DG XIII Research Articles

Conscious design and new technologies for the optimization of therapeutic space

The project Casa pre-dimissioni is aimed at facilitating the recovery of the daily life by whom suffers of disability, adapting domestic spaces to the specific needs of use. The project was developed, under the aegis of the EU research programme DE3207 FACILE: Support tools for housing design and management, integrated with telematics system and services, devoted to disabled and elderly people (TIDE Program, European Commission DG XIII). The main aim of the project was to define and to implement systems that are integrated with information and communications technologies, and with the home-automation products and equipment designed to improve the quality of life of elderly people and of motor-disabled people (paraplegics and cognitive impaired people) in their homes.

A practical application of integrated urban pollution modelling in Flanders (Belgium): the catchment of Tielt

In view of a European Innovation Project (DG XIII) on the application of the Urban Pollution Management (UPM) procedure, a European consortium was set up to carry out pilot studies in Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy and Portugal. On the Belgian pilot catchment of Tielt the impact from sewer system and sewage treatment plant (STP) on the receiving water courses was studied for both the existing situation and for a number of possible improvement schemes, using the Intermittent Standards, described in the UPM procedure. The integrated modelling revealed some interesting conclusions on the relative impact of the schemes considered.

Restructuring regulation: technological convergence and European telecommunications and broadcasting markets

This article looks at the European Union (EU) policy of technological 'convergence', concentrating on the convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting. The underlying theme is that regulatory agencies are political actors and their actions need to be analysed in the context of who benefits from the policy outcome. In addition, regulatory regimes are themselves variables in bureaucratic/institutional turf wars and in the political process. The specific case discussed here of DG XIII of the European Commission responsible for telecommunications provides an example of attempts by a regulatory agency to broaden the scope of its regulatory reach. It shows how it utilized a theoretical reconstruction of markets to justify alterations both at EU and at national level in regulatory regimes that would have had direct consequences in benefiting its allied telecommunications and Internet operators and in disadvantaging public service broadcasters. The article discusses the ensuing reactions to this intervention. It concludes that DG XIII's attempts to redefine markets and regulatory regimes in its own interests and in the interests of its traditional industrial allies have not only been thwarted, but have strengthened the sectoral-based regulatory regime it wished to displace, and have also undermined its own credibility as a regulator.

Innovation projects and local production networks: A case study of Hertfordshire

This paper evaluates some of the key arguments underlying what is called here the local production network paradigm (LPNP). These are presented as three interlinked hypotheses that turn on the idea that firms competing in world markets need to accommodate continuous change by fostering product or process innovation. The definition of innovation used in this study is “the commercially successful exploitation of new technologies, ideas or methods through the introduction of new products or processes, or through the improvement of existing ones” (EC DG XIII, 1996, p. 54). One conventionally described organizational response to this requirement to accommodate continuous innovation is to dis‐integrate firms and set up local production networks. Local production networks are defined in this study as “collaborative linkages between local firms and local factors of production”. Such networks are said to rely on local resources of various kinds to enable them to innovate on a continuous and incremental basis. As a result of such dependencies on local factors, and their interconnectedness with each other, the local production network (LPN) firms then become ‘embedded’ in their localities. Such networked economies have been variously described as new industrial districts, areas of flexible specialization, and innovative milieux. The evidence presented to test these hypotheses is based on a case study of innovative, award‐winning firms in Hertfordshire. The findings show that although these firms do compete successfully in fast‐moving international markets, they do not rely much on local production networks, as defined here, to enable them to do so. The findings call into question the general applicability of the LPNP. Questions are raised particularly with respect to innovation in the important minority of highly innovative core metropolitan regions. Innovation is argued to be an interactive process that is both driven by a steady supply of technological advances and stimulated by different types of consumer demand. In the case of the firms interviewed in Hertfordshire, most of their innovative projects were developed by the firms working individually, and in isolation, from other local businesses using high quality, knowledge, information, human resources and venture capital. At the same time, these firms were also pulled by demands from military, health and company consumers. Only in the case of the minority of innovations that were purchased in the first instance by private final consumers were local production networks of some significance.

