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Post from the editorial team
“Greening” the Cloud
--- Posted by Tony Gore, project Manager of FP7 Project EuroCloud
With the rise in mobility in computing e.g. smartphones, tablets etc, the amount of computing concentrated in remote systems such as datacentres is rapidly increasing. However, these datacentres are always on, 24/7, with standby power generators. The power consumption of these datacentres is more or less constant, whether they are working hard or idle.
Staying longer and safer at home with Kompaï, the companion robot
--- Posted by Vincent Dupourqué, project coordinator of AAL-DOMEO project
Having started developing service robots in the 80s by founding a company called ROBOSOFT, I was wondering how the robotic technologies could be used to help people, not only for military, space or industrial applications.
The AAL programme gave me the opportunity to develop this idea by funding a project called DOMEO, whose goal is to develop a robotic platform for personalized homecare services, as well as cognitive and physical assistance.
ICT Proposers' Day 2012
--- Posted by the DG CONNECT's team responsible for ICT Proposer's Day
Last week we were in Warsaw for ICT Proposers' Day – the major networking event to promote ICT research and development in Europe. More than 1500 participants from all over the world were present.
The two-day information fair took place at the International Expocentre and was organized into five thematic villages grouping the main topics of the ICT Work Programme 2013.
Time to experiment with new policy making models and platforms?
The advent of social networks has opened up new perspectives for policy making. They give voice to anyone and allow their members to organise into groups and ultimately contribute to policy debates at local, national and international levels.
Entire movements such as "Occupy" would not have come into existence without the support of social networks. Though many consider social networks to be a significant step towards democratic participation in policy debates, their actual influence on policy decisions remains difficult to measure or assess.
One of the advantages of social networks is that members can post any piece of information in whatever format. A potential drawback of this, however, is that it becomes difficult to automatically extract knowledge and use it to build evidence for actual policy decisions.
The ARAKNES project: the future gold standard for minimally invasive surgery
--- Posted by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna team, coordinator of FP7 ARAKNES project ARAKNES is currently running the last months of the project, with the final aim to validate and demonstrate system capabilities and potentialities. In the spirit of Minimally Invasive Surgery, the ARAKNES project stems from the innovative idea to transfer the technologies of bimanual laparoscopic surgery to the endoluminal surgical approach, thus further reducing operative trauma and enhancing therapeutic outcome of minimally invasive procedures for most abdominal procedures. In this framework, the ultimate goal of ARAKNES is to integrate the advantages of traditional open surgery, laparoscopic surgery, and robotics surgery into a deeply innovative system for bi-manual, ambulatory, tethered, visible scar-less surgery, based on an array of smart microrobotic instrumentation.
ICT Competitiveness Week: Crossing the chasm between Research and Innovation
--- Posted by Gérald Santucci, DG CONNECT, Knowledge Sharing
"The essence of competitiveness", said Jack Welch - former CEO of General Electric - once, "is liberated when we make people believe that what they think and do is important - and then get out of their way while they do it." This is essentially the intention of the European Commission Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology - DG CONNECT - as we are approaching the ICT Competitiveness Week - a series of workshops and consequential conversations among more than 300 invited experts who have been purposely invited in Brussels over the period from 17th to 20th of September.
Competitiveness is currently ranking high on the agenda of policy makers. In particular, ICT has put policy makers in a fast-changing environment, where new technologies and new businesses practices call for a continuous rethinking of their policies.
Commercial exploitation of ICT research can make a difference in our lives
--- Posted by Willy Van Puymbroeck, DG CONNECT, Head of unit: Components
Sometimes it might be hard to grasp the real-life effects of the technical ICT research projects that the EU funds. This can especially be the case with projects in areas like micro-nanosystems and nanoelectronics. To get a better idea we asked 18 of our already finished projects that had created patent applications within the EU's Seventh Framework Programme - FP7 -, what they have done with the results of their project.
Many answers we got from the project partners were exhilarating, some were less so and some said that the results will still take time to be exploited. What we did learn was that there are many partners - mostly small and medium-sized enterprises - that already have market activities based on the results of these projects. This was a very promising result since the projects that we looked at had only been finished for a maximum of about two years.
EU Research funding and bringing the good news: innovation for sustainable economy
-- Posted by Mário Campolargo, Director CONNECT E, Net Futures
On the 09 July I went to Lisbon to announce the last and largest set of calls for proposals for research under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7).
An earmarked €8.1 billion is to fund projects and ideas in crucial domains of human health, environment protection, urbanisation (smart cities), resources management, clean and secure energy. A package worth up to €1.2 billion will be given to support SMEs and to help them innovate and grow. ICT alon takes the largest share of the funding receiving €1.5 billion. The funding is open to organisations and businesses in all EU Member States and partner countries.
As a country Ambassador, my going to Lisbon is more than business as usual. It is always a mission back to the roots and the better the news the bigger own’s satisfaction.
If “knowledge is the global currency of today” and “ICT the new oil for economy” we should be optimistic about the European exit from today’s crisis.
€1 of EU Framework Programme funding leads to an increase in industry added value of between €7 and €14. The expected long-term macro-economic impact of the FP7 amounts to 900,000 jobs, of which 300,000 in research.
The event in Lisbon was attended by some 80 persons that would act as multipliers of the news. I believe it is important to use the Commission Representations in the Member States as important relays. This is very often where the news is truly picked-up and spread to the citizen.
It is also a part of a personal satisfaction to know that Commission Representation in Portugal is particularly keen on hosting research-related information sessions.
I had the opportunity to meet Zeinal Bava, the CEO of PT later when we had a frank debate regarding regulatory regimes and innovation priorities.
With the announcement of the Digital Champion, Mr Antonio Murta, I am looking forward to help unlocking the innovative power that exists in Portugal.
Twitter: @MarioCampolargo
ICT PROPOSERS' DAY – Warsaw – 26/27 September 2012
- Posted by Alessandro Barbagli, Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology,, Programme Coordination unit
Making the internet a better place for kids
- Posted by Robert Madelin, Director General of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology
I have enjoyed chairing on 11.07.2012 a full day's discussion with a broad range of stakeholders. We have reviewed progress since Neelie launched with key CEOs a coalition to deliver urgent coordinated action on this point.
There were 5 key action points:
- Simple and robust reporting tools: easy-to-find and recognisable features on all devices to enable effective reporting and responses to content and contacts that seem harmful to kids;
- Age-appropriate privacy settings: settings which take account of the needs of different age groups (such settings determine how widely available a user's information is; for example whether contact details or photos are available only to close contacts rather than to the general public);