I'M-Europe server completes first year of operations
I'M-Europe, one of the European Commission's WWW servers, has attracted considerable interest during its first year of operation and is now a major player in disseminating information and providing services related to the European electronic information services market. I'M-Europe was launched in September 1994 by ECHO (European Commission Host Organization), within the IMPACT (Information Market Policy Actions) programme. It will form an essential part of the Commission's new INFO2000 programme, which aims to stimulate the development of a European multimedia content industry by promoting the use of multimedia content in the emerging Information Society. One of I'M-Europe's objectives is to make the public more aware of the activities of Directorate General XIII (Telecommunications, Information Market and Exploitation of Research) in the area of the electronic information services market. The initiatives covered include INFO2000, IMPACT 2, activites under the Fourth Framework Programme (including language engineering, information engineering and telematics for libraries), and the Information and Communication Technologies Partnership and Generic Services activities. A second objective is to provide a medium of communication with the major target groups for European Union initiatives in these areas and so encourage participation. The server provides details of Community research programmes and other initiatives related to the information market, including calls for proposals and invitations to tender, results of projects, information days and certain other events. Documents are provided in English and in a number of other European Union languages. The server offers three on-line discussion forums, I'M-Europe, GI2000 and Generic Services Teleforum, aimed at stimulating information exchange among the players in the information services market. I'M-Europe's content complements that of the Commission's main WWW server EUROPA, as well as the ISPO and CORDIS servers and I'M-Europe has established appropriate hyper-links with all three. I'M Europe is also working with the IMPACT National Awareness Partners scheme to offer a coherent multilingual WWW network across Europe to serve the needs of the main players in the information market, and the multimedia industry in particular.