CRIS'98 - Current Research Information Systems in Europe

The fourth conference on Current Research Information Systems in Europe, CRIS'98, will take place in Luxembourg on 12-14 March 1998. The conference is being organized by the European Commission, within the framework of the Community's INNOVATION programme for the dissemination and exploitation of research results.

Member States and the European Community are continuously investing in R&D but European research expertise remains under-exploited in terms of technology provision. It is, therefore, crucial to use current research information systems (CRIS) to unlock the resources available for users in companies (especially small and medium-sized enterprises), research organizations and public services throughout Europe.

CRIS'98 follows on from the European CRIS conferences held in Bergen (Norway) in February 1991, in Amsterdam (The Netherlands) in December 1993, and in Milan (Italy) in March 1995. Its aim is to:

- Promote the exploitation of CRIS by both industry (in order to help them make better use of research) and research policy makers and planners;

- Investigate possibilities for the better integration of new technologies in order to exploit CRIS more efficiently.

The conference programme will include papers and demonstrations both from invited speakers and from speakers selected by the CRIS'98 programme committee on the basis of abstracts submitted. Persons and organizations interested in participating in this conference are invited to submit expressions of interest for presenting a paper (in the form of a one-page abstract) or providing demonstrations in the following fields:

- Introduction (Plenary):
. 1.1 CRIS : a cost or an investment?
. 1.2 Future information requirements for CRIS;
. 1.3 Need for harmonization of CRIS;
. 1.4 CRIS in the information society: the integration of new technology to facilitate access and use of CRIS;

- Exploitation of CRIS (Parallel Session A):
. 2.A.1 CRIS Market;
. 2.A.2 Use and usability of CRIS in industry;
. 2.A.3 The exploitation of CRIS for technology transfer;
. 2.A.4 The exploitation of CRIS for technology watch;
. 2.A.5 Policy-makers' perspective;
. 2.A.6 The use of CRIS for scientometrics and for monitoring and evaluation purposes;
. 2.A.7 Marketing of research information;

- Production and dissemination of CRIS (Parallel Session B):
. 2.B.1 Generic technologies used by CRIS (multimedia, web technology, automatic translation, registration and payment tools,...);
. 2.B.2 Common tools and standards related to CRIS (CERIF, ...);
. 2.B.3 Intelligent tools and techniques;
. 2.B.4 Modern networking for collection (e.g. Internet);
. 2.B.5 Multilinguism;
. 2.B.6 Electronic publishing;
. 2.B.7 Best practice in management and cooperation;
. 2.B.8 ERGO (European Research Gateways Online);
. 2.B.9 EuroCRIS (European Platform of Current Research Information Systems).

Demonstrations on innovative applications are especially welcome in the fields of:

- 3.1 Particular use of research information systems;
- 3.2 Successful marketing of information systems;
- 3.3 Production and management of information systems;
- 3.4 Others (to be proposed).

In addition to receiving expressions of interest for papers (including an abstract) and for demonstrations, the organizers welcome suggestions for other topics.
For further information, please contact:

European Commission
DG XIII - Telecommunications, information market and exploitation of research
Ms. Lieve Van Woensel
DG XIII/D-2
EUFO 2191
rue Alcide de Gasperi
L-2920 Luxembourg
Fax +352-4301-34989
E-mail: "Lieve.VAN WOENSEL"@lux.dg13.cec.be