IST2000 opens with French endorsement of FP5
Research and development has a key role in forming the information society, said French minister for research, Roger Gérard Schwartzenberg, at the opening of the IST2000 conference in Nice. The technologies which will be used in a few years time could be assisted by research that is already taking place, said Mr Schwartzenberg. He also emphasised that the IST programme has played a key role in helping Europe catch up in the area of information technology. He commended the European Union's Fifth Framework programme (FP5) for providing a more coherent approach to this area. It also provided the necessary funds for R&D in this area (having almost a quarter of the FP5 budget dedicated to it) and has supported over 800 projects. All that had been missing, said Mr Schwartzenberg, was a high capacity network that could link all of the main research centres of Europe. This has now been addressed with the signing of the contract for the GEANT project - the most comprehensive in the world. There were also a number of recommendations in his speech concerning possible improvements for the next Framework programme, such as ensuring that responses to calls are dealt with in no more than six months, opening the IST programme to grander projects which have a strategic value, even though they may be financially more risky, and a greater focus on strategic economic and social needs in this context, such as ensuring that the technologies of communication and information are available to everyone. Although there has been an increasing focus recently on successful start ups, Mr Schwartzenberg reminded the audience that it was largely public institutions and authorities that supported the Web's development (such as US universities and CERN in the 1990s). Due to adverse weather, Mr Schwartzenberg was unable to appear in person, but appropriately took advantage of the hi-tech option of webcasting to deliver his speech to the participants of IST2000 from Paris.
Countries
France