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II PROGRAM TEMATYCZNY

"User-friendly information society"

II Program Tematyczny zawiera 4 akcje kluczowe (oznaczone tu literą "a"), 1 akcję ogólną dla badań i rozwoju techniki ( "b") oraz 2 akcje wspierające infrastrukturę badawczą ("c").

2a1. Systems and services for the citizen
2a2. New methods of work and electronic commerce
2a3. Multimedia content and tools
2a4. Essential technologies and infrastructures
2b1. Future and emerging technologies
2c1. Broadband Interconnection of National Research and Education Networks
2c2. Advanced European Experimental Testbeds


A. THE GENERAL OUTLINES, THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL OBJECTIVES AND THE PRIORITIES

We are undergoing a fundamental transformation: from an industrial society to the information society. Information society technologies increasingly pervade all industrial and societal activities and are accelerating the globalisation of economies, in particular by providing SMEs with new ways to access to the global marketplace, and societies.

Europe's industrial competitiveness, its jobs, its quality of life and the sustainability of growth depend on it being at the leading edge of the development and take-up of information society technologies. Also, by enabling communities in remote and rural areas to overcome isolation and to compete in the global economy, information society technologies contribute to cohesion in the European Union.

At the same time, the technologies underpinning the development of the information society are in rapid evolution. Advances in information processing and communications are opening up exciting new possibilities. There is a shift from stand-alone systems to networked information and processes. Digitisation is resulting in the convergence of information processing, communications and media. Content is of increasing significance. However, the increasing diversity and complexity of systems is also presenting new challenges for their development and use.

It will not be possible to realise the full potential of the information society in Europe with only today's technologies and applications. Key requirements such as usability, dependability, interoperability and, above all, affordability are far from being sufficiently met for the broad deployment of information society technologies (i.e. information and communication technologies, systems, applications and services) in all areas. Continuous efforts are required, in research, technological development, demonstration and technology take-up.

Strategic Objectives of the Programme

The strategic objective of the Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme is to realise the benefits of the information society for Europe both by accelerating its emergence and by ensuring that the needs of individuals and enterprises are met.

The programme has four inter-related specific objectives, which both focus the technology developments and enable the close articulation between research and policy needed for a coherent and inclusive information society. For the private individual the objective is to meet the needs and expectations of European citizens for high-quality, affordable general-interest services. Addressing the requirements and concerns of Europe's enterprises, workers and consumers the objective is to enable both individuals and organisations to innovate and be more effective and efficient in their work and business, whilst at the same time improving the quality of the individual's working life. Multimedia content is central to the information society; the objective here is to confirm Europe as a leading force in this field and enable it to realise the potential of its creativity and culture. For the essential technologies and infrastructures that form the building blocks of the information society the objective is to drive their development, enhance their applicability and accelerate their take up in Europe.

Novelty of the approach. Community-funded research in information and communication technologies and applications is integral to the overall strategy of the European Union for the information society, which was defined by the Action Plan 'Europe's way towards the information society' and revised in the Action Plan adopted in November 1996. The Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme introduces a new approach to the information society theme of the Framework Programme.

Integration The context, rationale and objectives of the IST Programme necessitate a single and integrated programme which reflects the convergence of technologies and media and of industries and markets, together with the increasing significance of content, and responds to the need to integrate research and development and take-up actions. To this effect, this programme consists of a set of four key actions centred on the four specific objectives and a specific activity on longer-term or higher-risk research on future and emerging technologies. These activities complement each other and are derived by grouping together the technologies, systems, applications and services and the research and development and take-up actions with the greatest affinity or interdependence. Each activity has its own specific focus and priorities, however, the key issues of usability, interoperability, dependability and affordability will be addressed ubiquitously throughout the programme.

Cross-programme themes The coordination and integration of the activities through a single work programme allows a "theme" that cuts across the programme (e.g. interfaces, mobility or satellite-related activities) to be addressed in a coherent manner in more than one activity, each concentrating on and contributing from its particular perspective. Clustering and concertation will be used to focus, coordinate and integrate activities. Work, spanning the programme, will be undertaken on integrated application platforms to provide seamless interaction between citizens, businesses and administrations - these will be demonstrated and assessed in "digital sites", encompassing cities or regions, paving the way to "digital communities" in urban, rural and remote areas, and will be appropriately coordinated with initiatives in the Structural Funds. It will build on activities from all parts of the programme.

Flexibility The technological scope of the activities provides the flexibility to re-focus over time, through the single rolling work programme (defined in consultation with the key actors), to respond to changes in industrial and societal needs and the technological context.

