Euro-Med Information Society call planned
The Information Society Project Office (ISPO) of the European Commission has announced it will invite Euro-Mediterranean consortia to submit proposals for Euro-Mediterranean Information Society Projects (EUMEDIS), and will shortly publish an open call in the Official Journal. The call will cover the fields of regional healthcare networks, pilot projects for Euro-Mediterranean electronic commerce, pilot projects in the areas of tourism and cultural heritage, pilot projects on IT research in applied industry and innovation, and Euro-Mediterranean pilot projects in the field of education. The objective of the call for regional healthcare networks is the deployment of network-based solutions to interconnect actors at all levels of the healthcare system in the Euro-Mediterranean region, using user-friendly and affordable solutions. The aim is to foster cooperative working procedures and encourage a cross-cultural exchange of experiences. The Commission has in mind a 'double mission': on one hand the project will link professionals from primary care structures, research institutes in large hospitals, healthcare administration and individual doctors through information services based on specialised databases. On the other hand they should provide a service directed to patients and individuals on matters such as prevention, post-hospitalisation support and awareness. The pilot projects for Euro-Mediterranean electronic commerce will test solutions that are likely to leverage the creation of joint ventures or economic partnerships between companies and/or the development of a Euro-Mediterranean electronic market of both products and services. The projects should focus on direct marketing, distribution-oriented or business-to-business solutions. Projects may include pilot outsourcing solutions in the framework of North-South economic cooperation between SMEs. Involvement of the major economic actors and market intermediaries of the region is expected. Projects applying for the tourism and cultural heritage call will have to propose computer and network-based solutions capable of connecting these two interlinked sectors. Priority will be given to on-line projects that concentrate on the reorganisation and streamlining of existing cultural and travel resources dispersed on-line and which integrate multiple elements in attractive on-line packages. In additions they should propose multi-destination travel programmes, interconnect actors in the travel sector, increase the number of tourism SMEs with an Internet presence, extend and optimise ongoing Commission initiatives and develop knowledge exchange. Projects on IT research in industry and innovation should provide IT solutions for businesses, the transfer of IT-based production and high speed computing. The aim is to enhance the cooperative activity of existing networks and centres of excellence. The research teams constituting the nodes of a network of excellence will provide collectively a critical mass of expertise in all disciplines needed to attain certain goals, in particular regarding the North-South transfer of competencies and innovations. Informational structures will need to be set up for the collection, analysis, classification, storage and dissemination of experience and knowledge in the domains of business process engineering, technologies and methodologies and the employment of human resources, with specific attention to professional and lifelong training solutions. Finally projects in the field of education will aim to produce innovative and multilingual courseware for distant and local learning. Projects in this area should aim at defining trans-media solutions (courseware available in several media) and take a holistic approach to the sustainability of educational and training initiatives in the Euro-Mediterranean region.