Joint event highlights key contribution of software industry to European competitiveness and social well-being

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ITEA 2 – the EUREKA Software-intensive Systems and Services Cluster – and the ARTEMISIA Association for R&D actors in the field of ARTEMIS (Advance Research & Technology of EMbedded Intelligence and Systems) are organising their annual events back to back in Rotterdam, the Netherlands with a one-day Co-summit. Software-intensive Systems & Services and embedded systems are a major driver of innovation in Europe’s most competitive industries – such as automotive, aerospace, communications, healthcare and consumer electronics – and a vital growth engine for Europe.

The ITEA 2 Symposium will be held on 21-22 October, the ARTEMIS Annual Event on 22-23 October and the ARTEMIS & ITEA Co-summit on 22 October under the title ‘European competitiveness and well-being through ICT-based innovation’ – an area in which both initiatives are very active. An exhibition with some 60 projects showcasing results and achievements with demonstrations will be a focal point of the combined event.

More than 500 R&D actors and policy makers from industry, academia and public authorities from all over Europe will visit the Rotterdam event. It is being supported by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Philips, NXP and EUREKA.

Crucial to the economy and society

“Software is crucial to the economy and society, it will play an ever-increasing role as we move from a product-oriented to a service-oriented economy,” says Prof. Rudolf Haggenmüller, chairman of ITEA 2. “Research must support competitiveness of the European economy and solve societal needs. EUREKA Clusters play an indispensable role in European information and communications technology (ICT) research as they are very flexible, being both industrial and intergovernmental.”

The current set of over 100 projects in ITEA and ITEA 2, with more than 800 partners from 26 countries, has established a solid basis for further development. Many of these projects have led to the creation of completely new products. The projects are supported financially by all member countries of the EUREKA Initiative. The number of participating SMEs has grown with each Call with more than 100 SMEs in ITEA 2 Call 2. As one of the main EUREKA Clusters, ITEA 2 has close links with other EUREKA ICT Clusters, the EU Framework Programmes and national Competitiveness Clusters.

“ARTEMISIA, that is a member of the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking, has a common strategic research agenda specifically focused on embedded software systems,” says Dr Klaus Grimm of Daimler and newly elected president of ARTEMISIA., The ARTEMIS Approach is a combined effort with companies, research institutes, and SMEs, together with the EU and national public finding authorities. “Other programmes do not have this combined effort defined by all the stakeholders – companies, research institutes, and small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), together with the EU and national public funding authorities”.

ARTEMISIA has grown rapidly since its foundation in the beginning of 2007 and now has over 150 members. The first ARTEMIS Call closed successfully on 3 September with 27 proposals involving 397 partners from 22 different EU countries; 28% of participants are SMEs. A key element of the newly drafted Multi-Annual Strategic Plan (MASP) 2009 is the building of self-sustaining innovation ecosystems for European leadership in embedded systems, based on Centres of Innovation Excellence.

For 2009, the projected investments in ITEA and ITEA 2 projects, and the projected investments in ARTEMIS projects are both expected to be in the order of 100 - 200 M€.

Major event programme

During the first invitation-only day, the ITEA 2 Presidium will present programme achievements, progress to date and future developments. A highlight of the plenary session will be the presentation of the third ITEA Roadmap covering 2008 to 2014. This key strategy document will guide the ITEA 2 programme, enabling a new approach to promising applications and services in the area of Software-intensive Systems and Services, and making it possible to start from and steer towards societal needs. There will be special focus sessions dedicated to telemedicine and to developments in European competitiveness clusters (Pôles de Compétitivité). Three ITEA projects will be presented in the plenary session on Tuesday afternoon: LOMS (Easily creating smart services everywhere), MARTES (Model and tool interoperability through a common meta-model); and Trust4All (A model to represent trust attributes supported by a middleware software architecture).

As a co-ordinated event between ITEA 2 and the ARTEMISIA Association, the Co-summit will highlight the key contribution the software industry is making to Europe’s competitive future. Opening addresses will come from the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs and the EUREKA Portuguese High Level Group Chairman, with a video message from European Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding. Philips and SAP Research will provide keynote speeches. A series of parallel sessions will cover practical ICT-based approaches to real social and economic challenges.

The ARTEMIS annual event on day three starts with public focus sessions in the morning covering: the ARTEMIS Multi Annual Strategic Programme, panel discussion about roles and engagement of SMEs in Europe, facts and figures and preparation for Call 2, and the future of open-device platforms. The afternoon will consist of the ARTEMISIA General Assembly for members and potential members only.

Exhibition: a focal point

Altogether, the ITEA 2 exhibition will feature 48 ITEA/ITEA 2 projects, 3 EU IST projects, EUREKA, and 8 European competitiveness clusters: Pictor (BE); Safetrans (DE); Point-one (NL); AESE, Cap Digital, Minalogic and System@tic (FR); and Prometeo (ES). A highlight of the ITEA 2 exhibition is a special section featuring multiple European healthcare projects.

The ARTEMISIA stand will provide an initial view of the Multi Annual Strategic Programme for the next five years. It will provide a performance of the guitar robot developed by teamDARE of the Netherlands that won the 2008 ARTEMIS Orchestra Contest.

Strong Dutch support

The Netherlands is a strong participant in both ITEA and ARTEMIS as well as in European innovation projects and ICT: over the lifetime of ITEA and ITEA 2, Dutch project partners have been accounting for about 15 % of all investments. Like ITEA 2 Office, ARTEMISIA established its office deliberately at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, as this is a well-known example of an international cradle of innovation, fitting the ARTEMISIA strategy.

Earlier this year, Maria van der Hoeven, the Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs, announced additional investment of €153 million for co-ordinated R&D in the Netherlands. The Dutch Government has now committed €343 million until 2012 to its innovation programme for nanoelectronics, embedded systems and mechatronics. International co-operation will be enhanced through participation in European R&D projects. Around 75% of the plan for nanoelectronics and embedded systems focuses on international co-operation in European R&D Clusters such as the new EUREKA CATRENE nanoelectronics Cluster, the EU ENIAC nanoelectronics initiative, ITEA 2 and ARTEMIS.

Event dates

ITEA 2 Symposium – 21-22 October 2008

ARTEMIS & ITEA Co-summit – 22 October 2008

ARTEMISIA Annual Event – 22-23 October 2008

Event location

Congress Centre de Doelen, Kruisplein 40, 3012 CC Rotterdam, the Netherlands