============================
eMobility News - November 2008
============================
FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME 7
+++ eMobility's FP7 call 4/5 coordination activities +++
eMobility and the other ICT ETPs are working on coordinating Call 4 and 5
proposal preparation activities. A survey has been conducted among eMobility
members on their interest in Call 4 and 5, for which a questionnaire had been
sent out. In total 64 replies have been received. The feedback revealed that the
strongest interest is in the areas of Network of the Future (topic of FP7 WP)
and Ubiquitous Connectivity / Post-IP (topic of eMobility SRA) respectively. The
detailed results are available to eMobility members on the eMobility website.
As the next step in the process of coordinating proposals, consortia were asked
to make themselves known to the eMobility Steering Board and provide a brief
sketch of their project idea. 47 proposal ideas were received by mid-November.
The proposal leaders were invited to a coordination meeting with the eMobility
Steering Board in Brussels on 19 November 2008, focusing on Call 4 proposals.
The coordination of Call 5 proposals will be organised separately at a later
stage in 2009.
-------------------------------------------------
RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
+++ PRESTO - Bringing Innovations in ICT into Construction +++
PRESTO is a Coordination and Support Action financed by the European Commission
within the scope of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Its aim is to
identify priority research topics for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)
in the construction sector and their associations, with a special focus on three
construction-related sectors: New Materials, Energy, and ICT.
The construction sector is of vital importance to the European economy. It
comprises a large number of SMEs (about 99 percent) and accounts for some 2.3
million enterprises, contributing around 10 percent to the EU's GDP.
Construction is a sector in need of change. New technologies and processes are
required to reduce construction time and cost, defects, accidents, waste, and
operation and maintenance costs, while at the same time improving
predictability, productivity and environmental impact.
The National Platform for the Built Environment in the UK has identified ICT and
Automation (ICTA) as one of three high-priority research areas in construction
with off-site communication as well as remote access to real-time information
playing an increasingly important role.
By creating a link and facilitating communication between SME associations in
construction and European Technology Platforms, it is anticipated that eMobility
and its members will gain an insight into the technology needs of one of
Europe's most vital industries, leading to new innovative applications for
existing technologies and creating the possibility to steer future research.
eMobility will be part of at least 6 ETPs (including ECTP and NESSI) and 6 SME
associations from across Europe. The PRESTO consortium will work towards its
aims through a series of activities including questionnaires, seminars, and
panel meetings to identify and discuss the needs of SMEs in construction as well
as opportunities for the three construction-related sectors of New Materials,
Energy and ICT, helping to positively contribute to a more sustainable
construction sector in Europe.
Nikolaus Sennhauser, Targeting Innovation Ltd, UK
Further information is available on the Presto website at
www.presto-project.eu
+++ End-to-End Efficiency +++
The End-to-End Efficiency project (E3) is aiming at integrating Cognitive
Wireless Systems in the B3G/4G world. E3 will do this by evolving current and
future heterogeneous Wireless Systems infrastructures into an integrated,
scalable and efficiently managed B3G/4G cognitive system framework from a
technical, regulatory, standardisation and business perspective. It addresses
herewith the core of the strategic objective "The Network of the Future". E3 is
one of the major IPs from the eMobility ETP, expanding the successful research
achieved by the E2R programme in the context of FP6 Wireless World Initiative
(WWI).
E3 has started on 1 January 2008 for a duration of two years and is run by a
consortium of leading manufacturers, operators, regulators and academia from
Europe as well as non-European partners. The key objective of the E3 project is
to design, develop, prototype and showcase solutions for optimised usage of
existing and future radio access resources. In particular, more flexible use of
frequency spectrum, terminals, base stations and networks is addressed.
E3 will provide interoperability, flexibility and scalability between existing
legacy and future wireless systems, manage the overall system complexity, and
ensure convergence across access technologies, business domains, regulatory
domains and geographical regions. This objective will help to ensure seamless
access to applications and services and to exploit the full diversity of
corresponding heterogeneous systems. The approach favoured by E3 addresses this
goal in a non-disruptive way by integrating existing and future wireless radio
standards into a common framework introducing cognition and "self-x" principles
into the different parts of the Wireless Systems following an end-to-end
approach.
E3 is engaged in a strategy for openness, economical efficiency and
technological excellence thanks to strong standardization (IEEE P1900.4, ETSI
RRS) and regulatory commitments. In particular, IMT-Advanced related radio and
cognitive system oriented standardisation and regulation bodies are targeted.
Wolfgang Koenig, Alcatel-Lucent, Germany
Further information is available on the E3 website at
https://ict-e3.eu
--------------------------------------------------
RECENT EVENTS
+++ eMobility GA in Stockholm +++
The fourth eMobility General Assembly took place in Stockholm on 16 October
2008. It attracted about 90 participants. Besides reporting about activities and
achievements in the past year, and presenting the plans for 2009, a major goal
was to discuss the interest of eMobility members in FP7 calls 4 and 5 and how
proposals could be coordinate.
In her opening speech Fiona Williams reported about the activities and
achievements of the last year. A number of activities have been done in 2007 to
facilitate networking. Relationships to other European Technology Platforms (ETPs)
have been strengthened, and discussions have taken place on the formation of a
Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) and a potential merger of ETPs.
In the past year eMobility's membership grew by 20 percent; eMobility has now
584 members. The plan is to develop eMobility as a club of innovators.
Significant progress has also been achieved on technical level by the eMobility
working groups. Moreover, the eMobility Steering Board has developed a vision on
how communications will look like in 2020.
For more information please visit
http://www.emobility.eu.org/GA4/agenda.html where the minutes and
presentations are available.