European Commission - Specific RTD Programme in the field of Information Technologies
IT for Mobility |
Electronic Commerce | |
IT for Learning and Training in Industry |
Information Access and Interfaces |
"Supporting the growth and the spread of the Information Society"
August 1997
This document introduces and describes the thematic calls in the Esprit programme. It contains the descriptions of the four themes mentioned in the Esprit Work programme:
The participation rules, contracts, proposal formats and criteria (chapters 2 through 5) are identical for the four themes.
Please note that Esprit may also provide these documents for only one theme. There is no difference in the descriptions and information. The present document is simply the collection for all themes. It is selfstanding and includes all the information required to prepare a proposal including the necessary submission forms for responding to the call, except the proposal submission date. The proposal submission dates for each theme will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities, where reference will be made to this document.
Proposers who want to prepare proposals against tasks in R&D; areas of the Esprit Work programme, and not against themes, are referred to the Specific Information Documents on R&D; tasks (single step or two-step evaluation). Proposers who are new to Esprit are advised to refer first to the Introduction for Proposers and the Work programme of Esprit.
All documents are available on request at the IT Programme Office
Fax: +32 2 6637200 or E-mail: ana.huidoboro@dg3eval.cec.be
or at the Webpage
/esprit/home.html
The thematic call I.T. for Mobility is specifically designed to bring together the range of different contributions necessary for the development of new solutions that will enhance mobility in the emerging Information Society.
This objective is :
"to foster or accelerate the development of applications, systems and appliances which use Information Technologies to enhance physical or virtual mobility."
To support this objective this call identifies two forms of R&D; activity :
a) validation and integration experiments
b) focused R&D;
This thematic call is based on the objectives and scope of the Esprit workprogramme (1997) and has the characteristic that proposers may address, and are indeed encouraged to address multiple technologies which by their combination or integration lead to enhanced mobility solutions. Consequently, this call is expected to stimulate work which cuts across the Esprit programme and presents an opportunity for innovative, multi-disciplinary R&D; activities and broad co-operation between industrial partners having complementary skills, approaches and technologies.
The general topic of enhancing mobility (physical and virtual) cuts across various Community activities. The "I.T. for Mobility" call addresses the Esprit Programme contribution and provides an opportunity to channel technologies and skills which can enhance and accelerate the realisation of the information society. In this scope, evaluation of proposals and subsequent project follow-up will be conducted in collaboration and with the support of other related Community R&D; programmes.
It is clear that the growth and spread of the Information Society continues to accelerate. People and businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on rapid and easy access to information drawn from both local and global sources. New concepts and paradigms are emerging and they are affecting and changing commercial practices, business structures, and everyday life. As more and more people and places become "connected" the technological needs and the market driving forces continue to change with increasing pace. Appliances, systems and applications which enable greater mobility are a crucial factor in easing the transformation of industry and society to the information age. The concept and vision of the information society is firmly centred on people — whether working, trading, learning, accessing information, on the move, at home.
People in the information society will undoubtedly be freed from the constraints of time and place, at work, at play, or accessing services like health care, banking, education. They will expect to remain in control of their lives and businesses while on the move, or to be able to work without the need to commute — in effect "virtual mobility". Moreover, unconstrained by geographic location, people will expect to be contactable through, and interact with, a ubiquitous and transparent information infrastructure. The ease with which this can be achieved will become one of the prime measures of the usability of information infrastructures and will strongly influence the growth and take-up of new opportunities and services.
Enterprises will be able to bring together and access the knowledge, skills and competences they need for particular tasks when and where they need them. Mobile workers — travelling executives, service engineers, salespersons — will have as much access to information, databases, mail, and fellow workers as they do in the "fixed" office. In turn, this capability will result in completely new and innovative business approaches. In essence, mobility will play a key role in the ongoing transformation of the enterprise.
The social and environmental consequences of mobility will include a reduction in unnecessary journeys to, from and between places of work - which will help to reduce traffic pollution, and give people greater choice of where and how they live - slowing the depopulation of remoter areas. Distributed systems will integrate the home with the information infrastructure. The aged, disabled and house-bound will possess "virtual mobility" through access to a wide range of information infrastructure services.
These scenarios provide a challenge for I.T. and a market opportunity of enormous potential and consequences. Moreover, it is a market which is open and where innovative solutions from European enterprises can be competitive on a global scale.
Work proposed in response to this call must address the objective of the call and fall within the scope (technical objectives and topics) as set out below. The scope is defined by the topics which can be addressed as single topics or combination thereof. Work is expected to be end-user and application driven and result in concrete improvements in areas such as:
Two distinct types of project work (a) validation and integration experiments and (b) targeted R&D; projects are included in this call. The essential characteristics of the work are described in the following paragraphs. In both cases proposed work must lead to concrete, quantifiable and measurable results and proposers should present the market potential of their expected results and their plans for market exploitation. Projects should be compact (i.e. comprise the minimum number of partners necessary to execute the work) and unnecessary duplication of skills and activities should be avoided.
Work should be centred on the validation and integration of multiple strands of information technology and their use to realise innovative mobile applications, appliances and systems. Proposals should have the goal to develop complete operational prototype systems with convincing user-driven demonstrations of results which can include pilot-application trials. Activities are expected to have a technology "take-up" characteristic but may if required include short-term R&D; tasks to accomplish technology integration goals. Projects should include work to quantify links and dependencies between underpinning technologies and consideration of future technology requirements.
Focused R&D; Proposals should aim at achieving substantial improvement in one or more related strands of information technology in the specific context of enabling enhanced nomadic appliances, mobility systems or end-user applications. Results should be exploitable in systems supporting physical or virtual mobility within a 3-5 year time-frame. Proposals should also quantify the expected technical or commercial improvement vis-à-vis the prevailing state-of-the-art.
The Commission will, from time to time, convene thematic multi-project workshops to support, consolidate and disseminate the work of the projects; to identify technology and market trends; and to establish baselines for best-practice activities.
The Commission is also be willing to support other appropriate measures which support the I.T. for Mobility theme. These include, amongst others, user-groups, working-groups, specific dissemination and awareness activities and best practice actions. These measures are accessible through the Programme's continuous submission procedures for "preparatory, support and transfer activities" and are not specifically the subject of this call.
