'Relevance of IST 2004 event extends far beyond Europe,' says South African Minister
As well as showcasing collaborative European research, the IST (information society technologies) 2004 event - held in The Hague from 15 to 17 November - also provided an opportunity to assess and advance Europe's cooperation with its global partners. Among others, delegations from China, India, South Africa, Russia and Latin America came to the Netherlands to highlight the importance of strategic international partnerships, and to encourage European policy makers and researchers to make the most of existing and potential future opportunities for collaboration. On the opening morning of the conference, the South African Minister for Science and Technology, Mosibudi Mangena, told organisers and delegates that the impact and relevance of IST 2004 extends far beyond Europe, including to his own country. 'The themes of the event place a strong emphasis on international cooperation, which is of great relevance,' he said. 'In Europe, ICTs [information and communication technologies] have dramatically improved access to information, and there is an enormous potential to do the same in developing countries.' Mr Mangena said that his country is making efforts to improve Africa's weak ICT infrastructure, particularly in terms of human resources and the regulatory framework. He also emphasised that developing countries' partnership with the EU is mutually beneficial, as many of the challenges faced are global in their nature, and will only be solved through international cooperation. 'Our goal should be to build a global information society to create a more inclusive and secure environment for all citizens on the planet,' the minister concluded. In an interview with CORDIS News, Johan Eksteen, coordinator of IST activities for South Africa's largest research institute, CSIR, emphasised that while participation in the EU's framework programme is a good way of supplementing national research and development (R&D) investment, the main benefit of partnership is its contribution to building excellence in the South African research landscape. Mr Eksteen also highlighted complementarities between South Africa and the EU: 'From a research perspective we are keen to develop human language technologies, as we have 11 official languages within the country and we need the technologies to support people's human right to use their own one. This is very similar to the multilingual and multicultural issues in the EU. There are also wide economic disparities within South Africa, as there are within the enlarged EU, and both regions see ICTs as enablers for social and competitiveness issues,' he pointed out. On a more practical level, Mr Eksteen says that South Africa has only been eligible to participate as an equal partner since the introduction of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), and people both in the EU and his own country may mot be fully aware of this change. 'So, awareness raising and network building in both regions is the key.' Mr Eksteen firmly believes that successful joint projects between international partners are not primarily born out of having good ideas, but rather through the existence of international networks and consortia of researchers. 'One area for more focus is the Marie Curie instrument, as unfamiliarity is still causing difficulties. If it worked smoothly it would be a great network building tool,' he believes. Another important network building tool is Europe's high performance global research network; GÉANT; and it was announced during the conference that South Africa will join the initiative. 'Two years ago, as a government, we expressed an interest in joining GÉANT, as research networks are important facilitators in many topics of research. The Commission was very forthcoming in supporting the idea,' revealed Mr Eksteen. Once outstanding issues surrounding South Africa's national research network and international bandwidth availability have been resolved, full integration should be possible at some point in 2005, he concluded. Conference discussions on IST cooperation between the EU and China, meanwhile, centred on the 'Digital Olympics' initiative, which supports collaboration between the two partners in the development of enabling technologies for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Chen LinHao, coordinator of European Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, said that the initiative had been built on the basis of long term IST cooperation with the EU. Eight priority areas for joint projects have so far been identified within the initiative, including public information services, multilingual applications, intelligent transport systems and emergency services. The Chinese delegation says that so far over 100 proposals and ideas have been received from potential participants. 'It is important that people are made aware of opportunities for cooperation under the Digital Olympics initiative, but we must also look beyond 2008, and recognise that research projects can be formed outside of the Olympic framework,' said Mr LinHao. He told CORDIS News that only mature technologies would be suitable for the 2008 Games, but that some of the ideas being discussed under the initiative would take much longer to realise: 'Let's use this opportunity to build more projects beyond 2008 - not just the Digital Olympics but Digital Beijing, and Digital China.' Mr LinHao described the framework programmes as a good platform for cooperation between the EU and China, but said that he would like to see 'instruments that are more flexible and that could allow us to do more', adding that the usual six month timeframe for approving projects could be shortened. With regard to India, Peter Zangle, Deputy Director-General of the Commission's Information Society DG, described the country as a key European partner, particularly in the field of ICT. He encouraged members of the Indian delegation at the conference to establish more links with European researchers and maintain the two partners' 'fruitful partnership'. R. Madhukar Abhyankar, Indian Ambassador to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg, described his country's approach to international partnership as 'competitiveness through cooperation'. 'In this context, we believe that the EU's Lisbon goals must be set against Europe's ageing population and shortage of skills sets - both research and ICT,' he said. Professor S. Sadagopan, Director of the Indian Institute of Technology, described ICT as a fundamental technology that has the ability to influence all other industries. 'For example, India's huge textiles industry, as well as the diamond, granite and fruit industries - that's why India is so bullish about ICTs,' he revealed. Professor Sadagopan highlighted the many shared values between India and the EU, such as democracy, multiculturalism, multilingualism, and a strong tradition in education and research. 'The next growth engine for India will be the EU, and for the EU it will be Asia, including India and China. [...] ICT is a starting point, but Euro-Indian partnership can go far beyond, as ICT influences all areas of business and government. There is much to be done, but it is not particularly difficult - we simply need to introduce the institutional instruments to better encourage cooperation,' he concluded.
Countries
China, India, South Africa