The next Future Internet Assembly will meet in Valencia, Spain on 15-16 April 2010 in the frame of the IV conference on the FP7. More information ...

On 2nd February, the European Future Interent Initiative (EFII) released the White paper on the Future Internet PPP Definition.

This document is intended to convey the vision of the European Future Internet Initiative (EFII) for the Future Internet dedicated call (PPP):

• As an input to the preparation of the work programme 2011 – 2013 for a dedicated call on the Future Internet.
• As a call to sector industries (utilities, transport, health, energy, content,…) to engage with ICT community in an innovative approach to a focused research programme.
• As a call to others in the ICT industry and academic & research institutions to work with us the development of this programme of activities to accelerate the Future Internet in Europe.

The main objective of this PPP is to significantly advance the implementation and uptake of Future Internet services by 2015 and, in doing so, establish European-scale markets for smart infrastructures with integrated communications functionality.

The concept of supporting and enhancing the life of the citizens in the Digital Society of the future will be an integrating theme in this approach.

We hope to engage the application sectors and the ICT community in a comprehensive discussion on the nature and structure of the activities and projects that could be used to realise the ambitions of this programme in the first half of 2010.

Visit the EFII website.

A Task Force of the European Commission's DG Information Society and Media (DG INFSO) was created in January 2009 to develop recommendations on interdisciplinary research activities that cut across the many different technological domains of the Future Internet. This task force was complemented and supported by four external technical experts, whose names and profiles can be found in the annex of the draft report.

The focus of this report is on interdisciplinary research, it does not deal with any of the topics that fall within the scope of singular objectives that constitute Challenge 1 of the current ICT Work Programme. Its recommendations should therefore not be construed as proposals for the research that should be undertaken within those individual domains.

Request for comments on the Future Internet report

The report is open for consultation and comments at: forum.future-internet.eu

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The European Commission just published a tender notice for a study entitled: "The economic and societal impact future Internet technologies, services and application will enable in Europe and elsewhere - A quantitative study 2015-2020".

Study in support to the definition of a Public Private Partnership on Future Internet

SMART 2009/0044, Deadline 12 October 2009
The study will identify the potential economic and social impact of a large-scale public-private partnership on the FUTURE INTERNET, eventually a joint undertaking in the meaning of article 171 of the treaty, with focus areas in smart energy grids, smart environmental information systems, smart systems for transportation and mobility, and smart healthcare systems. The study shall provide the necessary quantitative and qualitative assessment as a pre-condition for the Commission services to draw-up a legal proposal for the establishment of a joint technology initiative on the FUTURE INTERNET.
Contract Notice in the official journal 28 August 2009
Contact:  infso-future-internet(at)ec.europa.eu

Discussions about the Future Internet challenges are going on all over the world in different groups. One of this group consisting of U.S and E.U based Internet experts are working within the EIFFEL think tank that has been set up by the European FP7 project EIFFEL. On July 13th,  the group has issued a white paper identifying three main areas and challenges of the Future Internet: technology, business and society. The overall aim of the whitepaper is to stimulate focussed debate on desirable research and regulatory goals, actions to be taken in reaching them, and potential barriers to their realisation.

The Future Internet continues to gather momentum. In Prague we had over 440 leaders representing over 90 projects which have now signed the Bled Declaration. In April/May 2010 with the support of the Spanish EU Presidency we will hold the fifth Future Internet Assembly (FIA) in Valencia establishing FIA as a fixpoint within the Future Internet initiative. We would like to mark this milestone with a second book containing best of European Future Internet research results. The FIA 2010 publication will follow-on from the first FIA Book whose publication coincided the 2nd Future Internet Conference held in Prague in May 2009.

Call for papers 

In conjunction with the Swedish Presidency of the European Union you are cordially invited to Stockholm and Kista Science City for the next Future Internet Assembly conference November 23-24, 2009, hosted by KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The program features technical sessions as well as a gala dinner at the Stockholm City Hall.

More information can be found at http://www.fi-stockholm.eu/

Invitation presentation at the closing plenary session of FIA Prague

Thanks to the Czech EU presidency, Prague was for a few days the place where the European vision of Future Internet was discussed. EU commissioner for information society and media, Mrs Vivian Reding, and Vlastimil Ružicka, Vice-Minister of Education of the Czech Republic, opened the Future Internet conference that took place in Prague from 11-13 May 2009. About 400 participants attended the conference, which provided the floor for a number of accompanying events, workshops and other meetings. Most notably the Future Internet Assembly (FIA) met on 12-13 May 2009 in plenary and parallel break-out sessions. All presentations and reports will be available shortly on the Future Internet portal.

Organising Committee pages 

An industry expert group report calls decision makers, industrialists, technologists, entrepreneurs, innovators and researchers to come forward with concrete plans aimed at creating an EU-shaped Internet economy responsive to the needs and ambitions of its citizens.

Download the expert group report.

Commissioner Reding delivers a speech to the Lisbon Council on 2 February 2009. Mrs. Reding underlines, among others, the importance of keeping up the economic investments in areas such as ICT research for the future Internet that is essential for Europe's long term future.

With over a billion users, today's Internet is arguably the most successful human artifact ever created. The Internet's physical infrastructure, software, and content now play an integral part of the lives of everyone on the planet, whether they interact with it directly or not. [more]

The National ICT Research Directors work group on the Future Internet analysed a series of Future Internet related issues to identify the need for joint actions between Member States and the EC in this specific research domain. The work group published a report that provides a summary of the views expressed by national delegations on these issues, and constitute a first step towards a more comprehensive Future Internet strategy at European level. The outcome of this work will be presented to the National ICT Research Directors Forum in Lyon in November 2008 as a basis for broader discussion. This report will also serve as an input to the Commission Communication on "A strategy for ICT R&D and Innovation in Europe" to be issued in spring 2009.

See also the news section

Download the National ICT Research Directors work group report

The European Technology Platforms (ETPs), devised a strategy and action plan that will make the Future Internet an industrial, economic and societal success for Europe. Jointly the ETPs strongly recommend to the EU Commission, Members States and European Parliament to actively support their efforts to make the Future Internet a reality driven by European interests.

The ETPs consider that a European coordinated approach to the Future Internet, will allow to fully address the multiple technological challenges which are ahead. Turning these challenges into opportunities requires that bold steps are taken at European level. The ambition to meet the societal needs ahead in terms of economic growth, sustainable environment and quality of life, can only be realized, if the European Union provides its full support to this vision.

See also the news section

Download the Cross-ETP Vision Document