Find the most recent information on EU Funding activities in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by visiting our ICT in FP7 website, which covers ICT in the 7th Framework Programme (FP7) 2007 - 2013.
Mission
In the field of enterprise networking, the activities support research on information and communication technologies deemed to be crucial for the delivery of distributed and collaborative ambient intelligence-based solutions for the product lifecycle and of innovative inter- and intra-organisational systems and services in the enterprise environment. Special emphasis will be placed on digital "business ecosystems", new intelligent and networked products, and the interoperability of enterprise software and applications. Dedicated effort will be needed to stimulate targeted international co-operations and strengthen the co-ordination of research activities and the convergence of research and innovation policies, at national, regional and EU levels.
Vision
To facilitate the emergence of future business forms designed to exploit the opportunities offered by the technological and socio-economic revolutions of the 21st century. In order to be more competitive, innovative, open, agile and value creating, future organisations will require new technologies, applications and services which enable them to work as networked knowledge-based businesses, and new policies and regulation which support their development and growth. These technologies, along with novel processes, organisational models and strategies will radically improve the way future organisations, products and services are created and managed as well as facilitate the interaction between businesses and the partners in their competitive environment.
Focus of action
- Dynamic collaborative business networks. New organisational forms, structures and models for business networks and knowledge-based interactions, complex adaptive and self-organising systems and organisational change management.
- Interoperability of business applications and processes. Intelligent infrastructure in dynamic networks, new generation of semantic tools, architectures and frameworks as well as open networks of interactive, autonomous and intelligent software components.
- Leveraging knowledge to support innovation and responsiveness in businesses. Knowledge-embedded value-added processes and strategies, emergent innovation and collaboration-friendly spaces, transfer of tacit knowledge and modelling/representing knowledge from multiple perspectives.
- Extended products and services. Technologies, methodologies and engineering concepts for holistic, collaborative, distributed and multidisciplinary product development, associated services and distributed global manufacturing processes.
- Business ecosystems. Collaborative and evolutive environments and scalable and interoperable business solutions for small organisations, incl. open source solutions, promotion of local/regional Information Society and transfer of knowledge on ICT for Enterprise Networking skills and competencies.
- Multi-modal eCommerce enterprise applications and services across heterogeneous networks through electronic services and marketplaces covering the whole supply chain networks and value creation cycle.
- Business strategies and policies. Including socio-economic issues related to the development of market models, strategies for the transformation of businesses, human factors and legal issues.
Means of action
- Implementation of the 6th RTD Framework Programme in the area of ICT for Enterprise Networking and interactions with related policies and Member State initiatives.
- Contribution to the implementation of the new i2010 initiative, notably by ensuring that IS technology developments contribute to policy objectives and by co-ordinating RTD and downstream initiatives, in particular in the areas of interoperability, territorial ecosystems, and RFID.
- Implementation of the European Research Area objectives in the domain of ICT for Enterprise Networking research, i.e. integration of European ICT for Enterprise Networking research efforts and increase in the impact of research, by launching integrated projects and networks of excellence, by linking with Member State activities and by disseminating results.
- Final implementation of FP5 activities by exploiting synergies between projects and external activities, by disseminating achievements and by maximising impact.
- Co-ordination and interaction with other Commission services involved in activities related to ICT for Enterprise Networking, notably DG ENTR, REGIO, MARKT, EMPL, EAC, ENLAR, SANCO, COMP, ESTAT.