Socio-economic needs. A vast range of goods, services and processes are being transformed through the integration and use of information society technologies. Work will target the quantitative and qualitative benefits that information society technologies offer in all industrial and societal activities, from more competitive methods of working and doing business to higher-quality, lower-cost general interest services or new forms of leisure and entertainment. It will take account of the ageing population and the necessity to remove discriminating factors, such as gender bias, and the need to contribute to increasing resource efficiency and reducing environmental impact. Socio-economic research, together with the results of other Community initiatives that identify needs for information society technologies, such as regional programmes, will be integrated throughout the programme, to support the take-up of information society technologies, and into its management. As too will be work on statistics, which are central to the information society and for which information society technologies offer new ways to attain the highest standards of quality and the widest and most rapid and accessible dissemination. Particular attention will be paid to ensuring that the "innovation dimension" is actively addressed, and to stimulating and supporting the participation of SMEs, so as to contribute to the effective take-up of research results for economic and societal benefit.

European added value. Realising the full potential of the information society requires technologies, infrastructures, applications and services, accessible and usable by anyone, anywhere, anytime, whether it be for business or individual use. Collaborative research and technological development is needed to create both the critical efforts and the interoperability necessary to ensure this in Europe. Pan-European research is also needed to ensure that content, together with its creation and use, properly reflects and exploits the EU's cultural diversity and many languages.

European competitiveness. Information society technologies are integrated in or support products and processes in all sectors of the economy. To be competitive in the global marketplace Europe needs to master both the supply and use of information society technologies. To this end, to accelerate the realisation of knowledge as innovation, this programme integrates actions to stimulate the take-up of information society technologies with the research and technological development to ensure that the conditions and requirements for their use can be met. In addition to demonstrations and trials, these include actions to stimulate the development and diffusion of the skills necessary to take-up research and development results (such as validations, assessments, awareness building, first-user actions and best-practice initiatives) and consensus building and standardisation activities.

B. LINKS AND COMPLEMENTARITY WITH THE OTHER PROGRAMMES

Articulation with the other thematic programmes is based on concentrating the activities concerned with the development, demonstration and take-up of information society technologies in this programme and concentrating their deployment (domain-specific integration research as well as use) in specific domains in the other thematic programmes. Close coordination will be established with other programmes and relevant policy initiatives in areas where the deployment of information society technologies plays a critical role. Particular attention will be paid to the programmes covering manufacturing, transport, the environment and health care. In the case of satellite-related activities, these will be coordinated with related activities in other programmes in the context of the Commission's Space Coordination Group. In accordance with Article 6 of the European Parliament and Council Decision on the fifth framework programme, the utmost respect will be ensured for human rights and fundamental ethical principles in all the activities under the specific programme.

Reflecting the global nature of the information society, international cooperation will play a major role in the development and take-up of information society technologies. This will be reflected in the participation in and operation of this programme, including support for international initiatives such as IMS (Intelligent Manufacturing Systems), and in its linkages with the programme on 'Confirming the international role of European research' addressing support for organisations from third countries. Specific activities to facilitate the participation of organisations from third countries and to maintain links with European-trained specialists in third countries will also be used in addressing the international dimension of the programme. Where appropriate, work will complement and be coordinated with that in the COST framework. Innovation activities integrated throughout the programme will provide a focus for the promotion of the deployment and use of results stemming from this programme and help ensure complementarity with and interface to innovation activities carried out within the programme 'Innovation and participation of SMEs'. In addition, links with EUREKA, Trans-European Network actions and the Structural Funds will be used to establish routes and mechanisms for the further take-up and the deployment of results. Links with the programme on 'Innovation and participation of SMEs' will complement the actions to facilitate the effective participation of SMEs that are integrated in this programme. The work on skills development and socio-economic research integrated in this programme will be enhanced through the appropriate links with the horizontal programme on 'Improving human potential' and European Social Fund initiatives. This programme's work on 'Research networking' will interface with the 'Improving human potential' programme's support for access to large computing facilities and with the 'support for research infrastructure' activities of the other thematic programmes.

Full use will be made of the possibilities offered by COST and EUREKA, and by cooperation with international organisations, to foster synergy between actions and projects in this programme and nationally funded research activities. In the case of cooperation with EUREKA, projects corresponding to priority themes of common interest may be developed in the context of the key actions.