Electronic commerce can be loosely defined as 'doing business electronically'. While this is a simplification, it does indicate that electronic commerce has a wide scope and covers the whole spectrum of technologies, services, applications and business processes to support business-to-business, business-to-consumer and business-to-administrations interactions(1).
The general objective of this electronic commerce thematic call is to:
improve business performance and promote business innovation through RTD in electronic commerce applications, systems, tools and technologies
The thematic call aims to deliver technology for electronic commerce in the open network environment as a platform to improve business practice and as a basis for future business opportunities.
Research and technology development projects are invited to address current gaps in electronic commerce support and to create new business opportunities by means of technological innovation, for example to enable delivery and payment of electronic information, to provide fast and accurate access to information for business and consumers and to provide affordable and easily packaged support for various business relationships especially those that involve SMEs and consumers.
The thematic call also aims to deliver best practice pilots. These should demonstrate the feasibility and viability of innovative business approaches in marketing and trading of physical and electronic goods and services and in manufacturing. Pilots can also aim to demonstrate the improvement of current business processes by exploiting connectivity and available technology to the fullest.
In all cases pilots should provide a clear understanding of the barriers for the take-up of electronic commerce in today's business environment. They are expected to demonstrate the benefits and opportunities of electronic commerce for its users and, where applicable, the impact on the quality of life of citizens as consumers and employees.
The thematic call has two priority objectives:
Advancement of the electronic commerce 'information technology infrastructure' by developing technology building blocks and integrating these into higher level electronic commerce services and systems, and ensure its take-up and actual use.
Of particular interest are innovative technology and systems that contribute to new business or business restructuring and enable business innovation, exploiting European strengths. Promising areas of work could be:
The building blocks of electronic commerce infrastructure should, as much as possible, be high performant, globally interoperable, open, affordable, accessible, 'simple to use', scalable, secure, reliable, and fault tolerant.
a) Advance and promote business innovation through electronic commerce inelectronic markets and trading. This requires to integrate advanced electronic commerce technologies and services, business organisation methodologies, human resource management, legal requirements management and to provide best practice demonstrations. The business activities concerned are the elements of the transaction cycle of supply of physical and electronic goods and services in return for payment, including pre- and post-sales information search and exchange and support, contracting, and where applicable mechanisms like copyright protection and privacy protection. New business models, e.g. for content and service delivery involving consumers or SMEs are encouraged.
b) Advance and promote business innovation through electronic commerce in design and manufacturing / production and related services. This requires to integrate advanced electronic commerce technologies and services, business organisation methodologies, human resource management, legal requirements management and to provide best practice demonstrations. These show the implementation of modern business concepts like the networked, virtual and agile enterprise, covering all functions including design, manufacturing / production, product management and maintenance thereby enhancing quality, flexibility, responsiveness and productivity at a global level. The objective is also to facilitate the take-up of electronic commerce by SMEs from production oriented sectors.
Electronic commerce is generally recognised as a key to a competitive industry and to the creation and renewal of employment in Europe, especially as the global marketplace is becoming a reality.
Business can realise several benefits through electronic commerce including
for example :
The sudden emergence of electronic commerce as a major growth area in these early stages of the information society is based upon two factors. Firstly, technologies and international connectivity have reached a stage where electronic commerce networks can be open and global rather than closed and regional or limited to particular industries. Most notable is the continued rapid expansion of the Internet and the WWW. The EDI experience as well as the base of Community RTD provides a good contribution to the future of electronic commerce, a more open and interoperable internet environment offering more choice for opportunity for take-up and supply.
Secondly, the rise in international competition and in user expectations prompts business to seek out new ways to organise the enterprise, and to develop new opportunities and channels to the customer, not just within their traditional market but globally.
There is an urgency for Europe to be actively involved in the development and take-up of electronic commerce, in order not to be left behind as users of electronic commerce, whether organisations or individuals, and as suppliers of electronic commerce technology, systems and services.
It is the recognition of the critical importance of electronic commerce and the awareness of the urgency to act that lead to a re-assessment of the extent to which Esprit deals with this theme. The conclusion is that there is ample opportunity for electronic commerce RTD in the various domains, but that there is a need for additional focus and co-ordination of electronic commerce related RTD. The thematic call provides this: proposers can fully focus their proposal on this theme; they can include aspects which span several domains in a single coherent proposal; and they have a single entry point for information about electronic commerce in Esprit.
The thematic call brings together the various tasks of the workprogramme and the projects that implement the theme so that it is easier to see their coherence, identify gaps and exploit multi-disciplinarity and opportunities for synergy.
Many technology-related topics in the ESPRIT workprogramme contribute and have contributed to electronic commerce. A non-exhaustive list is given below. Proposals may be based upon these, in particular integrating them in innovative ways with a view to their use for electronic commerce, justifying the contribution to the objectives of the theme. The intention is to exploit European strengths and build upon state-of-the-art work already going on in Europe and elsewhere. Work which addresses topics other than those listed below will also be considered, provided that it fits within the Call.
In addition, proposals will need to pay adequate attention, where relevant, to the relationships to interoperability and standardisation, legal requirements management, SME take-up, dissimination, training, socio-economic impact and be willing to cooperate with other projects and supporting measures in order to contribute to the theme overall and to create critical mass.
Topics in Technologies, Systems, Services and Methodologies relevant to Electronic Commerce in ESPRIT
General remarks
Proposals need to pay special attention to state-of-the-art and show that duration, level of resources chosen and their added value corresponds to the realities of the rapidly evolving electronic commerce market. Proposals need to show that concrete results will be delivered. Proposals submitted to the thematic call can undertake work which is related to any of the relevant domain tasks, insofar as the proposal specifically addresses the objectives, topics and types of work included in this specific information package on Electronic Commerce.
Background information
Background information for the various aspects of Electronic Commerce as described in this information package can be found on the Web (/esprit/src/ecomhome.htm) or obtained from the Electronic Commerce contact point. This information is not mandatory for the Call and is only supplied to provide proposers with references for state-of-the-art descriptions.
Types of proposals
There are two types of work included in this call : Research & Technology Development (RTD) projects and pilots on the one hand, and supporting activities on the other hand. Preference will be given to work that, if successful, would have a broad economic or societal impact.
1. Research & technology development projects and pilots
a) User-oriented research and technology development projects address user requirements, specification, implementation, testing and validation with users. RTD projects should pay special attention to describe a credible route to exploitation and ensure high-level management support for this.
b) Demonstration pilots should provide a clear understanding of the barriers for the take-up of electronic commerce in today's business environment. They are expected to demonstrate the benefits and opportunities of electronic commerce for its users and, where applicable, the impact on the quality of life of citizens as consumers and employees. Pilots should pay special attention to exploitation/dissemination and ensure high-level management support for this.
