The European Commission’s FIRE programme has brought Europe several large-scale test beds and platforms addressing a broad range of applications, services and technologies for the Future Internet. These facilities have already supported advanced experiments proving that experimentally-driven research and innovation are key mechanisms for the development of the Future Internet. As many of these facilities are mature enough to be opened up for wider use, now is the time to explore ways of making them sustainable after EC or national funding has expired.

Evolution of FIRE: Facilities, Services and Collaboration Strategies for Sustainability, 17-18 March 2014, FIA2014 (http://www.fi-athens.eu/), Athens, hosted by AmpliFIRE, CI-FIRE and FUSION, looks at both the demand and supply side of FIRE facilities to help define pathways towards sustainability by creating a dynamic ecosystem that can continue to evolve over time. The workshop focuses on opportunities for business, service-related, infrastructural, technical and organisational collaboration within and outside FIRE, zooming in on FIRE’s role in relation to the demands of business players and to other large-scale Future Internet Facilities.

On the supply side, the workshop targets potential providers of test beds, FIRE projects, developers and operators from FIRE, the FI-PPP, EIT ICT Labs, Living Labs, as well as national and regional test beds. On the supply side, it is of particular interest to small and medium-sized businesses and large corporations who can gain insight on rekindling innovation and facilitating business creation through new product and service validation across diverse sectors.