C. KEY ACTIONS

2a1. Systems and services for the citizen

Objectives and RTD priorities

The aim of this work is to foster the creation of the next generation of user-friendly, dependable, cost-effective and interoperable general-interest services, meeting user demands for flexible access for everybody, from anywhere, at any time. Work includes RTD addressing the whole of the key action, as well as specific RTD in the following fields: health; special needs, including ageing and disability; administrations; environment; and transport. Certain of the ubiquitous issues addressed throughout the whole of this programme will be taken up further in order to pay due consideration to the needs and expectations of the typical users in this key action, in particular the usability and acceptability of new services, including the security and privacy of information and the socio-economic and ethical aspects.

  • Health. Work will cover new generation computerised clinical systems, advanced telemedicine services and health network applications to support health professionals, continuity of care and health service management, and intelligent systems allowing citizens to assume greater participation and responsibility for their own health.

  • Persons with special needs, including the disabled and the elderly. Work will address person/system interfaces and adaptive and assistive systems to overcome problems caused by environmental barriers and by physical or intellectual impairments, as well as intelligent systems and services to support autonomous living, social integration and participation in the information society.

  • Administrations. Work will focus on multimedia systems and services addressing the specific needs of all types of administrations (e.g. Community, national, regional, local), in particular to support the widening and deepening of the EU, and offering interactive services to citizens and/or making them available at natural meeting-points for people, especially in remote and rural areas. Attention will be paid to improving effectiveness and internal efficiency.

  • Environment. Work will focus on new generation monitoring, forecasting and decision-support systems and services, addressing both external and internal environments, for administrations, industries and the public, together with advanced systems and services for the identification, assessment, monitoring and prevention of risks, and for the management and mitigation of emergencies, both natural and man-made (including anti-personnel landmines).

  • Transport and tourism. Work will address IST development, validation and demonstration of intelligent infrastructure and vehicle systems for the management of all modes of transport, including for intermodal operations and "mobility chains" for freight and passengers, for safety and operational efficiency in all modes, supporting inter alia actions in "Competitive and Sustainable Growth", as well as for information, mobility and tourism related systems and services.

    2a2. New methods of work and electronic commerce

    Objectives and RTD priorities

    The aim of this work is to develop information society technologies to enable European workers and enterprises, in particular SMEs, to increase their competitiveness in the global marketplace, whilst at the same time improving the quality of the individual's working life, through the use of information society technologies to provide the flexibility to be free from many existing constraints on both working methods and organisation, including those imposed by distance and time. It covers both the development and the trading of goods and services, in particular in the electronic marketplace, and takes into account the different requirements of the individual worker, consumer and of businesses and organisations, and includes the related training. Considerations of the global context, in particular the rapid evolution of the marketplace, and socio-economic factors will guide the work, and the objective will be to develop and demonstrate world-best work and business practices, exploiting European strengths such as electronic payments, smart cards, mobile systems, software for business process modelling and enterprise management and consumer protection.

  • Flexible, mobile and remote working methods and tools. Work will focus on enabling, validating and demonstrating competitive, flexible and human-centred work methods and organisation, including in administrations and non-profit organisations, by means of an integrated approach to the combination of business process and work organisation, human resource management, and information society technologies, informed by socio-economic and legal requirements analysis and considerations of the global context and actual business practice. It will address the needs of workers, enterprises and consumers alike. Best-practice pilots and scaleable demonstrations, together with dissemination actions to stimulate broad experimentation and adoption will be major features of the work.

  • Management systems for suppliers and consumers. Work will focus on seamless end-to-end support, covering both tangible and intangible products, for electronic trading and distributed virtual enterprises and marketplaces. It will cover applications or systems for interactions within and between consumers, individual entrepreneurs, businesses and administrations. It will address both business and work processes covering the full value chain and the information society technologies needed to support them.

  • Information security. Work will focus on technologies to boost trust and confidence in the information infrastructure, and in its services and information resources, as being reliable, efficient and user-friendly for new methods of work and doing business. This includes protecting information integrity, managing intellectual property rights, enhancing privacy and techniques for combating computer crime.

    2a3. Multimedia content and tools

    Objectives and RTD priorities

    The aim of this work is to improve the functionality, usability and acceptability of future information products and services to enable linguistic and cultural diversity and contribute to the valorisation and exploitation of Europe's cultural patrimony, to stimulate creativity, and to enhance education and training systems, in particular for lifelong learning. Work will cover new models, methods, technologies and systems for creating, processing, managing, networking, accessing and exploiting digital content, including audiovisual content. An important research dimension will be new socio-economic and technological models for representing information, knowledge and know-how. The work will address both applications-oriented research, focusing on publishing, audiovisual, culture and education and training and generic research in language and content technologies for all applications areas, and will include validation, take-up, concertation and standards.

