***IST 2004
By John Latta
The Hague, The Netherlands
November 15 – 17, 2004
The WAVE arrived at the Congress Center at the crack of dawn just
as it was opening. It was immediately apparent that this would be
different. It was. The EU is pouring billions of euros into ICT
research. It is managed. It is bureaucratic. But there were
examples on the exhibit area which highlighted the fruits of the
investment. The WAVE does not normally see so many examples of
creative work in one event.
This is no small event – 3,000 registered attendees and 180
exhibitors. Held once a year, this is where the EU showcases the
results of the IST projects. But equally as important, it is
where networking takes place. One of the key values of this is
for the European Commission, as reflected in the DGs present
here, to get feedback from industry and researchers on the
direction the research efforts should take. This is particularly
important as the planning for the next 4 year Framework Program
has begun. Today, we are in FP6. There has been Euro 1.9B spent
from 2003 – 2004 out of a total budget of Euro 3.8B. Over 2,500
proposals were received and 400 projects supported. There are
over 6,500 individuals participating in these projects. FP7 will
begin at the start of 2007.
The keynote was given by the President of Latvia, one of the new
EU member states. Via a television link, she stressed the
importance of the ITC sector as a means to lift the GDP of her
country. This was the first IST meeting with the 10 new members
of the EU.
As the WAVE observed in its coverage of the IST Wireless and
Mobility conference, a key motivation behind the EU efforts in
ICT is to remain competitive on a global scale. Europe sees
itself as the leader in cellular technology with GSM but the
recent success of Samsung against Nokia demonstrates that no
market is stable. In fact, a theme over and over in the talks is
the necessity for Europe to remain competitive and to adapt to
meet the needs of the evolving market.
Early Views of the FP7 Program
Frans de Bruine, Director, eEurope and IST Policies outline the
early planning for FP7. At the same time he outlined some of the
reasoning behind the ICT research program:
ICT is one of the fastest growing sectors of the EU. It grew
from 4% of the EU GDP in the early 1990’s to 8% today.
ICT investments contribute to 50% of the productivity gains
in Europe.
There are three parts to the ICT policy at the EU. R&D - of
which this conference is the focused. The regulatory
environment. And lastly but not least, the promotion of the
technology and its best use.
The goal of the EU is to fund R&D at 3% of GDP. They hope to
accomplish a major increase in funding during FP7 but doubt
was cast on this. There is a new set of EU commissioners and
some do not have the same level of understanding of the role
of ICT. One factor which really concerns the IST DGs is that
Japan spends Euro 48.8B on R&D, the US Euro 93.3B and the EU
only Euro 29.2B. This they called the gap in R&D spending.
A considerable concern in the EU is what they call “de-
localisation,” that is, the move of skills off shore. But
the point was made that not only production but also
innovation is moving off shore. All the more reason for the
EU to continue to fund R&D to remain competitive.
Frans described the strengths in Europe as being:
Ability to partner and collaborate on efforts –
consensus building.
Ability to build complex systems.
Ability to draw on multiple disciplines to accomplish
research.
A tradition of being user-centric. (The WAVE fully
agrees on this one.)
Some of the FP7 directions include:
Miniaturization, integrated multi-functionality;
Networked, embedded and wireless systems;
Systems that contextualize, learn and act autonomously;
Projects that integrate ICT with cognitive, biological
and nano sciences; and
Build intelligence environments.
IST Grand Challenges
Jose Luis Encarnacao of Darmstadt Technical University gave
another view of the IST program. He also outlined the Grand
Challenges. These include:
1. The 100% Safe Car:
Roadway accidents entail enormous human suffering and
burden European society with tremendous economic costs.
Hence, we envision projects with ICT systems leading
the realization of the 100% safe automobile for
eliminating traffic fatalities almost completely.
2. The Multi-lingual Companion:
With the enlargement to 25 Member States, the EU faces
a new multi-lingual challenge. We envision grand
projects to defeat the communication barrier between
member states by developing a powerful “multi-lingual
companion” that will make multi-lingual and cross-
lingual information access and communication virtually
automatic.
3. The Service Robot Companion:
As the European population ages, spiraling health-
related costs will place an immense burden on European
economies. We envision the development of flexible
home-care service robots, which will help people to
care for themselves, improve their comfort of living
and likely entertain them.
4. The Self-Monitoring and Self-Repairing Computer:
System failures are extremely costly and all too
frequent in today’s complex ICT systems. We envision a
grand challenge to develop self-monitoring and self-
repairing computing systems that will demonstrate the
principle of software systems with greatly improved
reliability.
