French and Dutch authorities pledge additional aid for research into software technology
The French and Dutch authorities have pledged extra funding for a European research programme in software technology because of the strategic importance of research in this area. Projects carried out under the ITEA (Information Technology for European Advancement) programme, a Eureka research programme, will benefit from an additional 369 million euro spread over the duration of the programme which is set to continue until June 2007. This brings the total budget of the ITEA project to 3,200 million euro, 50 per cent of which will be funded at EC level. The aid arrangements have been approved by the European Commission which considers they comply with the Community framework for state aid for research. Vincent Evers, Director of the ITEA office, says the additional aid provided by the French and Dutch authorities reflects the importance of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to Europe. He said the decision of these national governments to fund a Community project shows their understanding of the need for international cooperation in ICTs in order to benefit from common standards in industrial research. 'The decision of the French and Dutch authorities to complement the funding of this project reflects the strategic importance of research into ICTs. 'International cooperation is needed in the ICT domain because standardisation is important in the early stages of research. Europe had a standard for GSMs (global system for mobile communications) ten years before the product was brought to market.' Mr Evers said he hoped the ITEA project will produce comparable benefits for industry to those which were achieved with GSM technology where Europe is a market leader. 'Industrial competitiveness is the strategic goal of all Eureka projects', he said. The ITEA programme aims to promote knowledge in the field of software technology, covering software components, architecture, standards specifications and interface specifications, with particular emphasis on the development of middleware technology. Some 12 countries, 11 of them EU Member States, are involved in the programme, which is managed at a European level and on a cross border basis with cooperation between industrialists and public research centres. rd. He pointed t
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Netherlands