Pilots can be of a horizontal nature, that is, addressing a generic issue such as micro-payment systems or large-scale awareness creation and acceptance-testing amongst SMEs and consumers. Pilots can also be of a vertical nature, that is, addressing best practice in specific market sectors.
Pilots are encouraged to address the international aspects of electronic commerce and establish relevant European and global links, in particular to the G7 "Global Marketplace for SMEs" Project.
The procedures for submission of RTD projects and pilots are described in the rest of this information package.
2. Supporting activities
a) In this Call in particular support measures are encouraged for coherent user-supplier collaboration(5) to advance accessibility, cost-effectiveness, interoperability and take-up of an open and evolvable electronic commerce infrastructure in Europe, based on available and advanced electronic commerce technology/service elements and contributions from pilots and RTD. This involves addressing user requirements, common specifications, quality of service, assessment, etc. in specification work, dissemination and links to related international actions. This may also include support for (pre-) standardisation related work. The 'networks of excellence/user groups/working groups' information package is relevant for these specific support measures.
a) Preparatory, support and transfer activities of general nature can also be proposed through the standard continuous submission procedures. The relevant PST information packages are applicable.
The Commission may launch additional supporting activities such as multi-project workshops, conferences or a further extension of the specific support measures described above to enhance coherence and effectiveness and alignment with market trends of ongoing and future work. Projects, pilots and support actions will be requested to participate to these, if appropriate.
Competitiveness of firms requires greater internal flexibility and responsiveness to markets on a global scale. New industrial and business structures, rapid technological development, changing and more complex work environments driven in part by the use of new technologies, increasingly evolving labour markets and employment practices, all imply the need for constant learning and relearning of individuals as of the enterprise. The ability of individuals and organisations to learn and manage their knowledge assets is essential to sustain innovation, creativity and economic robustness.
In the context of improving the competitiveness of organisations the objective of the thematic call is:
To develop and experiment IT based tools, processes, and infrastructural means that support and enhance the learning capability and the learning effectiveness of individuals and organisations.
The thematic call is based on topics contained in the 1997 revision of the R&TD; Information Technologies workplan. It is aimed at encouraging multi-domain and multidisciplinary work with a "total system" perspective. The thematic call, therefore , allows for proposals which cut across the existing tasks and domains of the Programme and introduces an additional degree of freedom for broader co-operation between industrial partners having complementary skills, approaches and technologies.
For the theme on "IT for learning and training in industry", it is expected that consortia would bring together, when necessary, expertise from several fields such as management, IT and social sciences.
Proposed projects should be driven by the requirements of end-user companies or professional organisations.. Preference will be given to work that would have a broad economic and societal impact.
The "IT for Learning and Training in Industry" call addresses the Esprit Programme contribution and provides an opportunity to channel technologies and skills which can enhance and accelerate the realisation of the information society. In this scope, evaluation and subsequent project follow-up will be conducted in collaboration with other related Community R&D; programmes.
The call addresses learning in organisations at three interrelated levels: The individual, the team and the organisation as a whole. It covers advanced and cost-effective IT based training systems as well as IT enabled mechanisms that allow individuals, teams and organisations to manage and develop their knowledge assets and learning capabilities.
This call does not specifically target learning in schools, colleges or universities, except in so far as collaborations between industry and academia can be used to demonstrate the general principles of organisational learning.
The three levels should not be seen as exclusive and proposals that link different aspects of individual, team and organisational learning are welcome.
Objectives: To improve the means for acquiring skills and knowledge, for individuals - including re-skilling - and for developing their learning capabilities.
Topics to include
IT enabling fields
Examples of underlying technologies are: advanced simulation, adaptative, multimodal and intuitive interfaces, virtual environments, decision support systems and human factors, systems architectures including Real-Time, information filtering and structuring, push-pull devices and agents technology, workflow, document routing and networking technologies.
Objectives: To develop IT based solutions to support the team, as a whole, in learning to function, think and act in a co-ordinated and efficient way.
Modern industrial and organisational practice seeks to support higher productivity through enhanced teamworking. The use of IT increases the potential for teams working 'virtually' together within an organisation or across organisational boundaries in different geographies. The use of IT to improve team effectiveness is widely discussed and groupware solutions exist for some aspects of teamworking.
What is considered within the scope of this call is not the use of team or group technologies for operational tasks, but rather the use of IT solutions to support creativity, innovation and reflective learning as part of team working.
Topics to include
IT enabling fields
Examples of underlying technologies are: collaborative environments, virtual communication spaces, role games and simulation environments.
Objectives: To support the creation, management and exploitation of knowledge assets and learning processes of the enterprise.
Many organisations have great difficulty in 'knowing what they know'. The knowledge and skills of an organisation are extremely important assets. Nurturing those assets is essential for competing on a global scale. At the same time, the vast array of information resources now available within and outside organisations could potentially help an organisation build richer scenarios for planning, help target customers and markets more effectively and utilise resources more effectively.
Topics to include
IT enabling fields
Examples of underlying technologies are: knowledge modelling and collection, knowledge storage and retrieval, advanced information exploration and analysis techniques, information systems and workflow, networking technologies and information access and delivery systems.
Proposals can address the following type of activities:
R&D; projects:
In general, R&D; work should be well-focused and industrially relevant. It should be also innovative with respect to technology, learning methodologies, or application domains.
Preparatory, support and transfer activities:
In support of R&D; activities and their exploitation, the Esprit programme stimulates demonstration projects, validation and integration experiments and other awareness activities, in combination with the R&D; or in separate activities.
Pioneering pilot and trial actions applying novel learning or knowledge management processes can be also submitted in this call.
Collaboration frameworks:
Working groups, user groups and networks of excellence are groupings of industrial and academic organisations that can be supported by the commission to foster collaboration, technology dissemination and co-ordination of effort between its members.
In general, proposed projects should work towards concrete, affordable and transferable results and must from the outset have clear routes to exploitation. Proposed projects should be driven by the requirements of companies, organisations or inter-organisational settings such as grouping of SMEs.
It is a requirement that proposed project integrate the measurement and the evaluation of the work done in terms of its social, economical and business impact on enterprises.
