INFO2000: Preliminary results of calls for proposals

The European Commission, DG XIII, has released the preliminary results of calls for proposals launched in December 1997 and closed in April 1998, under the EU's INFO2000 programme which aims to stimulate the development of a European multimedia content industry and to encourag...

The European Commission, DG XIII, has released the preliminary results of calls for proposals launched in December 1997 and closed in April 1998, under the EU's INFO2000 programme which aims to stimulate the development of a European multimedia content industry and to encourage the use of multimedia content in the emerging Information Society. The first call for proposals concerned the exploitation of Europe's public sector information, in order to make available the enormous information resources of the public sector for exploitation in European multimedia content services. A total of 141 proposals were received under this call, requesting funding totalling ECU 50 million. Around two-thirds of the participants were private sector organizations and all EU Member States were well represented. The following subject areas were addressed in proposals: - Geographic subjects (over 40 proposals); - Information for business (around 30 proposals); - Health and food (16 proposals); - Culture and tourism (around 16 proposals); - Archives and libraries (15 proposals). Other proposals addressed the environment, education, and information for citizens. The second call for proposals concerned the enhancement of Europe's multimedia rights trading environment. This was launched with the aim of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of multimedia rights clearance processes between rightsholders and multimedia product developers. A total of 26 proposals were submitted in response to this call, with costs amounting to ECU 11.5 million, of which ECU 5.2 million would come from EU funding. The indicative budget set for this call is, however, only ECU 2.2 million. The proposals submitted under both these calls are currently being evaluated, and decisions on the proposals selected may be expected in the next few months.