The European Cloud Initiative implementation encompasses different elements and will require a solid governance setup. Acornerstone of this governance is a Joint Undertaking, planned to start activities in 2019. HPC-GIG proposes intelligence gathering services from the European HPC stakeholders to this future HPC Governance - HPCG. It aims to facilitate atimely start of its operations, transparently and non-intrusively leveraging the HPC community know-how, organised with enough flexibility to align project activities with the programme schedule and needs during its ramp-up phase, and deliver timely and useful input to the HPCG. For this purpose, the project will:

• establish an effective and responsive communication channel with the HPC Governance;
• engage all relevant stakeholders in the HPC and data ecosystem via dynamically managed ad hoc task forces;
• develop knowledge registries and consolidate networks of expertise which may already exist;
• link national and pan-European activities in the field, involving users, implementers and funders participating in theEuropean HPC and Big Data activities;
• organise workshops for stakeholder groups and/or participating in already-existing strategic HPC events;
• create visibility and position the project within the European HPC and data ecosystem.

The project partners are Europe's reference players in the main areas of concern:

• PRACE (Project Coordinator): provider of world-class HPC for scientific and industrial research;
• ETP4HPC: industry-led think tank of European HPC technology stakeholders;
• GEANT: the leading European collaboration providing advanced network, infrastructure and services for research and education.

The project partners are very active stakeholders interested in reaching the ECI objectives. Moreover, their in-depth knowledge of the field and the scope of their contacts will facilitate the involvement of users, implementers and funders from the European HPC ecosysstem.