5. The Internet Police Agent:
To reap the full benefits of the Internet, we must
maintain its further development and counter criminal
and anti-social activities (SPAM, viruses, worms,
fraud, etc.). We envision projects to develop an
automated “police agent” that will be a socially
beneficial force within the Internet environment.
6. The Disease and Treatment Simulator:
We envision the development of a computational platform
for simulating the function of a concrete disease. This
simulator will enable medicines to be tested without
putting people at risk, and will accelerate research
into damaging diseases such as heart disease and
cancer.
7. The Augmented Personal Memory:
The ICT revolution will make it possible to store
virtually every image, film or television program you
have ever seen, every conversation you have ever had or
book you have read. We envision a project that will
make it possible for people to create, preserve, sort
and retrieve their own personal vast storehouse of the
past, in the form of a personalized digital life diary
and augmented memory assistant.
8. The Pervasive Communication Jacket:
Most objects in the house, at work or in public spaces
will soon carry wireless communications technology. We
envision a communications “jacket” that will enable the
individual of tomorrow to exploit these information
resources in a natural and beneficial way.
9. The Personal Everywhere Visualiser:
Visualization is key for people to exploit the
information revolution. A grand challenge is to develop
a convenient personal and mobile visualization system
that will work anywhere and with minimal fuss, thereby
enhancing our ability to harness tomorrow’s ICT
capabilities.
10. The Ultra-light Aerial Transport Agent:
We envision an unmanned aerial transport agent for
“small scale” logistics – for the transport of small
packages and products from point to point, monitoring
of crime, and helping in search and rescue operations.
11. The Intelligent Retail Store:
We envision projects to realize the “intelligent retail
store” – a store in which emerging ICT technologies are
integrated in a way that brings more information, and
efficiency to both retailers and their customers alike.
Philips CEO – Challenges Ahead
Harry Hendriks, CEO of Philips Electronics, outlined the factors
which are changing the electronics industry. He was optimistic
that Moore’s Law trend could continue but in the future this
would be based on nanotechnology. Europe must have a leadership
position in the technology and change to meet the increasingly
competitive market.
HP Shows its Linux Initiative in Emerging Markets
In what is called “e-inclusion” HP showed how it is supporting e-
learning in Limpopo, South Africa. They have the 441 multi-user
desktop solution for the classroom. This uses Linux to support 4
students on one PC. There are over 70 applications loaded on this
computer.
Ambient Intelligence Under Fire
JC Burgelman of the Institute of the Prospective Technological
Studies, opened the issue – some would like to see the research
in Ambient Intelligence halted. As he said: since computers are
commodities, why fund a commodity? In response, he provided a
vigorous defense. One of the most interesting was a comparison
with the Korean 8-3-9 program. This is built around 8 Services, 3
Infrastructures and 9 growth engines. Here is a summary:
IT 8-3-9 Strategy (The Road to $20,000 GDP/capita), is the
work of IT Minister Daeje Chin.
Basically, IT 8-3-9 Strategy involves:
(1) Introducing and promoting Eight Services:
WiBro (Wireless Broadband), DBM, Home Network Services,
Telemantics Services, RFID-based Services, W-CDMA
Services, Terrestrial D-TV Services and IP Telephony
Services;
(2) Building Three Infrastructures:
BcN (Broadband Convergence Network), U-Sensor Network
and NGN Protocol (IPv6); and
(3) Development of Nine IT New Growth Engines:
NG Mobile Communication, Digital TV, Home Network, IT
SoC (System-on-Chip), Next-Generation PC, Embedded
Software, Digital Contents, Telematics and Intelligent
Service Robot.
JC was quite concerned in that there is considerable overlap with
the Ambient Intelligence Vision. He observed that when the
Korean’s go after a market they have been quite successful. Cited
were:
Ships – 60’s
Chips – 80’s
Broadband, Displays and Phones – 90’s
UKorea - 2010
MyHeart – A Fresh Look on the Role of Computers
Josef Lauter is coordinator of a project under the IST e-health
6th Framework called MyHeart. It is an Ambient Intelligence (AmI)
project which began 10 months ago. The WAVE Report was very
impressed. The mission is simple – fight cardio vascular disease
by prevention and early diagnosis. The cost of CV disease in the
US alone is $329B per year. The AmI use focuses on adjusting an
individual’s activity level, improving sleep quality, reduction
of stress and weight reduction. The project is vertically
integrated with the use of wearable sensors, on-body electronics,
user feedback and professional support. What is outstanding is
the use of biomedical clothes. These provide convenience and an
excellent user interface. The on body electronics are for
sensing, analysis and store and forward. A demo was given during
the presentation by Josef Lauter as he spoke. Superb. The level
of intelligence in the analysis software and the user feedback
was outstanding. As Josef stated this is but the beginning.