Projects should be compact and comprise the minimum number of partners necessary to execute the work. Unnecessary duplication of skills and activities should be avoided.
Co-ordination and follow-up:
The Commission is willing to support co-ordination and follow-up activities related to the theme "IT for learning and training in industry": workshops, working groups, studies, contact data bases, dissemination through a web site, video, etc. To do so, the Commission will support the creation of a collaboration framework which has the objective of implementing a "learning environment" between the funded projects. Applications for such co-ordination and support activities may be submitted through the Programme's standard continuous submission procedures for "preparatory, support and transfer activities".
The information society is making vast information resources available to anyone, at any time, from anywhere in the world. Business competitiveness increasingly depends on timely access to the right information(1) and on the capability to act upon it effectively and efficiently, while citizens will turn more and more to new electronic information and services for work, entertainment, and managing of everyday life.
The objective of Information Access and Interfaces is the development and deployment of applications, systems, tools, and appliances that contribute towards:
intelligent information handling for non-IT specialists,
focusing on three major challenges: mastering information overload; "naturally" interactive information interfaces; and novel tools or environments for "creating value" (see section 1.4.3).
A "total system", integrated approach is to be a key feature of the projects selected: such an approach is necessary to meet the challenges industry and society face with respect to access and handling of information. The call is not prescriptive in terms of technologies, products, or applications; but proposers are encouraged to address in their proposals several strands of technology simultaneously with their integration. Therefore, the call encourages proposals which cut across the existing domains and tasks of the 1997 IT work-programme, responding to the need for multidisciplinary approaches to complex system development.
Strong emphasis will have to be placed on ambitious work with strong exploitation potential. Projects are expected to have precise goals, and demonstrate a clear vision supported by a plan for achieving it - including technical targets and plans for product/service positioning in future markets. Proposers should clearly show how their proposed work fits the context, objective, and challenges addressed by this theme on the one hand, and their own vision and business plan on the other. Preference will be given to RTD work that, if successful, would have a broad economic or societal impact.
Convergence of computing, networking, and media creates new contexts, needs, and potential for interaction between users and information, and a rapid growth in information volume - including unstructured and audiovisual data. The huge volume of information, the diversity and complexity of applications, and the erosion of boundaries between information users and information producers or broadcasters, present great challenges in terms of usability, manageability, avoiding potential information overload.
There are three main dimensions to these problems. First, how users will find their way through the global information "ocean" to satisfy their needs reliably, securely and safely. Second, the interfaces that people will use to access, process, and interact with information. Third, how people can be supported in shaping the information medium and content to create value.
The usability, manageability, and interface issues must be tackled in a timely fashion. Unless information infrastructures, services and applications are truly attractive, accessible and usable, and not just by those who are "specialists", their take-up by consumers and companies will be constrained. The consequently depressed demand would slow down the growth of the information society in Europe. It would produce uneven development, lead to the exclusion of individuals that have a cultural, educational, or skill disadvantage, and so cause social and regional differences to be accentuated.
On the other hand, with electronic networks, the geographical position from which one accesses, uses or creates information becomes less important. Quality services and applications over networks thus have the potential of improving economic and social cohesion, with particular benefits for remote regions and SMEs currently operating at the regional level.
Some people argue that poor human interfaces will hinder access to the information society by the broad population. Interfaces to information systems, services and media are today profoundly non-intuitive. First, a user may typically have to penetrate a complex PC-based user interface to access a complex, non-intuitive application or service. This complexity and non-intuitiveness become a major barrier. Second, current systems do not offer such interaction capabilities that users may master the processes of information search, acquisition, and presentation, and also shape the medium itself and participate in information creation. We need new paradigms for interfaces characterised by simplicity, versatility, intuitiveness, adaptability, and elegance, and that support genuine interactivity with users.
For the corporate user, progress in interfaces is expected to be fast. Within a few years, a substantial number of enterprises would have uniform access to heterogeneous information through a simple, coherent interface that integrates multiple techniques. Agent technology and data mining should enter mainstream applications for active user support. And collaborative technology that helps users share ideas, space, and work processes should start to be incorporated into the enterprise organisational model.
Information Access and Interfaces is motivated by the vision of intelligent information handling through naturally interactive systems for non-IT specialists. It is to focus work on
In particular, the vision implies systems that are genuinely interactive - allowing users to customise the system according to their preferences, and to configure it so that it learns and adapts to individual user profiles. Interfaces that are intuitive, reducing the cognitive load on the user, are easy to use in various educational and cultural backgrounds and are likely to be context-specific and/or multi-modal.
The above should be considered in conjunction to the following requirements:
Challenges and topics
The call is not prescriptive in terms of technologies, products, or applications. The following list of topics is presented in the form of challenges that proposers should address. Technical topics are indicative. The list is neither exhaustive, nor should all the listed areas be necessarily tackled. Projects should however address, in a coherent fashion, all technical topics and issues that would be necessary for realising their objectives. The emphasis will be on an integrated and cross-disciplinary approach. Specific challenges are:
Information services over networks may be addressed when they integrate a range of the above technologies. They may include features such as customer orientation, service personnalisation, customer participation, and service brokerage. Reliability, security, privacy, and safety are also issues that need be considered as needed.
The very rapid pace of evolution in technology and markets, and ad hoc standardisation, makes it increasingly difficult to set precise technical or market objectives, even in the medium term. Proposers are asked to adopt an iterative, dynamic process for carrying out the R&D; work, where there is dynamic interplay between users and suppliers and early feedback and experimentation on the basis of advance prototypes. Individual users should be included in this process, with strong attention paid to interaction design. Therefore, the technological targets, project workplan, and exploitation plans could be re-negotiated in the course of a project. The exploitation of intermediate results (spin-offs) while the project is still running is strongly encouraged.
Proposal preparation
Proposers should prepare their proposals in accordance with the structural recommendations and evaluation criteria given in section 3 of this Specific Information Document. The evaluation will be exclusively based on the criteria set out in section 3.3 of this Specific Information Package and will include assessment of the objectives and topics as stated in sections 1.1 and 1.3. All the necessary administration forms required to submit a proposal are provided in the accompanying annexes or available on diskettes. Proposers are invited to contact the Commission, at the coordinates given in Chapter 5, in order to consult on the procedures or the suitability of a potential proposal with respect to the scope and objectives of the "Information Access and Interfaces" Theme.
