CORDIS Archive : ISTweb | Workprogramme 2002

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INFORMATION SOCIETY TECHNOLOGIES
Programme for Research, Technology Development and Demonstration under the Fifth Framework Programme

Work Programme 2002

3. DETAILED OBJECTIVES AND RTD PRIORITIES

The following sections of Chapter 3 define the 2002 IST workprogramme content for:

The Four Key Actions (KA I-IV)
Cross-programme Themes
Future and Emerging Technologies (FETs)
Research Networking (RN)

Each section starts by reminding the objectives given in the IST Specific Programme and is followed by work described in terms of Action Lines.

The Commission will publish the Call for Proposals that will refer directly to the workprogramme Action Lines or specific topics/measures contained within the Action Line description. The Call for Proposals will cover only some of the full set of Action Lines in this workprogramme. Proposers are advised to check carefully that their intended work is included in the Call for Proposals and to take careful note of the Guide for Proposers prior to preparing and submitting proposals.

3.1 KEY ACTION I - SYSTEMS AND SERVICES FOR THE CITIZEN

"The aim of this work is to foster the creation of the next generation of interoperable general interest application systems to meet user demands for flexible access, for everybody, from anywhere, at any time. Work encompasses RTD in the following fields: health, special needs (including ageing and disability), administrations, environment, transport and tourism. The needs and expectations of the typical users in all fields will be addressed and special attention will be given, in particular, to the usability, acceptability and cost-effectiveness of the new application systems, including the security and privacy of information and the socio-economic and ethical aspects."

Objectives and priorities

The priority for KA I is to enable European users (citizens, businesses, public authorities) to take advantage of the recent advances in ubiquitous computing, ubiquitous communication and intelligent interfaces to improve access to and delivery of general interest services. This approach directly supports the longer term policy perspective of eEurope beyond 2002 and the achievement of new ambitious targets in a 2010 timeframe.

Of the five Actions Lines proposed for 2002, two on Health and one on Special Needs are more rooted in FP5 consolidation. Specifically:

Research on minimally invasive personal health systems and knowledge technologies form the basis of the "Intelligent systems for the monitoring of health status" action line. This is a re-focussed Action Line of the WP2001.
Research on knowledge management technologies and navigation tools applied to the area of "Intelligent systems for health professionals" will help create a "Health knowledge info-structure". This represents an extension of work commenced in 2001.
Research on innovative assistive systems combined with work on disability compensating interfaces are at the heart of the "Systems for independent living and full participation" AL, which also follows on from WP2001 work.

Two Action Lines in environment and transport include an explicit FP6 prospective orientation:

The Action Line in environment addresses civilian and environmental crises management. Work will help consolidate the effort in this field and analyse the requirements for future research.
In transport, Take-Up actions on Intelligent Transport Systems will contribute to eEurope objectives and clustering activities on "Intelligent Mobility Systems" will prepare for FP6.

In technology terms the only proposals that will be considered will be those that take due account of the paradigm shift towards the emerging concept of "Ambient intelligence" landscape in which computers, interfaces and networks will be more integrated into the everyday environment and will render accessible, through easy and effortless interactions, a multitude of services and applications.

The Action Lines are summarised in the following table.

Action Lines for 2002

I.1 Health: Intelligent systems for the monitoring of health status; Systems for health professionals: creating a "Health knowledge info-structure"
I.2 Persons with Special Needs: Systems for independent living
I.3 Administrations: Not included in WP2002
I.4 Environment: Intelligent systems and services for civilian and environmental crises management
I.5 Transport, Tourism: Systems for mobility: take up and clustering activities

Action Line Descriptions

I.1. Health

IST 2002 - I.1.1 Intelligent systems for the monitoring of health status

Objectives:

To improve early illness detection and medical intervention by carrying out medium to long term multidisciplinary research on IST health application systems. The aim is to foster closer collaboration between research activities in areas such as health telematics, biomedical engineering and advanced communication technologies. Longer term work is also expected on new systems that take into account the results of functional genomics research. Activities will complement the existing clusters on "Ambient intelligence-based systems for health promotion, illness prevention and patient treatment".

Focus:

minimally invasive personal health systems for illness prevention and/or for health status monitoring of patients including systems based on flexible and smart technologies adaptable to the human body and integrating the possibilities of electrical, optical, chemical, & mechanical sensors. These systems monitor various parameters (bio-signals, location, etc), and when needed, communicate securely with health professionals as well as with intelligent support systems. The focus is on development of new sensor technologies as well as intelligent decision support systems.
research on knowledge technologies for access and delivery of personalised health promotion material based on the current health status and including, where appropriate, health and genetic profile. The problems to address include interoperability of databases containing individual's health information, semantic based knowledge representation, knowledge capturing and retrieval which facilitate compliance with data protection, electronic signature and other information society related legislation.

