Peter Fatelnig, Acting Head of the EC Unit E 3, Next Generation Internet, highlighted that the NGI initiative will be an important step for the next decade to come. He presented the current status on NGI in the H2020 ICT-Work Programme 2018-2020 and outlined the current “Pathfinder phase”, where Coordination and Support Action projects together with the NGI Study are working in the first step towards initial target on the NGI Flagship.

Nicole Müssigmann, the Project Officer of the EC Unit E3, introduced guidelines how to organise interactive workshops in the Member States and in the Associated Countries. She presented supporting material including an overall template how the NGI workshop could look like, a workshop report template and follow up material to ensure that the relevant stakeholders are following the NGI initiative.

Timo Lahnalampi (Martel Innovate) and Alexander Mikroyannidis (Open University) from the HUB4NGI project presented available tools for the NGI Contact points including a wide documentation base in the NGI Contact Point file repository, the Futurium/NGI, the NGI Contact Points and their mailing list, and the NGI interactive Map features. The interactive NGI Map is seen as a graphical visualisation of the NGI community, bringing many advantages for participants as follows:

• Benefit from a marketing channel to promote their work and expertise, meaning increased visibility and reach – a match-making tool
• Indicate willingness to be part of a totally new initiative for the development of the future Internet
• Be able to shape and refine the NGI R&D agenda, planned activities and instruments
• Be part of a true pan-European partnership: national – EU – international
• Participate in the NGI activities by fostering collaborations with top-notch players.

Roman Łapacz, HUB4NGI project (PSNC) presented the NGI survey that is addressed to the NGI Contact Points and to the National Contact Points (NCP/ICT). The NGI survey is a tool to collect the information from the European countries in a standardised manner and to build a knowledge database presenting the NGI-related national initiatives and stakeholders in the EU Member States and in the Associated Countries.

The webinar was concluded by Timo Lahnalampi with highlights how we all can influence the NGI topics by:

• Registering in the NGI map https://www.hub4ngi.eu/map/
• Following the NGI initiative on twitter @NGI4eu.
• Taking part in the ongoing discussions and providing your views/ideas about NGI on the interactive NGI Futurium platform
• Taking part in the open consultation process and 'have your say‘, e.g. the NGI open online consultation (of our project partner NLnet)
• Taking part in relevant NGI workshops/events.