Objective In the age of a global economy, intense and efficient communication within companies or between different companies is essential in order to compete successfully in the market. Recent investigations have shown that the intensity of communication correlates directly with the geographical distance between the communicating parties. Here exists an enormous potential for intensifying collaboration between project partners and thus for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the work itself. Conferences held online, offering all the conveniences of a real conference, help to save time and costs. Effective teamwork, bringing together the expertise of specialists from all places of the world, is crucial for the success of each project. Effects of synergies can be made use of and projects can be realised in much shorter time. This may contribute to shorter innovation cycles. AVATAR-Conference aims to develop a toolkit for the set-up and administration of virtual online conferences in which users are represented as avatars, i.e. as animated 3D-figures. The AVATAR_Conference system will be designed as a scalable, modular application, offering a large number of supportive functions, like multimedia multi-user real-time communication, speech and voice recognition facilities, online translation services, user representation through 3D-avatars within virtual worlds, multi-user 3D-manipulation and whiteboard, application sharing facilities and clients on PC and Interactive-TV.The AVATAR-Conference system provides the means for spontaneous, intuitive and intense communication between project partners. The system will especially be characterised by its high usability. Programme(s) FP5-IST - Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on a "User-friendly information society, 1998-2002" Topic(s) 2000-2.2.2 - Smart Organisations Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FOERDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V. EU contribution No data Address HANSASTRASSE 27C 80686 MUENCHEN Germany See on map Total cost No data Participants (7) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all AVATARME LTD United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address 90 LONDON ROAD SE1 6LN LONDON See on map Total cost No data E-PRO SOLUTIONS GMBH Germany EU contribution No data Address WALDBURGSTRASSE 21 70563 STUTTGART See on map Total cost No data EXODUS A.E. Greece EU contribution No data Address ODOS FARANTATON 6-10 11527 ATHINA See on map Total cost No data LINGUATEC GMBH Germany EU contribution No data Address GOTTFRIED-KELLER-STRASSE 12 81245 MUENCHEN See on map Total cost No data PIXELPARK (SCHWEIZ) AG Switzerland EU contribution No data Address MUENCHENSTEINERSTRASSE 43 4052 BASEL See on map Total cost No data TOOLTECHNIC SYSTEMS S.R.L. Italy EU contribution No data Address V. E. FERMI 36/38 20090 MILANO See on map Total cost No data UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART Germany EU contribution No data Address KEPLERSTRASSE 7 70174 STUTTGART See on map Total cost No data