Types of actions addressed:

Research and Development, Demonstration and Combined projects

Links with WP2001:

Expansion and continuation of Action Line IST2001 - I.1.1

IST 2002 - I.1.2 Systems for health professionals: creating a "Health knowledge info-structure"

Objective:

To allow health professionals timely interaction with heterogeneous, distributed, medical and other health related databases. Work will consist of medium to long term research on the development of more efficient and secure "Health Knowledge Info-structure", (i.e. a network of interactive and secure medical and health systems). This will complement the existing cluster on "Ambient intelligence-based system for health professionals"

Focus:

Advanced navigation tools for health professionals for timely retrieval of vital information including health info-structure tools such as user friendly systems and interfaces as well as mobile systems for ubiquitous, timely and secure access to medical data at the point of care. A midterm strategy is the fostering of closer collaboration between the bio-informatics community and medical informatics researchers in order to accelerate and validate the results of functional genomics and develop the future forms of clinical systems that will incorporate genetic information.
Medical knowledge and evidence management, data mining, capturing and retrieval, intelligent interactive environments and interoperability of large health databases, using open source where appropriate. All systems handling person identifiable data must comply with the requirements of the information society related legislation.

Types of actions addressed:

Research and Development, Demonstration and Combined projects

Links with WP2001:

Expansion and modification of Action Line IST2001 - I.1.2

I.2 Persons with special needs, including the disabled and the elderly

IST2002 - I.2.1 Systems for independent living

Objective:

To provide people with disabilities and their carers, and the elderly, with systems based on the ambient intelligence concept in order to facilitate employment, education, and full participation in society. Work will include innovative applications and services to facilitate citizens' civic involvement through enhanced remote access to general interest services (such as e-health, e-government, ...). This will require the availability of new interoperable tools influencing the design, and content authoring of publicly accessible web sites. Medium and long term research and technological development will concentrate on the rehabilitative and interface aspects of advanced, systems that could be embedded in our surroundings or in the case of medical implants inside our bodies. Using a design-for-all approach, work will be undertaken principally with mainstream industries to find solutions to the needs of people with disabilities that can provide links and interfaces with assistive technologies.

Focus:

The work will cover innovative IST-based assistive systems for supporting cognition, mobility, orientation, and sensory abilities, and secure living conditions in the home.
Longer term research will address advanced interfaces for compensating the effects of impaired functionalities and individual performance using an up-to-date understanding of cognitive, behavioural, and sensory processes.

To meet the requirements of the target groups, within the research and development work, particular attention should be paid to covering the legal, regulatory, financial, ethical and societal aspects to understand better the pre-requisities for successful dissemination of results.

Significant industrial participation is sought to ensure commercial exploitation; the participation of relevant authorities is needed to promote good service delivery; and the commitment of both is required to ensure effective take-up of successful deliverables.

Types of actions addressed:

Research and Development, Demonstration and Combined projects

Links with WP2001:

Expansion and continuation of Action Line IST2001 - I.2.1

I.4 Environment

IST2002 - I.4.1 Intelligent systems and services for civilian and environmental crises management

Objectives:

The objective is to assist public administrations and emergency services in the management of specific emergency scenarios by funding research into intelligent decision support systems for the risk assessment and post crisis management of natural or man made risks , including their impact on the structural integrity of large infrastructures.

A secondary objective is the improvement of the associated risk management systems dependent on the integration and management of multiple data sources (including the decision support systems cited above).

For many such applications, a combined access to, and a more intelligent use of heterogeneous, multi-source data, is required to reduce the risk and adverse economic or societal impacts related to environmental emergencies, and to deliver effective, sustainable, high quality information services. The more efficient provision of harmonised, accurate information combined with easy access across borders and nations, in line with the GMES objectives, is one of the main challenges for the services to be developed.

Focus:

Intelligent systems combining data from earth observation, satellite positioning systems and in-situ sensors with geo-referenced information, and advanced methods and technologies for extracting knowledge from environmental data, that contribute to effective decision support in the form of improved risk and damage assessment, prevention and response actions including emergency telemedicine.
In-depth analysis and comparative assessment of the performance, scalability and effectiveness of existing risk assessment tools, methods and systems to meet with the challenges foreseen over the next ten years.
Pre-standardisation activities leading to harmonised data models, metadata, functional architecture and harmonised approach to services relevant to risk management.

Types of actions addressed:

Research and Development, Demonstration and Combined projects; Accompanying Measures

Links with WP2001:

New Action Line

1.5 Transport and Tourism

IST2002 - I.5.1 Systems for mobility: take up and clustering activities

Objectives:

To facilitate the wider use of RTD results obtained in the Telematics Applications for Transport Sector (FP4) and in the "intelligent vehicle" and "intelligent transport infrastructure" clusters particularly in IST (FP5). This will be achieved through the definition and dissemination of a set of systems architectures covering various modes of transport, different types of user, communication means and protocols.

Complementary clustering and, where appropriate, Standardisation, Trials and Best Practice actions will be supported.

Focus:

Individual projects and organisations (both in the context of Community programmes and otherwise) have developed Travel and Transport information resources, infomobility systems, systems for intelligent infrastructure and intelligent vehicles. For the better exploitation of these developments, in many cases, it is necessary to bring them under a common architecture to ensure interworking, compatibility, user-friendly access, privacy, use of open standards and market take-up.
Possible examples include holistic approaches to road safety information systems needed for transport management, or logistics with infomobility and location-based services.
Complementary clusters are required to bring together the major actors, create engineering task forces, identify common issues and necessary standards, develop a programme of work, study the problems and publish the required architectural definitions and requirements for further RTD, taking into account previous and on-going work in Community and National programmes.
In the framework of support for the eEurope initiative, take-up actions for Intelligent Transport Systems for traffic management and the vehicle are required, and to support standardisation and benchmarking of progress.

Types of actions addressed:

Thematic Networks, Trials and Best Practice.

Links with WP2001:

New Action Line preparing for the next Community Framework Programme