This project fits the Philips move into the market of Personal
Health Care. The MyHeart effort is 45 months long, having started
on 12/3/03. it is funded by the EU at the level of Euro 16m and a
total funding of Euro 33m (latter assumes matching funds.) There
are 27 partners on this research. One of the most interesting
aspects of the project is its emphasis on self management by the
individual who wears the biomedical clothes. This was shown quite
effectively in the demo. When the user is active it monitors the
level of activity against a norm. It keeps track of the activity
over a period of time. The system not only monitors stress levels
but provides images to reduce stress. It also monitors the
quality of sleep. What is significant is the level of diagnosis
that is included in the on-going measurements. Thus, the wearer
is encouraged to take preventative or reactive measures on a long
term basis. For example, one can track weight on an on-going
basis and know the impacts of this. Further, with the details on
stress levels one can take action to reduce stress.
Josef had two comments during the presentation.
In the early testing of the system, with only 10
participants, they found one person with a serious heart
condition that had gone unnoticed.
When engineers on the project did early tests on the system,
they used a PDA. It only took one night sleeping with a PDA
to find that is not acceptable.
WAVE Comment
What really impressed us about MyHeart is that it puts the
responsibility for action on the person who needs it most. In
addition, the level and quality of the feedback encourages
action. This coupled with long term collection of body and
activity data, creates a very powerful instrument for well being.
This turns upside down many of our comments that ubiquitous
computing should do work. In this case, the wearer of the
biometric clothing is given an incentive to work. Excellent.
Using Wearable Computers for a Purpose
WearIT@Work is a project to use wearable computers in complex
aeronautic maintenance. The value was shown in the presentation -
technicians who have to maintain complex products including
aircraft need to be hands free to do the work. They frequently
need reference to extensive manuals which are 1,000s of pages to
perform complex procedures. Needed are innovations at the worker
level to improve the process and this effort is focused on
wearable computing. The advantage is that a wearable computer is
available everywhere, can be unobtrusive, is context sensitive
and can be highly communicative. But in order to get worker
acceptance it must support interaction on the task level and be
integrated with the aircraft maintenance operation. The way in
which this will be accomplished at the WearIT@Work project is
through: user acceptable I/O devices, context sensitivity and
platforms for both hardware and software. Further, multimodal
content authoring software is needed and this will be done with
SNOW. The project is in the early stages and no results were
given.
Facilitating and Enhancing Collaborative Learning with Innovative
IT – Pouring Technology at Learning
In this session, the WAVE saw the application of advanced and
compelling web services, interaction, collaboration and distance
interaction. The “in phrase” is: CSCL – Computer Supported
Collaboration Learning. But when it came down to the issue – does
this improve the learning, the answer was much less clear. One
individual from the audience was insistent it does not and a
presenter said the measured results did not conclusively show the
value of IT.
The logic is clear – technology should be able to help learning.
The reality is less so. One point that is clear – the learning
and teaching research community is another discipline with its
own words, its own techniques and many views.
Four presentations were given in this session. They fall under
the Kaleidoscope program. This is described as:
Concepts and methods for exploring the future of learning
with digital technologies -
KALEIDOSCOPE supports the building and maintenance of a
comprehensive and strong European Research Area for
Technology Enhanced Learning with a world wide
perspective. The project will create a coherent
foundation for research and innovation, based on an
interdisciplinary approach which integrates
educational, social, cognitive and computational
sciences and emerging technologies.
www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/telearn/fp6_kaleidoscope.htm
Barbara Wasson of the University of Bergen, Norway gave a
presentation on Collaborative Knowledge Building as a Foundation
for Organizing Learning Scenarios. She described the DoCTA
project which was funded by the ITU Program under the Ministry of
Education. This project has generated over 50 publications,
supported 15 Masters dissertations and will graduate 3 Ph.D’s.
The tool used was genetikk to investigate the pedagogical design
of ICT mediated collaborative learning environments. The focus of
the research described here was Progressive Inquiry Learning. The
assumption being that new knowledge is not simply assimilated but
jointly constructed through solving problems and building mutual
understanding. Two schools were used in this effort in Bergen,
Norway and Oslo, Norway. The Didactic Design was on the ethical
aspects of genetics. The assignments were focused writing,
selecting questions, and composing scientific explanations on
ethical questions. The major finding was disappointing:
Too few students use higher order skills as part of their
learning activities. This confirms the findings reported in
many international studies. Students and teachers have a
tendency to place more importance on solving the task than
on the domain concepts to be learned.
