The DigNA portfolio, an initiative of the European Innovation Council (EIC) created to explore scalable and reliable high-throughput approaches for using DNA as a general data-storage medium, gathered all projects for the third in-person meeting ahead of the “Storage and Computing with DNA 2026” (SCDNA26) conference from 27 – 29 May 2026 in Rome, Italy. SCDNA26 is a leading international event that brings together researchers, industry leaders, policymakers and innovators on the future of sustainable, long-term DNA-based data storage.
PEARL-DNA, as a member of the DigNA portfolio along with eight other similar projects funded under the 2022 EIC Pathfinder challenge on DNA-based digital data storage, participated in the DigNA in-person meeting that took place before SCDNA26 on Tuesday, 26 May 2026. The event started in the afternoon with an introduction and presentation of results by Isabel Obieta Vilallonga, an EIC Program Manager who is actively involved in the DigNA portfolio, and was followed with a keynote speech on valorisation and the commercialization of DigNA’s intellectual property by Dr. Robert Harrison, a patent attorney of counsel from Sonnenberg Harrison. The subsequent parallel sessions focused on discussions on common challenges with universities and on the preparation of presentations to the Steering Committee. Afterwards, all participants and DigNA members were able to share, connect and present their posters, which included one from PEARL-DNA partners on “PEARL-DNA – Revolutionizing Sustainable DNA-Based Data Storage”.
