Source: The European Future Internet Public-Private Partnership
With over a billion users world-wide, the Internet is one of history’s great success stories. Its global, integrated communications infrastructures and service platforms underpin the fabric of the European economy and society. Yet today’s Internet was designed in the 1970s, for purposes that bear little resemblance to current and future usage scenarios. Mismatches between the original design goals and how the Internet is being used are beginning to hamper its potential. Many challenges in the areas of technology, business, society and governance will have to be overcome if the future development of the Internet is to sustain the networked society of tomorrow.
To answer these challenges, the European Commission has launched the Future Internet Public-Private Partnership Programme (FI-PPP). The main goal is to advance a shared vision for harmonised European-scale technology platforms and their implementation, as well as the integration and harmonisation of the relevant policy, legal, political and regulatory frameworks. As set forth in the Digital Agenda for Europe, these are considered to be prerequisites for realizing a European online Digital Single Market (DSM) and, more broadly, an inclusive knowledge society.
PROGRAMME AIMS:
- Increase the effectiveness of business processes and infrastructures supporting applications in areas such as transport, health, and energy.
- Derive innovative business models that strengthen the competitive position of European industry in sectors such as telecommunication, mobile devices, software and services, and content provision and media.
PROGRAMME APPROACH:
- The FI-PPP follows an industry-driven, holistic approach encompassing R&D on network and communication infrastructures, devices, software, service and media technologies;
- In parallel, it promotes their experimentation and validation in real application contexts, bringing together demand and supply and involving users early in the research lifecycle.
- The new platform will thus be used by a range actors, in particular SMEs and Public Administrations, to validate the technologies in the context of smart applications and their ability to support «user driven» innovation schemes.
- The map of planned Future Internet PPP Pilot sites
PROJECTS
EUROPEAN COMMISSION RESEARCH:
- ec.europa.eu/foi – read about the many activities the EC undertakes on Future Internet
- www.future-internet.eu – The European Future Internet Portal – the community site
- cordis.europa.eu/ict/ch1 – Ongoing European FI research & development activities