Mapping a European vision for collaborative workspaces
In order to adapt to the increasingly competitive environment created by globalisation, many European engineering companies are working ever more closely with international partners. There seems little doubt that the future of this kind of cooperation will also be profoundly influenced by emerging technologies such as grid networking, wireless communications, virtual-reality interfaces, and simulation, supported by ever higher processing power. The project to develop “a Strategic Roadmap for Defining Distributed Engineering Workspaces of the Future” produced a European Vision of Collaborative Engineering Workspaces for 2013 that should also guide future IST research. This was achieved by bringing together key industry players from all over Europe, with multidisciplinary and multifunctional technical expertise, in order to have a truly inclusive discussion. The project focused on the aerospace, automotive and construction industries, with the participation of stakeholders from backgrounds as varied as virtual environments, network security, distributed systems and human factors. The final roadmap for Collaborative Engineering Workspaces, driven by end-user demands, user-centred design and socio-economic needs, should contribute to future EU competitiveness and sustainable development.