Molecular data storage
Priority Research Programme and Equipments (PEPR)

4 interconnected research projects

Serving digital data storage

Humanity’s memory depends on our ability to manage ever-increasing amounts of data. By 2040, it is estimated that several thousand zettabytes (1021 bytes) of data will need to be stored for periods ranging from a few years to several centuries.

In this context, current storage technologies are insufficient to guarantee the future preservation of such a large amount of data. Storing and archiving it in data centres will not be sustainable in terms of power supply resources and managing equipment obsolescence. The most promising alternative is provided by storing information in the form of DNA, which is stable over very long periods of time and easy to implement.

The five-year objective of the PEPR, and more specifically of the four targeted projects that comprise it, is to deploy the research and infrastructure necessary to accelerate the current speed of the DNA writing/reading cycle by a factor of 100, while reducing its cost by an equivalent factor.