Researchers head to Helsinki for IST2006
The hot-topic of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) drew record crowds to IST2006 in Helsinki. More than 4,500 people made the trip to Finland for this year’s event, subtitled “Strategies for Leadership”, to hear details of FP7 opportunities.
Addressing the opening plenary, Commissioner Viviane Reding said that the event provided “the opportunity to discuss ICT research and innovation policies” and to “reflect on how to shape ICT progress…to ensure that European citizens and businesses can get the best out of it. “
The emergence of China and India as major players in ICT was a message delivered throughout the event. Each year Chinese and Indian universities produce 1.2 million scientists. This is more than the EU, US and Japan combined. Commissioner Reding recognised that member states are starting to “put resources and efforts behind the words” with regards to ICT research and innovation. As a result, there will be a 75% increase in investments in ICT research under FP7 by 2013, contributing a total of more than 9 billion euros.
Dr. WU Zhongze, Vice-Minister of the Ministry of Science and Technology, People's Republic of China, addressed the conference about the desire to strengthen EU-Asia links in the fields of science and research. With GÉANT2’s direct connection to China, and more recently, India, European researchers are well placed to benefit from closer collaboration.
More than 100 networking sessions and workshops were held over the three days. Featuring new research areas such as digital libraries, networked media, and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology, the sessions provided an open forum for discussion of essential issues. Europe’s ICT relations with international partners was an important part of the conference programme with specific sessions relating to Africa, China, India, the Middle East, Russia, and New Zealand.
DANTE’s General Manager, Hans Döbbeling, presented at a session looking at the deployment of dark fibre in Eastern Europe, integrating these countries into the wider GÉANT2 community. GÉANT2 was further represented by Toby Rodwell and Anand Patil at a session investigating Quality of Service in IP networks. They outlined their work on the Advanced Multi-Domain Provisioning Service (AMPS) for advanced network reservation across multiple domains.
GÉANT2 was one of more than 150 projects that exhibited at the event, raising awareness of its role in supporting Europe’s research and academic community. The new GÉANT2 DVD and Interactive Demo were on display at the stand giving first-time visitors an easy introduction to the project. To mark the launch of these new products, a competition was held to win a portable DVD player. The prize was won by Eric Flask from Malta.
• You can read a full transcript of Commissioner Reding’s speech here
• For more information about the 7th Framework Programme visit http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/
• The presentation given by Toby Rodwell and Anand Patil can be read here
• See photos of the exhibition here
