IADS Projects

Overview of types of organisations participating in IADS

Following the call for proposals closed in June 1997, the European Commission selected 12 IADS projects comprising a total of 64 major digital sites. All projects were up and running in early 1998 and are founded on strong private-public sector partnerships funded primarily by industry and research bodies. Cities and regions too are investors. The EU’s contribution goes mainly to industry (with 50% of technological development costs being covered), though cities and regions also receive a share (generally 33% funding for the validation phase of the work). 52 MECU of EU funds has been attributed to the 12 projects (an average Community contribution of 4.4 MECU) with total cost per project amounting to an average of some 11 MECU per project.

Additionally, a large number of other cities and regions will be kept directly in touch with project results via the "Umbrella Groups" that are being attached to each project.

In all projects at least three applications from the Telematics Applications Programme are integrated. Furthermore, in each of the 12 projects, industrial partners from no less than three different countries join forces to form a public-private partnership with the relevant city or regional authorities. Extensive knowledge sharing amongst participants takes place at all levels. Successful consortia ultimately aim to market their solutions/products to other European cities or regions and, hopefully, world-wide.

IADS projects will normally run for up to three years. All projects focus very much on real life testing and demonstration as well as on the development of the actual integrated applications.

CALYPSO is developing a multi-service Urban Pass offering access to a wide range of services including transport ticketing and electronic purse. The pass, based on the use of contact as well as contactless smartcards, incorporates payment, ticketing, information, call and identification functions. Key aspects common to the product in the variety of sites where it is developed and validated (Paris, Konstanz, Lisbon and Venice) will be interoperability, trans-nationally shared applications and currency. Use of the Euro within CALYPSO anticipates the reality of the EMU. Secondary functions may provide library access and other such community services. The project is setting a real standard and to this end, plays an active role in key standardisation bodies. The CALYPSO consortium includes a global network of user operators CLUB (ContactLess User Board) grouping 25 operator federations representing over 150 networks and service providers. Core technologies include contact and contactless smartcards, electronic secured transactions and decentralised security.

The objective of the CITIES project is to design, implement and evaluate a global and co-operative digital platform to support and distribute a wide range of local government services and prepare for large-scale product deployment. Local and regional authorities prepared to offer on-line services are the target market. The platform will integrate methodologies, tools, advanced modules, applications and products already available and will complete the existing infrastructure networks and information systems. The components address different levels for an efficient and usable service delivery organisation based on co-operation between Service Centres and Content and Service Providers. Strong European industry support is included in the effort. Among the core technologies are multimedia kiosks or self-service terminals, staffed workstations, TV capable networks and use of Internet standards. The main industrial partners are Telemedia Engineering, Sainco Trafico, Olivetti, Cegelec and Telefonica.

DISTINCT is creating a bundle of multimedia based citizens’ services destined for access via smartcard technology. The DISTINCT smartcard, through the use of an unique identifier, provides access to a wide range of services (transport, healthcare, local government) locally and internationally through a common user interface. Single service delivery independent of a user’s geographic location is the key feature. Though protocols and networks in use might differ from one country to another, depending on telecommunications infrastructures available in situ, the end user service stays the same. On offer to subscribers, whether in Newcastle-upon-Tyne or Turin, will be multimedia on-line information, electronic commerce, profile data and so on. A range of solutions relevant for local uptake will also be designed. DISTINCT encompasses a set of common applications covering six research domains in the Telematics applications programme: multi-functional smartcards, a common electronic identification code, broadband communications, multimedia terminals, integrated access to data bases and cross service sites. The main industrial partners are Consorzio per il Sistema Informativo (CSI) Piemonte, Intracom and Telewest Communications.

On-line public information, public transaction, and cultural services as well as urban management applications describe what EQUAL aims to deliver beyond the year 2001. Six medium sized cities will set up Demonstration Sites, each focusing on a particular domain and becoming a Centre of Excellence in that field. 15 000 smartcards will be distributed during the trials. In the medium term the consumer can look forward to interoperable telematic application modules for traffic management and air quality monitoring, virtual training and access to museums and libraries. Included in the consortium are Finsiel, Etnoteam, Sociedad Iberica de Construcciones Electricas, TeleDiffusion de France and Jasmin Simtec. Core technologies comprise geographic information systems, multi-function smartcards, interactive Internet services and mobile networks.