Project follow-up
Synergies between projects launched as a result of this thematic call will be exploited as much as is practical. Common theme workshops or reviews and the exchange of information between projects will be encouraged where it is perceived that added value will arise from such interaction.
The Commission could financially support any support measures, such as industrial working groups, which can be proposed through the Programme's standard continuous submission procedures, insofar as they contribute to the implementation of the above directions.
(1) By "information" we understand both spatial (e.g. text, numerical) and time-based data (e.g. video, pictures, recordings) produced by companies, individuals, or communities. "Information access" is broadly meant to include the access, retrieval, use, storage, sharing, and creation of information and knowledge. Finally, by "interface" we mean the physical and/or virtual space at which interaction between users and the electronic world takes place. It is understood that the distinction between information access and interfaces is not clear-cut and the two are interlinked.
The programme is open to all legal entities - i.e. people and organisations - established and carrying out RTD activities in the Member States of the European Union (industrial firms both large and small enterprises aimed at bringing products and services to the market - universities, higher education institutes, research organisations, etc.), and to the Joint Research Centre of the EC.
The group of proposers must contain at least two non-affiliated industrial participants from different member states or from one member state and one state associated and financially contributing to the Programme.
Participation in this programme, with financial contribution from the EU, is open to any legal entity established or carrying out RTD activities in a third country associated with and contributing financially to the implementation of this Programme.
These are currently: Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein and Norway.
Legal entities established and carrying out RTD activities in other European countries or in countries who have concluded an S&T; agreement with the EU (not financially contributing as described above) may participate in the programme on condition that:
the participation is in the interest of EU policies
the minimum stipulated number of legal entities from the EU and associated and financially contributing states are involved
These states are at printing date: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldavia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine, for which financial support by the EU, would in the case of acceptance of the proposal, normally be provided from funds other than the Esprit budget (an explicit request for such funding has to accompany the proposal).
Swiss, Australian and Canadian organisations may participate under the above conditions, but without funding from the EC. It is expected that agreement with South Africa will be reached in early 1997, so that organisations from South Africa may from then on also participate under the above conditions without EC funding.
Legal entities established in states other than above listed, may participate on condition that:
the participation contributes effectively to the implementation of the Programme and provides mutual benefit to the interests of the EU and the state concerned
the minimum stipulated number of legal entities from the EU or associated and financially contributing states are involved
Organisations from Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan and the USA are not eligible for funding from the EU.
For organisations from other countries, financial support by the EU may be provided from funds other than the Esprit budget. An explicit request for such funding has to accompany the proposal.
International Organisations may participate on condition that:
the participation contributes effectively to the implementation of the Programme
the minimum stipulated number of legal entities from the EU or associated and financially contributing states are involved
Financial support from the Esprit Programme may be provided to international organisations situated in Europe on a case by case basis. An explicit request for such funding has to accompany the proposal.
If your proposal is successful in the evaluation and is selected for further negotiation, the Commission services will contact you for finalisation of the Project Programme and budgetary aspects.
The Project Officer assigned to be the responsible Commission official will provide you with the necessary documentation. The time needed in this phase depends on the complexity and evaluators' comments, but normally negotiations would take between 4 and 8 weeks if the work is well planned by the consortium.
The contract used for RTD actions is the standard Cost Reimbursement Contract for RTD as adapted to the Esprit programme.
The Commission has published an information booklet concerning the contracting conditions and the standard contract. You can obtain this booklet by request from :
**** e-mail: info-dg12@dg12.cec.be; fax: +32/2 295 82 20 ****
The contract provides explicit definitions of the partnership, the reporting obligations, the allowable costs and other financial conditions and the intellectual property right conditions. The contractual terms cannot be overruled by a consortium agreement, but the latter is recommended to provide further detail for the consortium on management and exploitation aspects. A model text is not available as it would depend very much on the specific situation of the consortium and work to be done under the associate contract.
The essential contractual/financial aspects for RTD contracts are the following:
The ESPRIT programme has procedures for both one and two step proposal submission and evaluation.
The submission and evaluation of the proposals as described in this information package will be done in a single step. Proposers must submit a full proposal before any evaluation takes place.
All proposals are evaluated by a panel of specially selected experts who are all bound by a confidentiality agreement and a code of conduct to avoid conflicts of interest. The evaluation will be exclusively based on the criteria set out in this section and will include assessment of the conformity of the work with the objectives and topics as stated in sections 1.1 and 1.3 of this Specific Information Document. The evaluation will be carried out under the responsibility and co-ordination of the Commission who will also interact with associate Programmes, e.g. Telematics Applications, ACTS, IMT.
When making a proposal, proposers should ask themselves the following questions:
The industrial relevance concerns the industrial context the proposal refers to, including market situation, needs and opportunities, technical state-of-the-art, and outstanding problems.
The objectives set the specific business and technical targets to be achieved by the proposers, whereas results define the concrete outcomes of the project. They should be innovative within their specific industrial context and provide benefits to a wider community than solely the proposers themselves.
The proposers include both individual proposers with their profiles and skills and their collaboration, where synergism among partners roles should appear. The soundness of the proposing group is not limited to the technical ability to perform the work, but includes aspects such as whether the work is in-line with the core business of proposers and whether business co-operation among participants is possible, credible and potentially successful.
Exploitation planning addresses the ways to achieve business objectives and provide the expected benefits during and after the project, whereas the work planning mainly concerns the identification of activities needed to achieve technical objectives and how they are co-ordinated with the business aspects.
Duration and resources concerns the staffing and time scale of activities identified in the work plan, whereas Project management focuses on how all the components above are managed to achieve success.
You should keep the above basic questions in mind while fulfilling the criteria detailed below. These criteria address the different aspects of a proposal in detail, and will be used by the expert evaluators to assess how it answers the basic questions above, while conforming with the scope and objectives of the Programme and showing the necessary European-level added value.
The criteria are designed to provide a fair, practical and consistent way of establishing to what extent proposals meet the goals of Esprit. The same set of criteria are used in all evaluations of Industrial R&D; proposals.
In this section we will specify the recommended structure of, and the evaluation criteria which need to be satisfied by proposals.
You may submit proposals in any official language of the EC. However, it is appreciated to supply at least the summary in English as this will assist the speedy evaluation of proposals.
