Breakdown of IST prize entrants revealed
A growing participation from Eastern Europe and a strong representation of SMEs characterised the entrants for the IST prize awarded at the IST2000 event in Nice on 6 to 8 of November. Of the 207 entrants, France and Germany were the best represented countries with 36 each, followed by Spain on 15, the UK on 13 and both Israel and Romania on 12. SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) represented the vast majority of type of organisation, accounting for 144 entrants, followed by large companies on 22, research institutes on 19 and universities on just nine. Some of the SMEs were spin offs of universities, having drawn on the expertise and results which initially began in the university framework. Most entrants had become aware of the prizes through the EISTP website (73 applications) and the Euro-CASE office (64 applications).