Building the digital future
Amsterdam, October 10, 2002
Note: This press release is also available in Dutch, French, German and Italian.
ITEA Symposium 2002 Amsterdam press
release 10-10-2002
word-document - 229 kB
3rd ITEA Symposium, 10-11 October 2002, Renaissance Amsterdam Hotel
On 10 October 2002, the cream of Europe's software-intensive industries will be meeting in Amsterdam. ITEA - Information Technology for European Advancement - has invited software decision-makers and top speakers from the business and academic community to its third annual symposium, which will be opened by Jaap van Scheijen, Director ICT at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Over 250 people will come together in the impressive surroundings of the Koepelkerk conference centre in the heart of Amsterdam.
ITEA is a pan-European R&D initiative that coordinates industry-driven research in embedded and distributed software in pursuit of its mission to establish European leadership in software-intensive systems. Almost at the halfway stage of its eight-year programme (1999 - 2007), ITEA is now at the heart of embedded and distributed software development in Europe. This year the organisation has been gearing up to enter the final four years of research, armed with a successful 5th Call for Projects and a 6th Call coming up.
So far, 36 projects have been labelled (of which 14 are now finalised) and another 20 are expected to start up in the months to come. In the project presentations on Thursday afternoon, as well as in the project exhibition, team members will showcase this work, using demos and prototypes to demonstrate its impact on industry and society.
Project exhibition & presentations
- A major project exhibition consisting of demos and prototypes of 31 projects will include:
- middleware that adds intelligence to IP routers
- technologies and systems architectures that pave the way for creating context-aware environments (Ambient Intelligence)
- residential gateways that interconnect various TV and non-TV networks inside the home
- A showcase of the technology used for the latest Star Wars film (Digital Cinema project).
- A special session focusing on the latest advances in software engineering. ITEA projects in this area include component-based development and real-time applications. Participants will share ideas about potential synergies, using results, and formulating industrial strategies.
- On Thursday afternoon the results and implications of three key projects will be presented:
- System Family Engineering, which drastically reduces project development costs.
- A platform for component-based mobile applications, which supports mobile networking and access, as well as interaction with 'smart spaces'.
- Enhanced provisioning of terminal-independent Internet applications using high-level APIs.
Keynote speeches
In the main session on Friday morning four distinguished speakers will
explore the implications of ITEA for the future competitiveness of Europe.
- Jean-Charles Hourcade (Senior Vice-President Research & Innovation and CTO at Thomson Multimedia) will review how far we're got in the Digital Transition, focusing on the video chain, from content creation and associated technologies to delivery.
- Cesar Vohringer (Senior Vice-President and CTO at Philips Consumer Electronics) will focus on the Digital Home and the critical role software plays in delivering seamless services and ambient intelligence.
- Prof. Maurizio Decina (Italtel Board member, Director of Science at CEFRIEL, and Professor at Politecnico di Milano) will tackle the subject 'Future Networks beyond 3G' and the challenges ahead for Europe to maintain its lead.
- With France preparing for its upcoming EUREKA chairmanship, Jeanne Seyvet, Director-General of the Department of Industry, Information Technologies and Posts (DIGITIP) at the French Ministry of Economy, Finance & Industry, will discuss cooperation in the European Research Area (ERA) and assess its likely impact on competitiveness.
Second ITEA Achievement Award
During dinner on the Thursday evening, the 2nd ITEA achievement award will be presented. This prestigious
honour highlights a concrete example of true European collaboration that promotes the ITEA programme and its
goals. A major factor in deciding this year's award was exploitation. As ITEA aims to make Europe's industry
more competitive by developing software-intensive systems, industrial exploitation of the results of
projects is clearly crucial.
Panel discussion
A panel discussion on Friday afternoon on "ERA challenges for building the digital future" will review
the main challenges currently on the digital radar screen and consider what investments are needed to
achieve the goal set at Lisbon in 2000 of making the EU "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based
economy in the world by 2010." This will be chaired by Dr Kees le Pair, from 1981 to 1999 CEO of the Dutch
national research council STW and chairman of the Dutch ICT Taskforce. The panel includes Jeanne Seyvet,
Jaap van Scheijen, Professor Stefan Jähnichen, Managing and Scientific Director of Fraunhofer FIRST, Frans
de Bruïne, Director of the European Commission, Directorate General Information Society, and Jan Lohstroh,
Senior Vice-President of Philips Digital Systems Laboratories and member of the ITEA Board.
About ITEA
Information Technology for European Advancement - ITEA - is Europe's premier cooperative programme for pre-competitive research and development in embedded and distributed software.
ITEA, which was established in 1999 as a EUREKA strategic cluster programme, supports coordinated national funding submissions, providing the link between those who supply finance, technology and software engineering. Issuing annual Calls for Projects, evaluating projects and helping bring research partners together, ITEA plays a prominent role in European software development, with more than 5,000 person-years of R&D invested in the programme so far, and another 10,000 anticipated over the next five years.
ITEA-labelled projects build vital middleware and prepare standards, laying the foundations for the next generation of products, systems, appliances and services. ITEA projects are industry-driven, involving complementary R&D from at least two companies in two countries. The programme is open to partners from large industrial companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as public research institutes and universities.
Founding companies include Alcatel, Barco, Bosch, Bull, DaimlerChrysler, Italtel, Nokia, Philips Electronics, Siemens, Thales, and Thomson multimedia, later joined by the European Federation of high-tech Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). These firms are all leaders in their field, whether in automotive, telecommunications, mobile communication, consumer electronics or information technology.
For more information, please contact:
Anne van der Linden
PR/Communications
ITEA Office
Tel: +31 (0)40 247 5590
Fax: +31 (0)40 247 5595
Email:
[email protected]
