IST project helps Europe build critical mass of knowledge
One of the main tasks of EU research policy makers in recent times has been to establish a more cooperative and open environment in which European researchers can exchange experience and develop a shared vision of science and technology. EU projects such as POSITION have also recognised the benefits of creating synergies between research consortia. Funded under the information society technology (IST) programme of the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5), the project has received nearly 800,000 euro to facilitate the exchange of results and information between European projects dealing with position technologies. Positioning technology refers to navigational services and applications developed for mobile and fixed communications, consumer electronics, general electronic appliances, embedded software, micro electronics, advanced service systems, digital broadcasting and service provision for rail, road, maritime and air platforms across all transport domains. As Frédéric Collomb, coordinator of the POSITION project, explained in an interview with CORDIS News, research into this field is widespread in Europe. 'However, many of those involved in positioning research are not aware of what's being done elsewhere in the domain and so often enough, research is duplicated.' 'The goal of POSITION is to provide an initial point of reference for these projects so that the state-of-the-art can be established with greater ease, said Mr Collomb. 'This will save time and effort, allowing consortia to focus on their research safe in the knowledge that their efforts are less likely to be a duplication of previous or ongoing efforts.' As part of its first work package, the consortium has identified no less than 150 positioning projects currently funded either by the EU or the European Space Agency. From these, an in-depth study was carried out of 91 projects. Since then, the consortium has established links with 45 projects and has begun identifying their support requirements. Mr Collomb outlined some of the support activities on offer from the POSITION initiative. They include the development of a database containing information on European positioning projects. 'This enables us to help projects in need of specific expertise from another domain or discipline to find this expertise in previous and ongoing projects,' said Mr Collomb. With a view to helping projects disseminate their results to a wider audience, the consortium also carries out promotional work such as publishing project reports and project workshop announcements on their website. Perhaps the most important element of the POSITION project is its analysis of the results and activities carried out in positioning research in Europe. By establishing constructive recommendations, Mr Collomb believes that the project will be able to make a significant contribution to the implementation of the Sixth Framework Programme. 'Having a good overview of the ongoing projects in this domain enables us to identify the gaps and make recommendations for areas where new research is needed.'
Countries
France, United Kingdom