Cloud Computing is a new step in the development of the Internet and enables users to migrate their data, emails, applications, and all new workload demands to virtual systems that can be accessed at any time and from any place, provided there is a permanent connection to the Internet.The first part of the paper reviews basic Cloud Computing concepts, implementation models (Private Cloud, Community Cloud, Public Cloud, Hybrid Cloud), service models (SaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as Service (IaaS)), while the second part sets forth an integrated Cloud Computing solution for Romanian public institutions through the ICIPRO project.The implementation of Cloud's technical solution proved to be successful being a first initiative on Cloud Computing designed for Romanian public sector entities.

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The rise of Web-based publishing and the increase of electronic usage has triggered profound changes in academic publishing and has determined national governments to take some forms of action designed to actively promote and support the publication of high-quality scientific literature produced in their own country. Considering the spread of ICT technologies nowadays, an online platform was developed in order to encourage participation in the grant competition for Romanian scholarly publications and establish a digital connection between the main actors involved in the process. In this context, the article presents the system architecture, development and outcomes. Building such a platform has required gathering and studying accurate information for data aggregation and user experience, having in mind a scalable design for requirements update or further developments. The system revolves around digitally connecting three major actors -publisher, evaluator, competition organizer. For ensuring the platform's reliability and preventing failures, user-centric tests were developed and set to run automatically at specific triggers, such as code submission. The platform contributes to the transparency of the entire grant management process, substantial reduction of the time for submission, and streamlining of the evaluation procedures. The web platform has been effectively developed, implemented and regularly used by both publishers and reviewers in the latest Romanian grant competitions.