The description of the proposal structure given below, includes the criteria which have to be addressed in each of the sections. Certain criteria might be addressed in several sections. In such cases it is advised to refer in the relevant section to other places in the proposal which should be taken into account for assessment.
To complete Part 1 of the proposal you need to complete all the forms as given in Annex 1. You can obtain an electronic version of these forms on a diskette or download it from the Esprit Web pages. You are strongly recommended to use this method of data preparation and send the prepared diskette along with the proposal.
If you use the diskette or Web software to prepare a diskette, it will make it easier to fill in the data correctly. You can also make clear print-outs and it will help Commission services to enter your data quickly in their database. Of course, you may complete the paper forms, or the forms as they are provided by other programmes for RTD Project proposals, as these contain the same questions. In either case, please follow carefully the detailed instructions.
A complete Part 1 comprises :
Part 2 (your project description) should follow the recommended structural outline given below and provides all the information requested in not more than 30 pages. It should contain the following sections:
The description of these sections as well as the criteria used for assessment are given below. Evaluators will be asked to use these evaluation criteria to assess your proposal.
It goes without saying that evaluators are best helped in conducting their task if the information provided is concise and follows the recommended structure. Any irrelevant information should be avoided.
This section should be one page and should capture the essence of the proposal. It should summarise :
Note: This may be a copy of the 1000 character summary given in Part 1 (form 1a).
The rationale for the project should be clarified. In particular:
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Important aspects are:
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Address the relevance of the work to the competitivety of European industry and the interdependence with ongoing national, European or international programmes
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Describe concisely the work planned to achieve the objectives of the project and include the following elements :
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Outline the consortium's strategy for exploitation of the foreseen project results. It should include the exploitation plans of each of the partners in terms of :
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
The project management could form one of the work packages described under Project Work plan. Here one should address:
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Present the rationale for the specific consortium and include:
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
The duration should be rationalised in relation to the objectives to be achieved. Estimates of the resources (manpower, equipment, etc.) should be presented for each partner for each work package and summarised at the project level.
Criteria to be addressed in this section are:
Each proposal must have a co-ordinating proposer, shortly co-ordinator, and this section of the information package is primarily directed to him. Normally, the co-ordinator will become the project co-ordinator, if the proposal is ultimately successful
Proposals should be submitted by you, co-ordinator, and you will be responsible for the liaison with the Commission.
You should submit one full original of each proposal plus 6 copies. This includes the forms and any useful information you choose to include, as long as it is relevant and limited in length.
It is your responsibility to assemble the proposal and you should submit it in one parcel.
It is also your responsibility to ensure that the proposal is delivered at the appropriate address before expiration of the deadline.
Your proposal should be sent by courier or postal services or delivered by hand to:
IT Programme OfficeYou must clearly mark on the parcel:
'Confidential: Proposal for the programme for RTD in Information Technologies (Esprit)'
Do not send proposals by fax or E-mail. Do not announce by fax or telephone that the proposals are in the mail. Faxes and telephone calls of this nature hinder the operation of the Commission in handling proposals, and will not be acknowledged. Until two weeks have elapsed, do not telephone or fax to enquire whether your proposal has been received.
Do not send or deliver your proposal to Esprit Commission Offices. This would create considerable delays. The only correct address is the one mentioned above.
The deadline for submission of the proposal is normally three months after the date of the Call for Proposals. The precise information is given in each call and should be carefully checked and adhered to. Proposals which are received after the deadline are not eligible.
In the case that an RTD proposal results from a SME Exploratory Award and the share in the proposed project costs of the SME proposers which received the award will be more than half of the total proposed cost, the RTD proposal can be submitted continuously, at any time.
You should include – in the parcel in which the proposal is delivered - a separate envelope containing the official 'Acknowledgement of Receipt' form as given in the Annex. On this you – the co-ordinator - must put your organisation's name and address and the title of the proposed project. This will ensure that the acknowledgement is returned to you correctly addressed.
Before it is returned, however, the Commission's reception staff will record the date of receipt and a unique reference number on the form. This reference number must be used in all subsequent correspondence relating to the proposal.
You should ensure that all proposers are given the proposal reference number and use it in all contacts with the Commission.
If you do not receive an 'Acknowledgement of receipt' within two weeks after the closing date of the Call, or the date of submission in case of a continuous Call, you should send a fax to the IT Programme office (Fax: + 32 2 6637200), indicating the acronym, title, domain, type of action and name of co-ordinator. You will receive an answer by fax within one week. You are strongly advised to retain proof of dispatch if the proposal is mailed or send by courier.
You are advised to submit proposalsonly once and not to send proposals which are essentially the same to different domains of the Esprit Programme or different programmes.
If the proposal is related to other Esprit domains or to other Community programmes you are advised to indicate this in the proposal itself or in an attached covering letter.
In any case you should give details of similar proposals on form 1a and sign the declaration.
The IT programme will take your comments in account and when appropriate involve the other domains or other programmes in the evaluation.
The IT programme reserves the right to redirect proposals to another domain than that indicated by the proposers or to another programme if EC staff or evaluators indicate that that would be more appropriate.
If there are further questions on the content of this Specific Information Document or if there is a need for further clarification in matters relating to the call, please contact:
| Esprit Information Desk European Commission DGIII/F N105 8/94 Rue de la Loi 200 B1049 Bruxelles, Belgium. |
telephone: +32.2.296.85.96 fax: +32.2.296.83.88 email: Esprit@dg3.cec.be |
Organisations who are interested in submitting a proposal on one of the themes are invited to send in the "expression of interest fax form provided in the annex.