  • Interactive electronic publishing and digital heritage and cultural content. For interactive electronic publishing, work will focus on new publishing and media paradigms for both commercial and private use (including the evolution of the World-Wide-Web). It will address future publishing systems able to handle new combinations of content and to provide users with new levels of interaction and control, and cover new forms of content such as virtual objects, in multi-user environments, or immersive, animated content. Three fast-evolving application areas will be addressed: knowledge publishing, in particular for scientific and business content; lifestyle publishing, in particular for news, entertainment and information for the citizen; and geographic and statistical information, including related socio-economic information, particularly where complex information needs new presentation forms for the non-specialist user. The work on digital heritage and cultural content will aim to improve access to cultural patrimony, facilitate its valorisation and stimulate cultural development by expanding the key contribution of libraries, museums and archives to the emerging "culture economy", including economic, scientific and technological development. Actions will particularly address new digital processes and cover business and economic models, especially those which stimulate new partnerships through networking and new services for the citizen.

  • Education and training. Work will aim at providing the EU with a blueprint for a seamless and cost-effective implementation of advanced technologies for enhancing both education and training systems. This work will focus on the common needs of different teaching and learning processes, on new approaches to lifelong learning, and on innovative ways of integrating multimedia pedagogic material.

  • Human language technologies. Work will focus on advanced human language technologies enabling cost-effective interchanges across language and culture, natural interfaces to digital services and more intuitive assimilation and use of multimedia content. Work will address written and spoken language technologies and their use in key sectors such as corporate and commercial publishing, education and training, cultural heritage, global business and electronic commerce, public services and utilities, and special-needs groups. Work will also include the development of electronic language resources in standard and re-usable formats.

  • Information access, filtering, analysis and handling. Work will focus on advanced technologies for the management of information content to empower the user to select, receive and manipulate (in a manner that respects the user's right to privacy) only that information required when faced with an ever increasing range of heterogeneous sources. Improvements in the key functionalities of large-scale multimedia asset management systems (including the evolution of the World-Wide Web) will support the cost effective delivery of information services and their usage.

    2a4. Essential technologies and infrastructures

    Objectives and RTD priorities

    The aim of this work is to promote excellence in the technologies which are crucial to the information society, to accelerate their take-up and broaden their fields of application. The work will address the convergence of information processing, communications and networking technologies and infrastructures. The focus will be on technologies and infrastructures common to several applications, while those specific to one application only would be addressed in the context of that application in other parts of the Framework Programme.

  • Technologies for and the management of information processing, communications and networks, including broadband, together with their implementation, interoperability and application. The work will focus on the development and convergence of information processing, telecommunications and broadcast network and system technologies.

  • Technologies and engineering for software, systems and services, including high-quality statistics. Work will centre around the development, deployment, operation and evolution of software-intensive systems embedded in goods and services as well as facilitating production and enterprise processes, including technologies and tools for testing and validation at all stages.

  • Real-time and large-scale simulation and visualisation technologies. Work will address the development and integration of advanced simulation and visualisation technologies and environments in all applications. Work will include distributed simulations and shared virtual environments.

  • Mobile and personal communications and systems, including satellite-related systems and services. Work will target the move to an integrated seamless network that ensures global personal connectivity and enables access to wireless multimedia communications and services by anyone, from anywhere, at any time, with capabilities, quality and performance comparable to those of fixed network services.

  • Interfaces making use of the various senses. Work will address the provision of intuitive ways to capture, deliver and interact with systems. Work will include the development and integration of advanced sensor, actuator and display technologies.

  • Peripherals, sub-systems and microsystems. Work will address the need for advanced intelligent (computing and communications) network peripherals which can have multiple functionality yet remain user-friendly. Work on sub-systems will cover the building blocks of information processing and communications systems and networks. Work on intelligent microsystems will, in this context, cover miniaturised systems comprising sensing and/or actuating with processing functions, and normally combining two or more of electrical, mechanical, optical, chemical, organic, biological, magnetic or other properties, integrated onto a single chip or a multichip hybrid.

  • Microelectronics. Work will address materials, equipment, processes, design and test methodologies and tools which enable the development of electronic components, their packaging, interconnection and application. The approach will be system-oriented and application-driven, and will aim at reinforcing strengths and exploiting technological opportunities drawing on appropriate microelectronic technology solutions best filling generic application requirements.

