Executive Summary

Programme Report 2003 (January - December 2003)

Previous Executive Summaries

This 9th ITEA Programme Report summarises the results achieved in the period 1 January - 31 December 2003.

This report is the first in a new series. Previously, we issued two biannual reports which detailed developments over the prior six months. From now on, we will be providing one report that covers the previous year in full, to be issued during the month of March. In addition, an intermediate report will be issued in September that contains only progress reports on projects and any major changes to the ITEA programme.

Project Overview

During the 5th Call, 19 projects were labelled, involving over 3,000 person-years. At the end of 2003, 14 of these projects were up and running or in the start-up phase, representing 1,721 person-years. Taking into account our current information about funding, our forecast remains at around 1,500 person-years for Call 5.

In April 2003, we received 15 Project Outlines (POs) for Call 6 – our 2003 Call – involving over 1800 person-years. We also received 2 “latecomer notifications”, and 17 Full Project Proposals (FPPs). Finally 15 projects were accepted and labelled, representing in total over 2,200 person-years.

ITEA’s current project portfolio - Calls 1-6 - consists of 64 projects: 25 are completed, 24 are on-going, and 15 are in their start-up phase. Here we do not take into account the 13 projects that have been stopped (including 5 from Call 5).

Over the years, there have been considerable fluctuations in the number of person-years committed to ITEA projects. In 2001, 1,266 person-years were involved. In 2002 the total effort was reduced to 1,066 person-years. Then, in 2003, there was an increase of nearly 100 person-years to 1,157. Our forecast for 2004 is that this upward trend will continue, with a further 100 person-years, bringing the total to around the 2001 level.

During 2003, 17 Project Reviews were conducted, all with very positive results.

Mid-Term Assessment of ITEA

As ITEA has reached the halfway point in its programme, the ITEA Public Authorities ordered and governed a mid-term assessment to determine our organisation’s strengths and opportunities for improvement. Our reviewers – a consortium consisting of members of IDATE and TNO-STB – began their work in April 2003. An electronic questionnaire was distributed to more than 600 addressees, and more than 150 completed responses were received. Five projects were evaluated in depth, and over 50 qualitative interviews were conducted. The first draft of their report was delivered in February 2004. The final assessment report will be presented and discussed during the joint ITEA Directors Committee and ITEA Board meeting on 2 April 2004.

EUREKA

We are pleased with the new approach at the EUREKA Office with respect to their recognition that the EUREKA ICT clusters play an important role in EUREKA.

Our chairman held a keynote speech at the XIV Inter-parliamentary EUREKA Conference (23-24 June in Copenhagen) entitled “Building an Innovation Policy for Europe – a European industry viewpoint”. This annual event was attended by Members of Parliament from all EUREKA member countries and the National Project Coordinators (NPCs) of those countries (in total some 250 participants).

The first EUREKA HLG/NPC meeting under the French EUREKA Chairmanship was held in October in Poitiers, France. All clusters gave a detailed presentation of their activities. In several face-to-face meetings with NPCs representing new countries, ITEA discussed the funding of Call 6 projects.

This year, the EUREKA ICT clusters restarted a series of cluster meetings. These will be held twice a year in order to coordinate and improve results – in line with the recognition by EUREKA of the important role they play.

EUREKA & FP6

ITEA representatives gave a presentation at the Promotional Day for EUREKA clusters and umbrella organisations involved in ICT at the CeBIT Fair in Hannover, Germany. During the ICT Congress 2003 in Milan, the EUREKA ICT clusters presented their work in a EUREKA session, and our chairman participated in a forum discussion.

The chairmen of MEDEA+ and ITEA were appointed as “permanent guests” in the IST Advisory Group (ISTAG) for FP6.

The status of the plan to advance the development of the Strategic Domains Concept (SDC) – jointly promoted by MEDEA+ and ITEA – remains undecided in Brussels. On a higher level, during the end of 2003, the European Commission began discussions to establish a European Technology Platform on Embedded Systems. ITEA will do its best to make the platform as successful as possible.

Publications

Over the past year, ITEA has published a number of documents. These include the Interim Report on ITEA’s Status (IRIS Book), which was published in April 2003. This report, which succeeds the original ITEA White Paper, the Rainbow Book, has been very well received.

Work on the 2nd edition of the ITEA Technology Roadmap for Software-Intensive Systems is in its final phase. During 2003, six core team meetings and three workshops took place. Another two core team meetings and a workshop with external experts took place during the first three months of 2004. The final version will be presented during the Board meeting on 2 April 2004, and publication is planned for mid-May 2004.

An ITEA expert group, under the chairmanship of our former vice-chairman Eric Daclin, prepared a report on the current state of open source software. This document was published in February 2004.

The 4th Symposium: 4 MORE YEARS - Advancing software-intensive systems

On 9-10 October, 250 software experts, together with corporate and academic ICT policy-makers from all over Europe met in the famous, 700-year-old University Hall of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium. Their feedback – based on questionnaires – was very positive; we score an encouraging 4.05 on a scale of 1-5. We were honoured to welcome Prince Filip, Crown Prince of Belgium, to our symposium. During the symposium dinner, he presented this year’s ITEA Achievement Award to the AMBIENCE project team. “This unique programme will, I am sure, prove to be a cornerstone in positioning Europe at the top of the knowledge society,” said Prince Filip during his speech.

Last Call for Project Proposals and ITEA next

The 7th Call was officially announced in December 2003, and opened 19 January 2004. ITEA’s final Call 8 is planned to be announced December this year (opening January 2005).

As ITEA is an 8-year programme, it will thus formally end in November 2006. In order to ensure that selected Call 8 projects can complete properly, an extension of the programme will be requested. In the meantime, it is clear that this year the question “ITEA, what next?” must and will be addressed.

Organisational issues

A number of organisational changes have taken place this year. On 1 July, Professor G. Zimmermeyer succeeded Professor G. Siegle on the ITEA Board as representative for Robert Bosch. Mr F. Guérel of the European Federation of High-Tech SMEs left the Board and was succeeded by Mr. E. Leprince. In April, we welcomed Mr M. Sridharan as the successor of Mr J.P. Vasserot, representing Bull in the Board Support Group as well as in the Steering Group. Mr M. Pocaterra succeeded Mr G. Renoffio in the Steering Group, representing Italtel, and Mr G. Rilly succeeded Mr M. Kerdranvat as Steering Group member for Thomson.

In January 2004, Mr T. Tallgren of Nokia succeeded Mr M. Uusitalo in the Board Support Group and therefore left the Steering Group, where Mr T. Saridakis succeeded him.