CRIS 98 conference aims to capitalize on Europe's research information sources

The European Commission hosted the CRIS 98 conference in Luxembourg from 12 to 14 March 1998. The fourth CRIS (Current Research Information Systems) conference brought together over 150 participants: managers of Current Research Information Systems (CRISs) from across Europe, ...

The European Commission hosted the CRIS 98 conference in Luxembourg from 12 to 14 March 1998. The fourth CRIS (Current Research Information Systems) conference brought together over 150 participants: managers of Current Research Information Systems (CRISs) from across Europe, as well as users from industry, research communities and intermediary organizations. Focused on the theme "The Nutcracker", the conference aimed to demonstrate how Research Information Systems can direct European industry, particularly SMEs, quickly and easily to the wealth of technical information from recent and ongoing research available in Europe.

Mario Bellardinelli, Head of the Commission's Dissemination of Scientific and Technical Knowledge Unit, used the Nutcracker theme throughout his introductory speech, likening Research Information Systems to the nutcrackers which open up the potential of new technical information to SMEs. The importance of CRISs for European research policy was further underlined in the opening addresses. Vicente Parajon Collada, Deputy Director-General of the Commission's DG XIII, saw a role for CRISs in remedying Europe's "innovation deficit". He spoke of the development of the EU's own CRIS - CORDIS, the Community R&D Information Service - which now has over one million visits per month to its Website, testament to its improving user-friendliness and demonstrating that it provides its users with the service they want. CORDIS is also the focus for the ERGO (European Research Gateways On-line) initiative which aims to provide a single entry point to the information in both Community and national sources, while CERIF (Common European Research Information Format) ensures that the information in these different sources is accessible in a common, and comparable, format.

For David Moore, of the UK's Office of Science and Technology (OST), CRISs can help bring research at European level closer to the citizen. In the context of the Fifth Framework Programme, they can help Europe create jobs and improve its competitiveness. Marco Walentiny, of Luxembourg's Economic Ministry, emphasized his country's support for the various instruments of the INNOVATION programme, including CORDIS and the ERGO initiative, before outlining how these activities were being implemented at national level in Luxembourg.

Three keynote speeches set the scene for discussions in two parallel tracks, one addressing "Marketing and exploitation of CRISs", and the second addressing "Production and dissemination of CRISs". The three keynote speakers demonstrated the importance of CRISs, illustrating the clear need for them to provide access to the ever-growing body of research information available in Europe. However, as many of these services have not adapted to changes in the information market, in areas like user-friendliness, quality of data and completeness, their usage is much lower than it ought to be.

These issues were all picked up during the two parallel tracks, in which some of the key points raised included:

- CRIS suppliers need to improve their knowledge of users and their needs. Increased usage will flow from responding better to these with high quality products;
- Increasing CRIS usage will also need better marketing, with much greater emphasis on personal contact, in particular through intermediary organizations;
- CRISs have started to make research results more visible, although much still remains hidden. However, CRISs will not lead to major advances in technology transfer and technology watch on their own, since personal contacts and marketing will remain the mainstay;
- There is a definite need to investigate if and how CRISs can be used better for evaluating and monitoring R&D activities;
- Two keys to high quality information collection for CRISs are to obtain data directly from primary sources, and to develop automated collection;
- The development of standards will help to exchange CRIS information and to access multiple sources. Experience with CERIF has helped in this development, and a new and better version will be available in 1999;
- Automated indexing tools can be used to improve access to information in increasingly large and complex datasets;
- Technical developments to improve the integration of different CRISs mean that a grouping of databases has a greater value than the sum of its component parts;
- Technical cooperation between the suppliers of the different CRISs is vital to the creation of a pan-European Research Information Source.

In a final panel discussion, participants aimed to draw together clear objectives for the development of CRISs. The need to bring users much further into the picture was emphasized regularly, with the next CRIS conference, in 2000, likely to involve users more closely than past events. Bringing users in should enable CRIS suppliers to gain a much better understanding of their needs, and the uses to which CRISs are put. Participants also wanted to encourage the media to use CRISs as a means to disseminate information on scientific developments.

The CRIS 98 Cybercafé:

A key feature of CRIS 98 was the Cybercafé. Set up on the World Wide Web, initially for conference participants, the Cybercafé now provides easy access to each of the presentations made at the conference, and to links to further information.

The aim of the Cybercafé is to provide the wider research community with a tool to bring about innovation in the use of research information. Most users of research information are only active within one specific field within the overall range of research and innovation activities. However, today, Europe is inundated with research information. The CRIS 98 Cybercafé provides users with relevant background information on relevant issues, with the aim of generating inspiration on other ways of using and exploiting research information in the innovation process.

The Cybercafé is set up in a user-based structure, with information targeted at the following user groups:

- Research information providers;
- Research programme managers;
- Innovation advisory services;
- SMEs and researchers;
- Policy-makers;
- Information brokers and the media.

The CRIS 98 Cybercafé can be found on the CORDIS Web server, at:

http://cordis.europa.eu/cris98/home.html