Research and education can transform the internet's foundation

The Global Digital Infrastructure Institute (GDI Institute) is an independent, university-based network for education, research, and public engagement on data centers, subsea and terrestrial networks, and the energy and water they depend on. Anchored at UC Berkeley, the Institute spans universities worldwide.

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Digital infrastructure is scaling faster than the research, education, and public understanding around it.

> $8 trillion

Projected cumulative investment in global digital infrastructure through 2030, spanning data centers, networks, and satellites.

~950 TWh

Projected electricity demand from data centers by the end of this decade, about 3% of global consumption.

Industry needs people

Companies are looking for the next generation of engineers, operators, planners, and policy specialists, and few programs prepare them.

The public needs answers

Governments and communities now depend on digital infrastructure and are asked to make decisions about it without trusted, accessible information.

Expertise is fragmented

Research sits in separate engineering, policy, business, and environmental departments, and no single institution brings it together.

One institute, three pillars

We work toward digital infrastructure that is responsible, sustainable, resilient, and equitable.

Education

Courses, fellowships, and pathways that teach students to design, operate, regulate, study, and govern digital infrastructure. Our core curriculum is open source for partner universities and colleges.

Explore education

Research

Peer-reviewed, faculty-led research on energy, water, communities, workforce, policy, and resilience, including the Digital Infrastructure Living Lab at UC Berkeley.

Explore research

Public engagement

Plain-language guides, policy briefs, community tools, and convenings that put credible information in front of the people making decisions. We do not lobby.

Explore public engagement

Industry informs. Faculty decide.

The Institute exists to hold expertise from many sectors together under independent academic governance. Companies and funders can share problems, data, and expertise. They cannot set the research agenda or direct findings.

How we protect independence

Our safeguards

Academic governance. Faculty set the research agenda, programs, and publications.
Industry informs, but does not decide. Research design, findings, and publication stay with researchers.
Open and transparent. Peer review, open datasets, and public disclosure of partners and funding sources.

The Digital Infrastructure Living Lab

A working testbed on the UC Berkeley campus at Richmond Field Station where faculty and students run experiments in sustainable digital infrastructure: liquid-cooled AI racks, live digital twins, solar integration, and later heat reuse and agricultural connections.

We are building it with the Singapore Tropical Data Centre Testbed at the National University of Singapore, so findings can be checked in a very different climate.

See the research programs

Phase 1

Rack-scale liquid cooling and physical digital twins. Digital infrastructure and solar.

Phase 2

Heat reuse and agricultural connections. Green AI.

About 500 kW of scalable capacity, with 10 standard racks for AI workloads.

Study digital infrastructure at Berkeley

The GDI certificate program is the Institute’s first and proven offering: an interdisciplinary curriculum developed over five years, with more than 70 academic disciplines represented among enrolled students.

Learn about the certificate