Building large-scale information services: tools and experiences from the DESIRE project

Building a personal or company web site is now a commonplace activity, with an increasing array of commercial tools available to make the task easier and an increasing number of search facilities available to help users locate information on these sites. Mostly, though, the model for information access is based on the notion of a single provider and a single consumer. The research community has a very different model of the information service: information is drawn from a wide range of providers and distributed to a large and discerning collaborative community. The task of creating and operating continental-scale information services brings a whole new set of challenges: assessing the quality of information; integrating information from many sources and in many languages; optimising the location of information to make best use of network bandwidth; maintaining service quality given a widely-distributed set of service components. In this brief overview, we investigate the developing technology which can be applied to address these needs and the extent to which they have been successfully deployed in the DESIRE project, undertaken by 23 partner organisations as part of the Telematics Application Programme supported financially by the European Commission's DG XIII. More information about the project, the partners and the complete set of project deliverables can be found on the Project Web Site (http://www.desire.org/).

REMSSBOT: a general survey

Most public administrations have already some environmental management systems or subsystems in place, which are usually incompatible. An obvious way to remedy this patchwork of systems and information would be to redesign and implement a new IT system from scratch, taking all user requirements into account. The REMSSBOT project (EU DG XIII, Telematics Application Programme) aims at overcoming these disadvantages by offering integral management using an innovative telematic solution. Public administrations of the regions Piemonte (IT), Attica (GR) and Scheldt (NL, B) participate in the project. The REMSSBOT approach is based on a catalogue conforming to the guidelines of the European Environment Agency (EEA). The project‐supporting tools and building blocks allow users to navigate through the catalogue and explore information sources, regardless of environmental topic and location. Based on such a design approach, three software applications (demonstrators) have been implemented in the participating regions, which prove the feasibility of using a catalogue‐driven approach to implement worthy applications at relatively low cost and with reduced effort.

The MoU – Mouse or Momentous? An Update and Evaluation of the EC Memorandum of Understanding

Over 200 institutions have recently signed the European Commission's Multi-Media Access to Europe's Cultural Heritage: A Memorandum of Understanding and European Charter, an initiative launched by Directorate Generales (DG's), DG XIII (Telematics, Information Market and Exploitation of Research) and DG X (Information, Communication, Culture and Audio-Visual Media). This report summarises the goals of the Memorandum and offers thoughts on its implications and potential.

Developments in transport telematics applications in Japan: traffic management, freight and public transport

This paper summarizes a report on Japanese transport telematics written as a result of a contract between the authors and DG XIII of the Commission of the European Union. The assignment principally covered freight transport and urban traffic management, but the work extended in other fields as well. As part of this work, we organized a technical tour in Japan during which we had meetings and visited a number of key Japanese establishments and experts who informed us about the state‐of‐the‐art and current thinking. Previous missions had established a fairly good knowledge of the state of affairs in Japan in other areas. Freight transport (and to a certain extent public transport) were the main areas where information was scarce. Any comments or recommendations in this report are those of the authors themselves and do not express official EC views.

Telematics Applied to the Training of Teachers: a survey via video‐conferencing across Europe

Summary In January 1996 the European Union funded three projects within the Telematics Programme DG XIII_c to focus on Telematics in Teacher Training. One project with the same title, T3, will apply telematics within teacher training for over 4000 teachers in seven European countries over three years. Part of the work within 1996 performed a needs analysis for multimedia communications across the partner teacher training institutions in seven European countries using enhanced desk top video conferencing. Teacher educators were informed of case studies already developed in the UK and aspects were demonstrated to them. Their views on the transferability of such activities to their courses and countries are documented in this paper. This research took place using the medium of enhanced desk top video conferencing. This application of Telematics is seen as an extension of the common practice of interviewing by telephone, permitting more information to be shared between teacher trainers in the seven teacher training institutions. The research showed that all countries would use the Telematic applications described and many were able to contribute complementary cases of their own.

Introducing ADBS: The [French] Association of Information and Documentation Professionals

Introducing ADBS: The [French] Association of Information and Documentation Professionals

