| Author (Person) | Rana, Saffina |
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| Series Title | European Voice |
| Series Details | Vol.10, No.26, 15.7.04 |
| Publication Date | 15/07/2004 |
| Content Type | News |
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Date: 15/07/04 THE full range of new information technologies to be developed with EU research funding is now becoming apparent, after almost two years of competition and contract negotiation. Governed by the theme of "ambient intelligence", they are computer and network technologies embedded in everyday objects and processes, to anticipate personal preferences and to adapt to different individuals and situations. They include recognition technologies buried in doors to grant secure access; driver-vehicle interfaces for road and air safety and sensors to monitor phobias and sleep deprivation. The work is a priority area of Framework 6, the EU's current four-year research programme running from 2003 to 2006. It commands €3.6 billion, the largest slice of Framework 6's €17.5bn budget. But this is only part of the total, since universities, private companies and research organizations that are successful in competing for research projects are expected to match the funding to varying degrees, depending on the type of project launched. Information technology was also funded to the tune of €3.6bn in the previous EU research programme, Framework 5, from 1999 to 2002. While the level of resources has not changed, for Framework 6 the European Commission has introduced larger projects, commanding two thirds of the IT budget, called "integrated projects". They are larger, both in cost and size, than traditional targeted research projects conducted through previous Framework programmes. The Commission believes integrated projects will help to build a critical mass of technological competency in Europe, giving Europe a leading edge over its competitors in addressing the needs of its society. According to officials at the Commission's department for information society: "Given the strategic importance of information technologies and the fact that supplying them is a major industry in its own right, it is vital that Europe masters these technologies, rather than simply importing them." Biosec is an integrated project that seeks to develop reliable biometric data technologies for security purposes. These include face and hand recognition systems and combinations of face/voice and iris/finger recognition systems. It is a two-year project, with 22 research partners from Finland, Germany, Spain, Poland, Greece, Italy, Israel, France and Belgium. The partners include universities, such as Bologna and private companies such as Finnair. The consortium puts the cost of the project at €9.68 million. Just over half will be funded by Framework 6. In the health sector, virtual reality environments and sensors are being developed to monitor conditions ranging from sleep deprivation to stress and phobias. For the treatment of phobias, the system will monitor heart rate, perspiration rate, breath rate and muscle stiffness through a range of miniaturized wearable sensors and mechanisms that record and transmit the physiological and emotional effects. Patients would be connected with the sensors and provoked by a virtual reality environment. Therapists would be able to intervene in real time, into the scenery experienced by the patients and assist them to control their emotions. This is an example of a small traditional two-year project still being funded through Framework 6. It is being developed by seven partners from France, Greece, Italy, Belgium and the UK, at a cost of €6.46 million, where the EU contribution is €2m . The IT priority of Framework 6 is hugely oversubscribed. The first call for proposals received 1,400 applications requesting more than €6.2bn in funding, around six times the amount available. However, according to internal sources, 73% of those proposals fell short of the Commission's evaluation procedure. The College claims that proposers failed to get to grips with the new concept of integrated projects. However, one Commission official told European Voice: "The quality of eligible proposals for the first round of applications was very high. For every proposal funded, five were unsuccessful." Yet the EU executive is not certain to continue funding large integrated projects to the same extent in future.
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| Source Link | Link to Main Source http://www.european-voice.com/ |
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| Subject Categories | Culture, Education and Research |
