Strong demand for CORDIS
Recent figures have shown a considerable surge in the use of all the CORDIS databases for January 1995. A 48% increase on the previous month in the overall number of individuals and companies making use of CORDIS, the Community's Research and Development Information Service, has been achieved since the beginning of the year. This represents a total usage of 3,342 hours and some 12,294 log-ons for the first month of 1995. The increased use of the CORDIS databases coincides with the launch of the calls for proposals under the Fourth Framework Programme on 15 December 1994. CORDIS is now firmly established as a first stop for information on all aspects of the Framework Programme. Whether it is for news on the contents of the programmes, up-to-date reports on the action lines, or who to contact in the Commission (for the programme you are interested in), CORDIS is an accurate and reliable source of information - an indispensable tool for participation in Community RTD. The introduction of simple-to-use online registration forms has opened up the service for the benefit of research institutions, companies and SMEs throughout the EU and beyond. Accessibility through the World Wide Web has allowed the service to play a functional and integral role in the information society. The standard CORDIS services are available through ECHO, the European Commission Host Organization, using a menu system, the Common Command Language (CCL), or Watch-CORDIS, the new, easy-to-use, Windows-based interface. It is also available on CD-ROM and through a range of relevant publications. The CORDIS service has recently been extended to include the CORDIS World Wide Web (WWW) server on Internet. This service provides information on CORDIS and the CORDIS databases, full text documents including the work programmes and information packages for calls for proposals. A successful proposal under the Fourth Framework Programme will rely on appropriate partnerships being formed. To this end, an electronic method of submitting RTD-Partners entries is now available, in addition to the paper entry version. An 87% increase in the use of the RTD-Partners database for January 1995 also coincides with the launch of the first calls for proposals for the specific programmes implementing the Fourth Framework Programme. This represents 911 hours of use and 3,269 log-ons for January 1995. RTD-Partners is a time-saving and accurate way of locating a suitable partner in another Member State for successful and profitable collaboration. The launch of the Fourth Framework Programme will increase the number of organizations wishing to participate in the Community's research and development programmes. In December 1994 CORDIS launched an Expressions of Interest (EOI) database, RTD-EOI, for the Telematics Applications and Information Technologies specific programmes to enable potential participants to submit their proposals for involvement in the relevant programmes electronically. CORDIS has also been quick to exploit the latest communication technologies. For example, the service is now disseminating the full texts of the work programmes and calls for proposals for the specific programmes implementing the Fourth Framework Programme by means of its electronic document delivery (EDOCDEL) service on the World Wide Web.