CORDIS Archive

View the original page arrowbar Legal Noticebar Print the page
Advanced Search bar Maps
  Search
This page has been archived. It will no longer be updated.
Important legal notice: Information on this site is subject to a disclaimer and a copyright notice.

Clustering

What is a cluster?

Research work carried out under the IST Programme in the area of 'Systems and Services for the Citizen' - Key Action 1 - is built around 12 clusters of projects in specific technical areas. These clusters are a logical grouping of projects co-operating together for their mutual benefit.

Clusters in the Environment & Humanitarian Demining Unit

All of the projects funded and managed by the Environment and Humanitarian Demining Unit are grouped into three 'clusters':

A Workshop was held by the Commission in Brussels in April 2001 to identify requirements and options for future priorities for research relating to IST Environmental Applications. This event was part of the preparations for the 6th Framework Programme. (Workshop report DOC, 300KB)

Intelligent Systems for Risk & Disaster Management

Objective

Flood Natural disasters pose not only a threat to the health and safety of Europe's citizens, but also run the risk of damaging the environment. Contributing to the European Union's social objectives, the principle focus of this cluster is:

  • generating more accurate and earlier prediction of natural disasters by improving the information dissemination process and through better planning of long-term cross-border strategies.

Other goals within the cluster are:

  • to minimise health risks and fatal injuries from natural disasters,
  • to reduce costs and financial losses through coordinated emergency procedures and information exchanges, and, ultimately,
  • to limit environmental damage.

Key work undertaken (action)

Analysing existing disaster management support systems, applications and related technical characteristics creates a basis from which a) appropriate solutions can be derived, and b) potential areas of product standardisation can be investigated. This work is coordinated by the Cluster Initiative for Flood & Fire emergencies (CLIFF) consortium, and in addition to EU funded projects will also encompass projects funded by the European Space Agency (ESA) and Member State projects.

Project portfolio
No of projects: 9
No of organisations: 75
EU Funding: 12.2 M€
Total budget: 20.4 M€
Contact: Guy Weets

Intelligent Environmental Monitoring and Management Systems

Objective

Pines Projects in this cluster concentrate on providing and/or integrating environmental monitoring and management tools, such as decision support systems, intelligent data capture networks, innovative real-time information systems and novel sensors. The challenges are addressed under three headings:

  • Air and noise: real-time predictions of air quality and levels of noise;
  • Water: sustainable management of inland, coastal and marine waters is critical; and
  • Natural resources: intelligent exploitation of natural resources via optimised monitoring, rationalisation of costs and sustainable development solutions.

Key work undertaken (action)

The cluster covers a variety of activities and technologies:

  • Air and noise: Intelligent mobile sensor networks to measure indoor and outdoor air quality; assessment of environmental effectiveness of traffic demand management strategies; real-time information and warning systems using WAP and GSM communications;
  • Water: Video image analysis for monitoring pollution and early warning, data warehousing and data exchange networks, integrated information for maritime traffic and survey of marine resources; and
  • Natural resources: Evaluation of the impacts of solar radiation on, for example, the agricultural and building industries; integration of earth observation data into environmental impact studies on mining; intelligent forest monitoring and management.
Workshop to identify future RTD priorities in FP6 for IST Environmental Applications (April 2001)

A Workshop was held by the Commission in Brussels in April 2001 to identify requirements and options for future priorities for research relating to IST Environmental Applications. This event was part of the preparations for the 6th Framework Programme. Download the workshop's full report (DOC, 300KB).

Project portfolio
No of projects: 15
No of organisations: 156
EU Funding: 26.6 M€
Total budget: 49.4 M€
Contact & Leader: Irmgard Heiber

Humanitarian Demining Cluster

Announcement

Preparations are underway for the creation of cluster focusing on the pressing issue of humanitarian demining in Europe and beyond. The name of this cluster will be announced in the near future.

IST Humanitrian Demining Cluster Meeting, November 2001
Download the report of the IST Humanitarian Demining Cluster Meeting held in Brussels in November 2001. (DOC)

Project portfolio
No of projects: 6 (BULRUSH, ARC, CLEARFAST, DEMAND, SMART, EUDEM II)
No of organisations: TBC
EU Funding: ~15 M€
Total budget: ~30 M€
Contact: Pascal Collotte