    D. ACTIVITIES FOR GENERIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNOLOGIES

    2b1. "Future and emerging technologies"

    This specific activity on future and emerging technologies will cover research that is of a longer-term nature or involves particularly high risks - compensated by the promise of major advances and the potential for industrial and societal impact. Such research will typically be either transdisciplinary or in an emerging discipline. It will reinforce the link and flow of ideas, initiatives and people between academia and industry in the EU. This activity complements the domain-specific work integrated in each of the key actions.

    To ensure a seamless coverage of the information society technologies the door needs to be kept open to any new idea with a potential industrial or societal impact, in a bottom-up fashion. This openness will need to be reinforced in specific areas with highly focused well-coordinated pro-active initiatives of a strategic nature. Flexibility is essential just as is an appropriate balance between proactive initiatives which need careful, but rapid, planning on the one hand and, on the other hand, openness to new highly promising ideas as they arise.

    The Open Domain

    By definition the topics addressed cannot be prescribed. Project proposals could include, in a non-prescriptive way, knowledge technologies (covering technologies for the representation, creation and handling of knowledge), technologies for computation- or bandwidth-intensive applications, future devices and circuits (including those based on nano, quantum, photonic or bio-electronic effects and technologies for very large scale integration), and ultra-complex systems (such as ultra-high performance computers and super-intelligent networks).

    Proactive Initiatives

    Complementing the open domain, a number of proactive initiatives having a strategic perspective and addressing areas of substantial future growth, where close coordination across different projects is necessary, will be defined in the course of the execution of the programme. The definition of topics will be based on their potential for long-term industrial and societal impact (including employment through "start-ups"), on the opportunity offered by scientific advances or a combination of both. The planning of the proactive initiatives will need to make allowance for the necessity to be able to react rapidly if windows of opportunity present themselves unexpectedly through scientific advances.

    Initiatives will each consist of a set of autonomous but closely coordinated and appropriately networked projects. The networked nature of the initiative could be reinforced with some central research facilities when these provide economies of scale to the participants of multiple projects. For example, experimental shared nano-fabrication facilities, model spaces or communities for experiments in the areas of interfaces or virtual reality, and so forth.

    The actual choices will be made at appropriate times through consultations with the research community, following the setting of an agenda that draws on a very broad body of scientific and technological opinion. In this context, advance knowledge will be sought through a combination of a series of strategic workshops, aimed towards setting trends and research targets, and a technology-watch activity, to be carried out in close cooperation with the JRC's 'Institute for Prospective Studies' and the 'Scientific and Technological Options Assessment' Unit of the European Parliament where appropriate.

    E. SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURES

    "Research networking"

    2c1. Broadband Interconnection of National Research and Education Networks

    The objective is to facilitate the supply of trans-European broadband interconnections between national research, education and training networks at capacities and of a quality matching the aggregated need of Europe's academic and industrial researchers and to keep the resulting network at the forefront of the state of the art. This implies an upgrading of the existing capacity of 34 Mbits/s via 622 Mbits/s to gigabits/s, including support for different levels of 'Quality of Service' and the necessary connectivity to third countries, in the context of the global evolution of the Internet. This aim is to facilitate effective European collaborative research, education and training activities (including the creation of "virtual laboratories" and "virtual institutes"), enabled by the deployment of state of the art Internet-based applications within the academic and industrial research communities. This work will support research in all fields and therefore the whole Framework Programme.

    2c2 Advanced European Experimental Testbeds

    The objective is the integration of leading-edge collaborative research and development, demonstration and take-up activities, from all key actions in this programme, addressing future generations of communication technologies, protocols, services and distributed applications. This experimental interconnection of the testbeds of individual operators, industries, universities and research facilities in Europe (together with necessary connections to third countries) will provide a practical basis for collaborative research efforts (e.g. in photonic networks, service configuration protocols or mobile broadband services). It will also lead to the early availability of the most advanced infrastructure of all types, which will in turn allow for early experiments with advanced applications (e.g. remote high-volume data visualisation, meta-computing or networked immersive virtual reality) requiring very high bandwidth or new services. It will also enable Europe to play a leading role in defining, standardising and validating the next generations of network protocols (including those for the Internet) and other emerging broadband services. It will contribute to the long-term interoperability and seamlessness of advanced network infrastructures, services and applications.

    F. INDICATIVE BREAKDOWN OF THE AMOUNT

    Type of activityTotal
     a)  Key actions 87,0%
           1) Systems and services for the citizen 17,0%
           2) New methods of work and electronic commerce 17,0%
           3) Multimedia content and tools 17,0%
           4) Essential technologies and infrastructures 36,0%
     b)  RTD activities of a generic nature 10,0%
     c)  Support for research infrastructures 3,0%
     TOTAL 3925 MECU

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