Results of INFO2000 call for proposals
A total of 141 proposals were submitted in response to a call for proposals issued by the European Commission in relation to the exploitation of Europe's public sector information. A total of 129 of these were eligible for participation and 20, involving a total of 130 participants, have been shortlisted for funding. The European Commission, DG XIII, has published a summary report of the results of the call which was launched on 16 December 1997 (OJ No C 381 of 16.12.1997 p. 21). The call concerned proposals for strategic projects aimed at improving access to information sources held by the public sector and was launched under the Community's multi-annual programme to stimulate the development of a European multimedia content industry and to encourage the use of multimedia content in the emerging Information Society (INFO2000). The proposals were evaluated according to strategic criteria, technical merit and soundness of approach, organisation, management, and commercial and financial aspects. The largest number of proposals came from industry and private sector organisations, around 75% of which were SMEs or micro-organisations (under 10 employees). The second largest number of proposals came from public administrations. The proposals addressed a considerable number of domains in the public sector, covering a total of 13 subject areas, ranging from geographic and economic information to the environment, health and tourism.