FET-Proactive

FP7: FET Proactive Intiative: Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems (FOCAS)

NEWS

• 8 funded projects now starting

WHAT IS "Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems" (FOCAS)

The socio-technical fabric of our society more and more depends on systems that are constructed as a collective of heterogeneous components and that are tightly entangled with humans and social structures. Their components increasingly need to be able to evolve, collaborate and function as a part of an artificial society.

Objective

A key feature of Collective Adaptive Systems (CASs) is that they comprise many units/nodes, which have their own individual properties, objectives and actions. Decision-making is distributed and possibly highly dispersed, and interaction between the units may lead to the emergence of unexpected phenomena. They are open, in that nodes may enter or leave the collective at any time, and boundaries between CASs are fluid. The units can be highly heterogeneous (computers, robots, agents, devices, biological entities, etc), each operating at different temporal and spatial scales, and having different (potentially conflicting) objectives and goals. The objective is to establish a foundational framework for CASs.

Target outcomes

• Operating Principles: principles by which CASs can operate. These should go beyond existing control and optimisation theories, taking into account the diversity of objectives within the system, conflicts resolution, long term stability, and the need to reason in the presence of partial, noisy, out-of-date and inaccurate information
• Design Principles: principles necessary to build and manage CASs, such as enabling the emergence of behaviour and facilitating prediction and control of those behaviours. These principles should exploit the inherent concurrency and include methods for system validation.
• Evolutionary Properties: properties concerning the evolutionary nature of CASs, e.g. open-ended (unbounded) evolutionary systems, the trade-off and interaction between learning and evolution, and the effect of evolution on operating and design principles.
  IPs should address all three target outcomes. STREPs should have a main focus.

Expected impact

• New functionalities for adaptive ICT systems enabled through novel principles, methods and technologies for designing and operating collective adaptive systems.
• New insights into the general properties of large scale distributed systems.

Funding schemes

• IP, STREP

Indicative budget

• € 23 million

Extract ICT-FET in the FP7 Work Programme 2011-2012 ( 240KB), including the specific "FET eligibility, evaluation, selection and award criteria".

TIMETABLE ICT FP7 Call 9

• Call open: 18 January 2012
• Call deadline: 17th April 2012 (17:00 Brussels local time)
• Evaluation: June 2012
• Invitation to negotiations: September 2012
• Start of projects: 2013

EVENTS

• An Info Day on FP7 Call 9 objectives was held on 18 January 2012 in Brussels.
  PRESENTATIONS are available online.
  The day provided first-hand information on the Call 9 objectives , as well as contractual, legal and administrative modalities. The formation of consortia and synergies was facilitated through an open exchange "Proposers' Forum".
• ICT PROPOSERS' Day - 19-20 May 2011, Budapest (HU)
  - Commission presentation on "FOCAS" given at the networking session
  - "FOCAS" Research & Technology offers & demands on ICT Proposers' Day
• ICT2010 Conference to present the ICT Work Programme 2011-2012

BACKGROUND DOCUMENTS

• FET consultation workshop on Collective Adaptive Systems, November 2009 (179KB)

CONTACTS

• Roumen BORISSOV contact form