If organisations require further clarification on the format of proposals or the scope of their work, or if there are further questions specifically related to one of the themes then please contact for:
| IT for Mobility | |
| Mr David Broster European Commission DGIII/F N105 2/42 Rue de la Loi 200 B1049 Bruxelles, Belgium. |
telephone: +32.2.296.80.21 fax: +32.2.296.83.89 email : david.broster@dg3.cec.be |
| Electronic Commerce | |
| Mr Paul Timmers European Commission DGIII/F N105 5/16 Rue de la Loi 200 B1049 Bruxelles, Belgium. |
telephone: +32.2.299.01.74 fax: +32.2.296.83.87 email : paul.timmers@dg3.cec.be |
| IT for Learning and Training in Industry | |
| Mrs Agnes Bradier European Commission DGIII/F N105 4/16 Rue de la Loi 200 B1049 Bruxelles, Belgium. |
telephone: +32.2.296.80.84 fax: +32.2.296.16.92 email : agnes.bradier@dg3.cec.be |
| Information Access and Interfaces | |
| Mr Kostas Glinos European Commission DGIII/F N105 6/33 Rue de la Loi 200 B1049 Bruxelles, Belgium. |
telephone: +32.2.296.95.77 fax: +32.2.296.83.90 email : konstantinos.glinos@dg3.cec.be |
| FORM 1a : PROPOSAL ADMINISTRATIVE SUMMARY | |||||||
|
Programme Name: Esprit |
Acronym:(max 10 chars) | ||||||
| Proposal Title: | |||||||
| Contact Person during the Proposal Evaluation | |||||||
| First Name: | Family Name: | ||||||
| Organisation Name: | |||||||
| Department Name: | |||||||
| Street Name: | Street No: | ||||||
| Post Code | City | Country: | |||||
| Telephone: | Fax: | ||||||
| E-mail: | |||||||
| Project synopsis (maximum 1000 characters) | |||||||
|
| |||||||
| Please sign your answer to the following question | |||||||
|
To the best of your knowledge, has this proposal, or a proposal that is similar in content, with your involvement or with the involvement of any of the partners in your consortium, been submitted to any other domain of Esprit or EU research programme? Yes / No If your answer is Yes, please give details (title of proposal, coordinator, name of programme, when submitted). Signature of Contact Person............................................................................................ | |||||||
| FORM 1B : PROPOSAL ADMINISTRATIVE SUMMARY (continued) | |||||||
| Proposal resources breakdown | |||||||
|
Programme Name: Esprit |
Action Type: PI | Acronym (max 10 char): | |||||
| Proposal Title (max 160 char): | |||||||
| Work Programme Tasks (c): | |||||||
| 1st Choice: |
2nd Choice: | 3rd Choice: | Duration (in months) | ||||
| List of participants | |||||||
|
No |
Organisation Names (d) |
Country (b) |
Admin.Role (b) (C/P/A) |
Org. Type (b) |
Funding Regime (e) (S/A) |
Global Costs in ECU (f) |
Effort in Person Years (g) |
| Total Costs: | Total Funding: | Total Person Years: | |||||
|
Please copy this form if more space is needed to list the participants. The participation in the Proposal of all the Partners and Associated Partners, and at the levels indicated above, must be formally sanctioned by representatives of the said organisations in letters accompanying the proposal. | |||||||
|
(b) A list of codes is supplied in this Annex. (c) See list supplied in Annex. (d) Short name for participants that use such a name in Form 2, and legal name if such a short name does not exist. (e) S for shared costs funded at 50% and A for Research Institutes or Universities with funding at 100% of additional costs. Research Institutes or Universities might be obliged to be funded at 100% of additional costs if they cannot demonstrate that an analytical budget accountancy system is used which can appropriately support the cost reporting required. (f) If funding regime A is chosen, the figure should only cover additional costs. Costs per partner are not required for short proposals. (g) In case of funding regime A, the figure should cover the whole effort (and not only the additional one). | |||||||
|
| |||||||
| FORM 2 : INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANT PROFILE | |||||||
| Programme Name: Esprit | Acronym: | ||||||
| Proposal Title: | |||||||
| Legal identification of the Participating Organisation | |||||||
| Short name (h): | Legal Status (i): | Organisation Type(l): | |||||
| Company Registration No: | VAT No: | ||||||
| Legal Name (j): | |||||||
| Department Name (if applicable): | |||||||
| Legal address of the Participating Organisation | |||||||
| Street Name: | Street Number: | ||||||
| Post Code: | City: | Country : | |||||
| Telephone No: | Fax No: | ||||||
| Organisation's role in the proposal | |||||||
| Administrative role (l) (C/P/A): | Functional role(l) (S/U): | Relevant industrial sector (l): | |||||
| Organisation details (if applicable) | |||||||
| Number of employees: | Is the participant an SME (Y/N)? (k) | ||||||
| Is your organisation affiliated to any other participant(s) in the proposal (Y/N)? (k): | |||||||
| If the answer is Y, please indicate the participant(s) name(s): | |||||||
|
(h) A Short name should be included only if it is in common use outside the organisation (max. 20 char.). (i) e.g. SA, Ltd, GmbH, AG, EEIG, etc. (j) The legal name is the one used in contracts. (k) For definition see glossary. (l) A list of codes is supplied in this Annex. | |||||||
| 1A. Action Types | |||||
| PI | Industrial R&D; Project | ||||
| 9 | IT for Mobility | ||||
| 10 | Electronic Commerce | ||||
| 11 | IT for learning and training in industry | ||||
| 12 | Information access and interfaces | ||||
| In form 1b one should fill in one of the numbers 9-12 under 1st choice | |||||
| 2. COUNTRY | |||||
| Code | Name | Code | Name | Code | Name |
| A | Austria | FL | Liechtenstein | N | Norway |
| B | Belgium | GR | Greece | NL | Netherlands |
| CH | Switzerland | ISR | Israel | P | Portugal |
| D | Germany | I | Italy | S | Sweden |
| DK | Denmark | IRL | Ireland | SF | Finland |
| E | Spain | ISL | Iceland | UK | United Kingdom |
| F | France | L | Luxembourg | ||
| Other according to standard ISO list | |||||
| 3. ADMINISTRATIVE ROLE | |||||
| C | Coordinator | A | Associate Partner | P | Partner |
| 4. ORGANISATION TYPE | |||||
| U | University | A | Public Administration | R | Research Institute |
| I | Industry | O | Other | ||
| 5. FUNCTIONAL ROLE | |||||
| S | Supplier | U | User | ||
| Please note that this relates to the specific role that your organisation has in this proposal with respect to its expected results. If both apply please choose the one most relevant in this project. | |||||
| 6. INDUSTRIAL SECTORS | |||||
| Identify the relevant industrial sector of the organisation in the proposal and include the corresponding code in the appropriate space on Form 2 | |||||
| Code | |||||
| Business | |||||
| Finance and Insurance | FI | ||||
| Business, legal and management consultancy; holdings | BC | ||||
| Publishing, printing and reproduction of recorded media | PP | ||||
| Real estate activities | RE | ||||
| Renting and leasing | RL | ||||
| Lodging and restaurants | LR | ||||
| Technical testing and analysis | TA | ||||
| Wholesale and retail trade; repair of goods | WR | ||||
| Community activities | |||||
| Community service activities | CS | ||||
| Education | ED | ||||
| Energy production and distribution; gas and water supply | EN | ||||
| Health and social work | HS | ||||