Telemedicine: Still waiting for users

Trials with telemedicine started with the advent of television in the 1930s. Now, 60 years later, high-quality videoconferences can be run on desktop computers, and in western Europe and North America, high-speed Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) telephony suitable for multimedia is gaining ground. The figure shows a prototype conference system combining video, audio, and stored magnetic resonance images for endoscopic consultation. However, as Grigsby points out, the medical profession is hesitant. He estimates that at the beginning of 1995 there were only about 25-30 active telemedicine programs in the USA excluding teleradiology, with an additional 40-50 systems in various stages of development. In western Europe, the corresponding figure is only slightly higher. To increase the use of telemedicine, many governments and funding bodies have initiated research programmes, and a notable event this year was the start of one such programme in Health Care (European Commission DG XIII; the 4th Framework Telematics Application Programme) to which the European Commission has allocated 135 MEcu for 1995-99. Quite a lot of this money will be spent on telemedicine. In contrast, teleradiology is widespread, and even a commercial success. Several private practices in the USA now offer teleradiology services, the largest being Teleradiology Associates with about 25 000 cases projected for 1995 (Forsberg D, personal communication). Teleradiology may proliferate even more as the quality of screen-reading catches up with that of film. Using the latest available computer-screen technology, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions recently found no significant difference between the accuracy of interpretation on film and on screen of radiographs of high diagnostic difficulty (Gitlin J). Comparison of emergency department cases; presented at the 1995 RSNA meeting). With image compression, teleradiology becomes even more accessible. Recent ROC studies indicate that, by use of the Joint Photographers Expert Group algorithm, an eight-fold compression (from 12 bits to 15 bits per pixel) has no influence on the diagnosis made by the radiologist (Wong). Teleradiology also profits from the widespread acceptance of the Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DIDCOM) standard for data exchange (Houtchens). In a surprisingly short time, the Internet has profoundly influenced both remote medical education and the distribution of medical information in general. As of July, 1995, there were more than 6 million computers

Business analysis of the library systems market in Europe

The following is an abridged version of a full report made by KPMG, reprinted with permission from DG XIII. The entire report, including its annexes, will be published as an EUR publication. Part of this study is also available on the I'M Europe Web server, at http://www.echo.lu. The full URL to get the document on screen is http://www.echo.lu/impact/libraries/kpmgfin1.html.

The European commission as a multi‐organization: Social policy and IT policy in the EU

Abstract The underlying theme of this article is that to understand the process of European integration, it is vital to understand the dynamics of the European policy‐making process and the crucial role of the European institutions within this process. In this article the internal dynamics of the policy‐making process within the European Commission in two directorates (DG V [Employment, Industrial Relations and Social Affairs] and DG XIII [Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation]) are explored. It is argued that a vital characteristic of the Commission's ability to influence any policy sector is its ability to respond rapidly to any ‘windows of opportunity’, ripe for EU intervention, or indeed to facilitate the appearance of these windows. Yet, the means required to achieve this end, and the degree of success met, vary from sector to sector. If it is accepted that the Commission has an important role to play in EU policy‐making, and ultimately in the integration process, a better understanding of the functioning of its constituent parts, of the interrelationships between them, and of the influence of their activities upon the actions of the Commission as a whole, is vital.

New Technologies and the Employment of Disabled Persons

Commission of the European Community, DG XIII Telecommunications, Information Industries and Innovation

Intelligent interfaces: The IMPACT survey

The present study was commissioned by the IMPACT programme of the CEC (DG XIII B/2) with the aims of providing: (i) an overview of current research and development activity on intelligent interfaces; and (ii) support for the formulation of the IMPACT II programme in the area of intelligent interfaces. The study consisted of a short review of intelligent interface research and a survey of current R&D projects in this area. The survey was conducted by phone and email and used a short questionnaire that addressed a project's experiences of developing an intelligent interface and general issues concerning the market for intelligent interfaces. The survey covered 43 R&D projects in Europe and the United States.

The EBIT project

EBIT—for European Broadband Interconnection Trial—is a service proposed by several European Telecommunication Administrations to interconnect RACE (Research for Advanced Communications in Europe) Application Pilots. CEC may decide to broaden the service to other leading edge users needing a transnational networking infrastructure and requiring high bandwidth. The initial phase of the project will use existing switchend 2 Mbit/s bearer services based on satellite or terrestrial links, and will include studies to seek ways of introducing early services at 140 Mbit/s at acceptable costs. EBIT may offer the opportunity to build an European networking infrastructure supported by the Telecommunication Administrations. Two research communities-High Energy Physics and Aeronautics-having clear needs for transnational high bandwith connections have expressed an interest to use the EBIT services to complement their existing leased line networks. A feasibility study, sponsored by CEC DG XIII, is presently being carried out on behalf of EBIT by France Cables et Radio, a subsidiary of France Telecom.