EU Commission and industries join to build 'Internet of the Future'

[News_Editor]

EU Commission and industries join to build 'Internet of the Future'

2011-05-03 20:51:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

BRUSSELS (BNO NEWS) -- The European Union (EU) on Tuesday announced that the first phase of a €600 million ($888.36) public-private partnership on the Internet of the Future was launched.

European Commission Vice-President Neelie Kroes launched the project, which is expected to support innovation in Europe and help businesses and governments to develop internet solutions that will be capable of managing the exponential increase in online data.

The Future Internet Public Private Partnership program (FI-PPP) involves 152 different organizations from 23 EU Member states or countries associated with the EU's Seventh Research Framework Program, as Internet data traffic is growing by 60 percent every year.

The EU underlined that, so far, people have experienced the Internet of connected computers and connected people, but the Internet is now going mobile and it will connect a whole range of machines and objects.

The current Internet is simply not capable of managing these future data streams, nor is it able to provide the desired accuracy, resilience and safety, the EU said. The partnership will explore eight areas where this data revolution could spur innovation and jobs in the mobile, software and service industries.

The FI-WARE project will receive €41 million ($60.6 million) in EU funding to develop the set of core platform tools needed to build innovative future Internet services, such as privacy, real-time processing and cloud computing.

The toolbox will be open for anyone to innovate. To jump-start the innovation process, a set of large scale trials of innovative Internet-based services and applications will take place in cities like Stockholm, Sweden and Santander, Spain.

Eight case projects (each receiving roughly € 5 million in funding over 2 years) will lead the developments and explore the future Internet in: environmental data in the public domain; making the food value-chain smarter; reaping the benefits of electricity management at community level; and networked media, including gaming.

The projects will also explore making public infrastructure in urban areas more intelligent and efficient, developing innovation eco-systems in London, Berlin, Aarhus, Santander and Trento, as well as dealing with transport and environment; waste management; water and sewage; smart metering and street lighting; and water and environment.

In addition, further projects include research in increasing efficiency in international logistics value-chains, personal mobility, and making urban public areas safer.

"The internet economy will be growing to 5.8 percent of GDP, or almost € 800 billion ($1.18 trillion), by 2014," Kroes said. "But we are only at the beginning of the internet era."

"Europe must mobilize all its talent to keep ahead in this sector, not only to ensure Europe's future competitiveness and to unlock European creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship, but also to safeguard European values like privacy, openness, and diversity," Kroes added, stating that the Commission should use public finances in a smart way to leverage industry investment - "if we don't invest and innovate first, our global competitors will."

The FI-PPP is an open initiative. The multi-phased approach and open calls for FI-WARE ensure a wide and open participation. The work of the FI-PPP will be open for others to innovate upon.

The European Commission has made available € 300 million ($444.18 million) in funding over 5 years, with Europe's research organizations, public sector and industry committing an equal amount to this PPP.

Projects launched on Tuesday will together receive €90 million ($133 million) in EU funding (to be matched by other project partners). Boosting and focusing the EU's research, development and innovation efforts is a key element of the Digital Agenda for Europe.

The first phase of the FI-PPP is planned to last for two years (2011-2012) and develop the toolbox of generic services for preparing the large scale trial. The second phase (2013-14) will be the large scale trials of innovative and complex Internet services and applications in a wide range of domains across Europe, and the third phase (2014-2015) will be dedicated towards transforming these trials into fertile digital ecosystems and connecting them to their regional innovation policy.

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