| Recreational, cultural and sporting activities | RC | ||||
| Recycling | CY | ||||
| Post and telecommunications | PT | ||||
| Transportation services | TS | ||||
| Engineering (other than software engineering) | |||||
| Electrical engineering and related technical consultancy | EE | ||||
| Mechanical engineering and related technical consultancy | ME | ||||
| IT activities | |||||
| Audiovisual consumer electronics | IA | ||||
| Electronic components | IC | ||||
| Electronic engineering and related technical consultancy | IE | ||||
| Industrial process control systems | IP | ||||
| Office machinery and computers | IM | ||||
| Software consultancy and supply, data processing and related Services | IS | ||||
| Manufacturing | |||||
| Aircraft and spacecraft | AS | ||||
| Metals and alloys | MA | ||||
| Chemical products | CP | ||||
| Fabricated metal products, except machinery and equipment | FM | ||||
| Food products and beverages | FB | ||||
| Furniture | FV | ||||
| Leather and leather products | LL | ||||
| Machinery, electrical and electrical instruments | EQ | ||||
| Medical, precision and optical instruments | IN | ||||
| Non-metallic mineral products | MP | ||||
| Pharmaceuticals, medicinal chemicals and botanical products | PH | ||||
| Pulp, paper and paper products | PA | ||||
| Rubber and plastic products | RU | ||||
| Textile and textile products | TE | ||||
| Vehicles for land transportation | VL | ||||
| Vehicles for sea transportation | VS | ||||
| Wood and wood products | WW | ||||
| Other activites | |||||
| Agriculture and forestry | AF | ||||
| Construction and building | CB | ||||
| Fishing | FS | ||||
| Mining and quarrying | MQ | ||||
| Telecom products | IT | ||||
| Activity code not provided above | NN | ||||
European Commission
Directorate General III: Industry
RTD: Information Technologies
|
Please write the name and address to |
|
|
VERY IMPORTANT We may ask the representatives of proposers to attend meetings and/or provide further information at any time after the closing date and especially in the first two months after this date. In your own interest please ensure that representatives are available at short notice during this period. | |
|
To be completed by Coordinating Partner | |
|
Reference : | |
|
Proposal Title : | |
|
Acronym : | |
|
Domain : | |
|
To be completed by Esprit Evaluation Coordinator | |
|
We are pleased to acknowledge receipt of your proposal above on :..................................................................
Yours sincerely, | |
| Affiliated Organisation | Two organisations are affiliated if either one directly or indirectly controls the other or if both are directly or indirectly controlled by the same parent organisation. Organisation A is considered as controlling B if:
|
| CORDIS | Community Research and Development Information Service (see Section 5 in Introductory Booklet) |
| EC | European Commission |
| EU | European Union |
| EEA | European Economic Area, includes the EU, Iceland and Norway. The EEA agreement is not in force for Liechtenstein at the time of printing this document |
| EEIG | European Economic Interest Grouping. A legal entity consisting of several European organisations which could participate as such in a project under an EU programme. A guide to the role of EEIGs in RTD can be obtained from the IT Programme Information Desk (see section 5 in Introductory Booklet) and more detailed documentation is also available from Directorate General XV (Financial Institutions and Company Law) |
| EFTA | European Free Trade Association, includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland |
| ESSI | European Software Systems Initiative, a best practice activity in ST |
| HPCN | High Performance Computing and Networking: one of the four focused clusters in the IT work programme |
| ICT | Information and Communication Technologies |
| IiM | Integration in manufacturing: one of the four focused clusters in the IT programme |
| IT | Information technology |
| IPR | Intellectual property rights |
| JRC | Joint Research Centre of the EC |
| LTR | Long term research: one of the domains in the IT work programme |
| MS | Multimedia systems: one of the three domains of underpinning technologies in the IT work programme |
| OMI | Open microprocessor systems initiative: one of the four focused clusters in the IT work programme |
| RTD | Research and technological development, including demonstration |
| SME | Small/medium sized enterprise. For SME Exploratory Awards, enterprises will be eligible if they satisfy simultaneously the following three criteria:
|
| ST | Software technologies: one of the three domains of underpinning technologies in the IT work programme |
| TBP | Technologies for business processes: one of the four focused clusters in the IT work programme |
| TCS | Technologies for components and subsystems: one of the three domains of underpinning technologies in the IT work programme |
|
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST IN SUBMITTING A PROPOSAL For R&D; theme: IT for Mobility Electronic Commerce IT for learning and Training in Industry Information Access and interfaces | |||
F A C S I M I L E | |||
|
To : |
Esprit Help Desk |
Fax nr |
+32 2 296.83.88 |
|
From : |
Fax nr |
||
|
Organisation: |
Tel nr |
||
|
Address |
|
||
|
Proposal Title |
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| Partners | |||
| Short Description of Work |
| ||
|
The description of work may be continued on a separate sheet if required | |||
National Contact Points will help if you have any questions about the Programme and the preparation of proposals.
A list of National Contact Points is available for consultation.
Footnotes
(1)1 trading relationships between consumers can also be addressed.
(2) EDI = Electronic Data Interchange, CALS-related topics = Computer Assisted Life Cycle Support; sometimes the new generations of these technologies , which are better accessible and less resource demanding for SMEs, are referred to as 'lite' EDI and 'lite' CALS-related topics.
(3) quality improvement can be in product/service fitness-for use, customer response management, etc.
(4) customers can be addressed more effectively e.g. by personalised electronic marketing, electronic user communities.
(5) 'user': using the technology or systems or services, including developers using these elements to build higher level electronic commerce facilities such as applications; 'suppliers' provide users the technology, system, services.
(6) By "information" we understand both spatial (e.g. text, numerical) and time-based data (e.g. video, pictures, recordings) produced by companies or individuals. "Information access" is broadly meant to include the access, retrieval, use, storage, sharing, and creation of information and knowledge. Finally, by "interface" we mean the physical and/or virtual space at which interaction between users and the electronic world takes place. Furthermore, it is understood that the distinction between information access and information interfaces is not clear-cut and the two are closely interlinked.
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The URL of this document is /esprit/src/ind-them.htm
It was last updated on 26 August 1997 and is maintained by Esprit