HaDEA highlights EU digital projects for World Telecommunication and Information Society Day
EU-funded projects highlighted by HaDEA include Nuanua, EURIDICE, AI4GOV-X, and PUNCH.
The European Health and Digital Executive Agency has highlighted EU-funded projects supporting connectivity, AI skills, digital governance and data network innovation to mark World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.
Observed annually on 17 May, the day marks the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865 and the establishment of the International Telecommunication Union. This year’s edition focuses on connectivity, AI and digital innovation as tools for building more resilient, inclusive and sustainable societies.
HaDEA pointed to Nuanua, a CEF Digital-funded project improving connectivity and resilience in Wallis and Futuna, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific. The project will deploy ground infrastructure for Medium Earth Orbit satellites using O3b mPOWER technology to provide an alternative route to the territory’s single submarine cable connection.
The agency also highlighted EURIDICE, funded under the Digital Europe Programme, which supports advanced digital skills through interdisciplinary education combining AI, machine learning, data science, cybersecurity, law, humanities and social sciences.
Another Digital Europe project, AI4GOV-X, focuses on helping public administrations use AI and digital technologies in a trustworthy way. It provides training and capacity-building for civil servants, policymakers and digital governance professionals working on AI-driven public services.
HaDEA also cited PUNCH, funded under Horizon Europe Cluster 4, which is developing optical switching technologies to improve the performance and efficiency of data networks. The project aims to reduce congestion, power consumption and transmission costs while supporting reliable, low-latency communications in industrial 5G and data centre testbeds.
Why does it matter?
The projects show how EU digital funding is being spread across different layers of digital transformation: connectivity infrastructure, advanced skills, public-sector AI capacity and more efficient data networks. Together, they reflect the EU’s effort to link digital innovation with inclusion, resilience and sustainability rather than treating connectivity and AI as separate policy areas.
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