It was stated that this is a problem in science and technical
education. What is necessary is to engage the student in the
deeper process of learning in these complex areas. But what is
found is that the emphasis is on just getting the assignment
done.
Ton de Jong of the University of Twente, the Netherlands,
presented a paper “Collaborative Inquiry Learning in Areas of
Science and Technology.” They used their Co-Lab for science
learning. The metaphor used was of a city that had buildings,
each of which reflected the subject matter to be learned. The
buildings had a deep drill down. On the floors were Co-Lab rooms
with theory, meeting, laboratory and Hall rooms. Each of these
floors had an extensive web interface which corresponded to the
floor/Lab and the learning intent. There were also Co-Labs which
were actually remotely connected lab facilities. These labs
included a mechanics lab, tank lab and desktop greenhouse. The
conclusions stated that the students were engaged and the
teachers need more time to get used to this approach. No results
were presented on the effectiveness of the learning process.
Mike Sharples, University of Birmingham, UK, presented on
Innovative Technologies for Collaborative Learning Environments.
The focus of this effort is to support what is called new
learning. That is learning which takes place all the time. This
is learner-centered, individualized, collaborative, situated,
ubiquitous and lifelong. The project is called MOBilearn. It is a
5th Framework IST project and has 24 partners. The purpose is to
develop technology and services for mobile learning with a focus
on learning outside of the classroom. One part of the project is
Small Group Learning: Interactive Logbook. Its objective is to
develop software for wirelessly connected pen tablet computers to
enhance student team learning.
European Technology Platform (ETP)
The EU has launched an ambitious effort to build ETP. These are
in: Nanoelectornics, Mobile and Wireless Communications and
Embedded Systems (ARTEMIS). Europe can organize such large scale
efforts and the need, from a global competitive standpoint, is
clear. But, their effectiveness remains to be determined.
Given the European approach to these platforms, one might call
them the grand challenge of research. An ETP is a mechanism that:
Brings together the main stakeholders in a RTD field;
To identify common RTD goals of industrial relevance;
Develop a roadmap to achieve these goals;
Roadmap to address technology and non-technology barriers;
and
Stakeholders include industry, academia and the investors in
research, public and private.
The programs that have recently been defined are:
Nanoelectronics
ARTEMIS – Advanced Research and Technology Embedded
Intelligence and Systems
The Mobile and Wireless Communications and Technology
Platform
The ETP in embedded processing had a number of interesting
comments.
Currently there are 8B embedded microprocessors/controllers
in use. This is expected to increase to 16B by 2001. When
this happens there will be 3 processors per person on the
planet.
Today the emphasis is on low cost production and this is the
basis for moving production off shore. However, with
automation, i.e., robotics for assembly, it is possible to
make production costs equal that of the transportation
costs. When this happens, the dynamics will force the
production manufacturing to the market locales.
One of the problems with embedded computing for people,
animals and health care is the need for power. This is
called scavenging for power. It is possible to gain power
from body heat and other sources.
Other sources of embedded processing can be built onto roads
and paint. At Berkeley, assumed UC Berkeley, this is called
smart dust.
robotics.eecs.berkeley.edu/~pister/SmartDust/
The application context being addressed in this ETP is
Industrial Systems
Nomadic Environments
Private Space
Major Infrastructure
In each of the these areas there are important and different
issues in networking, power, sensing and security.
The presenter for ARTEMIS was from ABB. Embedded processing can
be seen as the precursor technology to Ambient Intelligence. It
is clear that this ETP is well aware of the role that embedded
processing technology can play.
Europe Serious about Open Source
The session “Free and Open-Source Software (OSS) in the
Information Society” explored issues of the use of open source
software. In spite of the bias in Europe to Open Source, the WAVE
came away impressed with the tests and analysis being undertaken
to objectively determine the value or lack thereof with Open
Source. As the panel chairman said “We are moving beyond
evangelical and anecdotal for OSS.” A major study on Open Source
is due from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation in
Denmark. It has implemented 6 pilot projects where Open Source is
used in 5 (one dropped out) and one with Windows. This was to be
released at the event but is now several weeks away. It is likely
to be carefully read in Europe.
