Nextcloud pilot by SURF Pilot

Why is this pilot a valuable opportunity for your institution? 

The SURF Nextcloud pilot offers your institution a flexible and secure way to explore federative collaboration tools, try out alternatives for big tech and secure cloud storage for education and research. Here’s why it’s worth considering: 

1. A European alternative for your collaboration needs

Many institutions are looking for options that align with public values and European regulations. This pilot lets institutions experience an open collaboration environment based on Nextcloud, a transparent, open-source platform that complements existing tools. It’s an opportunity to expand choices while maintaining full control over your digital environment.

2. More control, more flexibility

Nextcloud offers a self-managed collaboration environment that puts institutions in charge of key functions like communication, data storage, and document management. This means: 

• Greater autonomy over how you handle (sensitive) data.
• Seamless integration with current IT infrastructure.
• The freedom to adapt the platform to the institution’s unique needs.

3. A trusted platform with a strong track record

Nextcloud was selected for its ability to meet important criteria: 

• European compliance: as a German company, Nextcloud operates in full accordance with European laws and regulations.
• Open standards: built on open-source technology, it ensures transparency and interoperability.
• Collaboration without boundaries: Nextcloud supports secure integration and federated collaboration, making it easier to work across institutions. 

4. A central platform for collaboration 

Nextcloud is designed to work alongside your existing services, whether it’s email, calendars, or authentication. It’s a versatile addition to IT toolkits, helping create a future-ready digital workspace.

All technical details can be found in the wiki

Extensive experience at SURF 

At SURF we already have extensive experience with the products and software provided by Nextcloud. Since 2014, we have used several components of Nextcloud Hub for file storage, sharing, synchronization, and real-time document editing features for multiple services. We also gained experience with the full collaborative environment during the Nextcloud Proeftuin (2023) and the AlgoSoc pilot (2025). This means institutions can start with confidence, knowing the platform is reliable and well-supported. 

What does the pilot involve?   

The pilot launched in January 2026 for a period of 12 months, during which we are testing a collaborative environment together with our members to gain practical experience in the areas of usability, governance, and technical settings. Using these insights, we explore how this environment can support safe, autonomous, and collaborative working across the entire sector. Based on the experiences gained during the pilot, we will determine the future roadmap for collaboration tools at SURF. 

Goals for the pilot 

The main goal of the pilot is exploring possible scenarios for an open collaboration environment under our own control. At this moment, we identify these 3 scenarios:  

• Side by side
  For different types of target groups or types of data we offer various specialized collaboration environments.
• Replacement
  We’re going for 1; one collaboration environment replaces others.
• Backup
  One collaboration environment that serves as a backup for others or that we use as an emergency facility. 

During the pilot we look at the following aspects by exploring and validating the collaborative environment: 

• Architecture: Identify the most suitable setup (single instance, multiple centrally managed instances, or a federated model) and assess its impact on performance, collaboration, management, costs, and scaling.
• User experience: Evaluate usability for lecturers, researchers, staff, and students, and identify improvements for adoption and workflow integration.
• Collaboration and interoperability: Test secure cross-institution collaboration, including guest users, and assess necessary system integrations.
• Management and governance: Determine effective structures for administration, decision-making, responsibilities, and support between SURF and institutions.
• Security and privacy: Ensure compliance with laws and regulations, resilience against incidents, and alignment with public values.
• AI Assistant: Evaluate responsible integration of an AI assistant to support daily tasks while safeguarding privacy. 

What does the pilot environment offer? 

Some features will be gradually enabled as agreements and technical configurations are finalized in coordination with institutions. These include: 

• Integration with existing email services: Configuration depends on both SURF and the institutions, requiring agreements to manage mutual dependencies. Please note that the platform does not provide an email service.
• Calendar: Effective use may require room booking and, potentially, synchronization with existing calendars to avoid managing multiple systems. Insight in the availability of colleagues, including those who are not in the Nextcloud environment but in the Microsoft environment.
• AI assistant: While responsible AI models can be connected, careful evaluation and agreements are needed to ensure responsible use. 

The platform supports authentication via SURFconext, providing secure single sign-on access for all participating institutions.

Who is participating?

 Institutions from all sectors (from vocational education to universities and university medical centers) are taking part in the Nextcloud pilot. 

Planning and roadmap

The pilot started in January 2026 and is organised in 5 phases: 

1. Preparation (January-February): Establish project organisation, select pilot participants, set up the technical environment, and conduct communication and onboarding activities. We expect the environment to be ready for support staff by February 1 and for end users by March 1, potentially using a phased rollout.
2. Execution (March-October): Active use of Nextcloud, collecting feedback, and monitoring usage and performance.
3. Mid-term evaluation (June): Interim report with initial findings, issues, and improvement suggestions.
4. Final evaluation (November): Evaluation sessions with users and institutions and analysis of results.
5. Reporting and decision-making (December): Final report and advice on continuation or scaling of the platform. 

Roadmap

• 2026: Nextcloud pilot by SURF to explore possible scenarios for an open collaboration environment under our own control.
• 2027: Advice and decision by the SURF members on the final phase of service development.
• 2028: In case of success and on condition of a positive advice by the SURF members, a new collaboration environment that serves as either a replacement or an addition could be made available as a SURF service in 2028. If the direction is chosen to develop the solution as a backup, a different approach and time schedule will apply.