Most of the reflection and analysis regarding the orientations of the Horizon 2020 work-programmes will take place in ad-hoc Working Groups (WG). The resulting reports or position papers feed into the broader discussion on orientations, which takes place in the plenary meetings.
ICT in Horizon 2020
The CONNECT Advisory Forum (CAF) participated in the definition of orientations and identification of priorities for ICT in Horizon 2020 during the preparation of Work Programme (WP) 2014-15, and more recently Work Programme 2016-17.
For WP2014-15, three working groups dealt with the following aspects of Horizon 2020:
- Leadership in Enabling Industrial Technologies (LEIT-ICT)
- ICT in societal challenges
- Innovation
The report issued by the CAF in May 2013 was an important source of inspiration in the design of ICT contribution to the WP2014-15 of Horizon 2020, not only under the industrial leadership priority but also in the societal challenges and the interlinking between the activities in these areas.
Regarding WP2016-17 the CAF participated in the broad consultation exercise involving all the Advisory Groups of Horizon 2020. The outcome of this collective reflection is expressed in a position paper presented to the Commission in September 2014.
Internet of Things Stakeholder Group
DG CONNECT has asked the CAF to provide advice on EU policy and research initiatives having an impact in the development and deployment of Internet of Things (IoT).
The most prominent aspects of the mandate of the IoT Group are:
- to help ensure that the IoT perspective is consistently taken into account in EU policy making and implementation
- building coalition between industry and Member States on future IoT development
- to consider a longer term perspective, integrating research and regulatory aspects, including ethics and privacy.
The main conclusions and recommendations were presented as discussion papers in several fora and especially at the IoT Week in London in June 2014.