From the Event Floor
Here are the high points of what the WAVE saw as most
interesting.
eyesIFX – Distributed Light Sensing
These are small modules that detect the presence and level of
light. There are linked by RF in a mesh network. Thus, the
modules, which are stand alone, can be distributed over large
areas and will form a self defined network to communicate to a
central hub. The TinyOS is used. Applications are wide spread
including some for farming.
www.eyes.eu.org
Touch-Hapsys – Making Haptics Real
The objectives of the research are to understand and enabling a
compelling experience of presence but not limited to being there
but extended to being in touch with remote or virtual
surroundings.
www.touch-hapsys.org
P2P – Bringing Touch to the User Interface
This is a project to bring the touch interface to computers. A
simple example was shown in the booth. They are using hapticons
to denote emotion and the physical response using haptics and the
individual. Work is done at TU/e but no web site is available.
Synface – Bringing the Talking Face to Learning Disabled
Hard of hearing individuals need to see a face to read lips. Thus
it is not possible to use the telephone. The Synface project is
to allow hard of hearing individuals to use the telephone via an
artificial which recreates lip movements on the other end of the
phone line.
Biosec – Applying Biometrics Across Europe
This project is research focused on a goal to apply biometrics
European-wide for security applications. Shown at the booth was
early work on fingerprint detection that assures there is a live
finger on the fingerprint sensor. This is called a fake-resistant
sensor. Other efforts are underway in other modalities.
www.biosec.org
PALMA – A Robot for Impaired Children
The was a project to develop a robot, which is an autonomous
vehicle that could be used by severely impaired children – speech
and physical – from 4 to 10 years old. This allows the child to
ride the vehicle, which looks like a small car, to move
autonomously. There are 8 ultrasonic sensors and direct
interfaces for control. This was tested with children for a
period of 3 months and was well received.
FlexDis Project – Making Flexible Displays
The goal is simple: to realize a flexible display. The research
areas to accomplish this include: LTPS and micro-cyrstalline
silicon (microc-Si) on metal foils, testing of metal foils vs.
plastic, organic TFT fabrication, development of reliability
standards and market analysis.
www.flexidis-project.org
EC Vision – Cognitive Vision
Cognitive systems are an attempt to endow computer systems with
cognitive facilities – to learn to adapt to weight alternative
solutions and to develop strategies. Cognitive vision systems are
intended to recognize and adapt to novel variations in the
current visual environment. There are multiple projects under
this effort:
Detect – Real Time detection of motion picture content in
live broadcasts
Cogvis – Computational Vision and Active Perception
Vampire – Visual Active Memory Processes and Interactive
Retrieval
Visatec – Vision-based Integrated Systems Adaptive to Task
and Environment with Cognitive Abilities
Lava – Learning for Adaptive Visual Assistants
Actipret – Interpreting and Understanding Activities of
Expert Operators
Cogvisys – Cognitive Vision Systems
Caviar – Context Aware Vision using Images-based Active
Recognition
www.cordis.lu/ist/directorate_e/cognition/projects.htm
PolyApply – Seeing on AmI
PolyApply is the application of polymer electronics towards
Ambient Intelligence. It is intended that PolyApply will lay the
foundation for a ubiquitous microsystem which combines both
communications and sensing. The intent is to create an extensive
family of products from RFID tags to low cost communications
devices with high capability.
www.polyapply.org
Shape Changing Robots – Innovative Design
Seen for the first time at IST were the ATRON robots developed at
the AdapTronics Group at the University of Southern Denmark.
These are small units about 5” in diameter that are capable of
attaching two units by themselves. Thus, a network can be
created. One robot can communicate with another. The WAVE
discussed this robot in the booth and the design was very well
done.
www.adaptronics.dk
BIRON – My Friend the Robot
This is a robot which stands nearly as tall as a person. The
purpose is to have a robot which has perceptual,
representational, reasoning and learning capabilities. These are
to be placed in human centered environments. It is felt that such
cognitive robots will evolve and grow their capabilities in close
interaction with humans.
www.cogniron.org
QinetiQ – Concealed Weapon Detection
Using Passive Millimeter Wave Imaging, QinetiQ was able to
imaging individuals at a distance, without their knowledge, and
detect the presence of hidden weapons. Impressive.
www.qinetiq.com
VTT – Making Sensors for People
At VTT, the Technical Research Center of Finland, they have
developed the EMFiT foil sensor. This is being manufactured by
Emfit Corp. This is a sensor matrix and is being used in two
applications on the Sensation project. These are a bed mattress
and in seats in automobiles. The sensors can measure pulse rate,
respiration rate and pressure.
www.vtt.fi/indexe.htm
www.vtt.fi//tuo/56/referenssit/hankkeet/emfit.htm
EYES – Energy Efficient Sensor Networks – Making Mesh do
Practical Things
This is an effort to develop an architecture needed for self-
organizing and collaborative wireless sensor networks.
www.eyes.eu.org