Emerging Technologies News Future Internet – Challenges and Opportunities Future Internet – Challenges and Opportunities
- 13/05/2010
A Future Internet – Challenges and Opportunities (text in Portuguese) workshop was held on 25 and 26 May 2010, at the Universidade de Aveiro, in the CIFOP – Integrated Teacher Training – Auditorium. It was organised by tice.pt – Information, Communication and Electronics Technologies Competitiveness and Technology Complex, and the opening session was attended by the President of The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC).
The breakneck speed with which powerful information and communication infrastructures, social networks, interactive services and cyber-physical systems involving objects on the Internet through sensors and actuators have merged has created new research and development and economic and social progress opportunities, which are in dire need of being harnessed in a concerted fashion. The Future Internet is going to have an enormous impact on application areas including energy management, transport and environmental monitoring systems, health, boosting collaborative creativity in the arts and science, and extending people’s active lives, among others. The related scientific, economic and social opportunities are considerable and should be effectively explored.
The European Commission identified the Future Internet as one of the priority topics for R&D in ICT with the launch of the “Public-Private Partnership on the Future Internet” in October 2009 (see European Commission Communication “A public-private partnership on the Future Internet”. 300 M€ from the 7th Framework RDT Programme is going to be earmarked for this over the 2011-2013 period and a public call for projects was opened in July.
The Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC) organised the Forum for the Information Society - Future Internet on 10 May 2010. The aim was to amass competences in Portugal in strategic areas for the development of the Future Internet. This topic has been given a special boost nationally, in particular through international partnership programmes between Portugal and leading global institutions, but also through other programmes, so as to discuss the nascent opportunities in technologies, applications and services of the Future Internet. Some of the main activities underway in Portugal were presented and debated. Research areas and applications with potential comparative advantages for the country were discussed, as were collaboration opportunities for teams from Portuguese scientific institutions and companies in projects in this area.
Several other meetings are planned on Future Internet aspects, to be organised by different bodies, one of which is the Future Internet – Challenges and Opportunities (text in Portuguese) workshop on 25 and 26 May.