GALA stands for global access to local applications and services. Citizens going about their daily lives need access on demand to services and data furnished by local authorities. Distance, red tape, age and disability often complicate the fact-finding process. Services need therefore to be available at strategic points and to be designed for streamlined delivery. To this end GALA offers a single transaction operation pack. The product, which involves the construction of municipal databases, is seamless and harnesses new enabling telematics technologies able to deliver integrated services and information to a range of user-friendly access points including the home. Citizens in GALA’s experimental zone will discover the convenience of satisfying their local and trans-european information needs at the push of a button. The information range covers tourism, business, health and transport and administration. A person living in London wanting to set up a business in Barcelona could determine, in one transaction, local education facilities, tax laws, required permits and other formalities. Special beneficiaries of the initiative are the "information challenged". Access from multiple types of terminals, Self-services terminals (multimedia kioscs), Interactive TV and Mobile devices (WAP).

GALA STOP PRESS

GALA PROJECT DEMONSTRATOR

GALA (Global Access to Local Applications & Services), an IADS that started January 1998 and will finish December this year, is able to show a successful demonstrator through the URL: www.galanet.org.
After a technical architecture definition, each of five cities involved in the project developed a GALA engine to be able to integrate local applications.
Exploitation plan is ongoing and a business plan will be presented to the Commission in December.
More information: http://www.galanet.org or tserra@mail.bcn.es

The IMAGINE project includes both world leaders in high technology such as Siemens-Nixdorf, Finsiel and Microsoft in addition to new innovative companies like Weinstadtweb and Integreirte Multimedia Anwendungen in its consortium. The objective is to develop and thereafter market brand name software packages allowing any type of city to easily provide on-line services. IMAGINE is the brand and the objective is the testing of a complete software solution pack usable by any Digital city or region. There are three core functions: city information i.e. local authority services and access to on-line forms; education and training via intranets offering homework support and training sessions; and labour market issues such as regional and national job placements. Core technologies include Internet provider software, advanced content management tools, open platform with access through urban Intranets, wide area networks (WAN) and multiple access from multiple terminal types.

At the heart of IN-EMERGENCY is the concept of integrated incident management and intelligent response. Using Global Satellite Positioning, variable traffic signs, surveillance cameras, traffic management centres, hospital emergency services and information concerning environmental conditions, the data-handler processes information streams from different sources and enables semi-automatic traffic management. The equipment detects incidents, sends out the alert and provides solutions. On the business side, a complete package combining three services, traffic management, road accident support and weather condition warning will result. The package bundles data-handler, communication infrastructures and software together. Core technologies in use are Alcatel generic distributed software platform for Control, Command, Communication and Intelligence Systems (C3I), Road traffic management systems (Variable Message Signs, Radio Data System) and video cameras for telemedicine. Among the business partners we find Datasiel, Alcatel and GEC Marconi.

Work in the INFOVILLE project will focus mainly on four core multimedia applications, municipal and regional services and information, education and training, transport and electronic commerce. The project is based on the development of a universal standardised application software based on heterogeneous software platforms (Windows NT as well as different versions of UNIX and Linux) facilitating ease of service provision by city authorities to citizens and business. INFOVILLE will demonstrate how, in a variety of geographic and socio-economic circumstances, at regional level, the harmonized approach facilitates local and regional authorities to communicate with business and citizens. Companies such as Tissat, Philips, Debis Systemhaus and Atkins Wooton Jeffreys are included in the venture.

MEDIASITE has given itself the task of creating large-scale pilot schemes depicting what the future pan-European Information Society will look like. With the support of product engineering, distributed training and business services, MEDIASITE wants to simplify access to advanced and innovative forms of electronic services. To do this it will use an open architecture with de facto standards and multi-purpose components. Applications range from electronic workflow management, electronic document flow, customer support and logistics and citizen support. These are allied to collaborative product engineering, distributed training and business services for EDI (Electronic Data Interchange), payments, security, smartcards and watermarking. The MEDIASITE consortium comprises telecommunication operators, software integrators, universities and research organisations, an SME user association, training organisations and local/regional authorities. The leading industrial partners are Ericsson, ICL Data, France Telecom, Telia Research, Frontec Norr, and GPP.

The potential to improve Healthcare through new telematics technologies offers the possibility of a better quality of life; and all the more so where the same application additionally allows access to administrative information, higher education opportunities and real time road traffic information. This is one of the key features of the RUBIS integration process. The plan here is to integrate electronic healthcare records compliant with European standards, state of the art technology comprising on-line decision support systems with an advanced capability to access medical image data bases produced by picture archiving and communication systems. Three member states, Finland, Germany and France, are involved and Digital Sites in these areas will deploy a variety of communication platforms to evaluate the multimedia applications employing low to high bandwidth, including Cable TV, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) telephone networks, ISDN and Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). The economic appraisal of the experiment will assess integration and its impact. Industry partners include Bull and Integrated Care Systems.

TELEREGIONS SUN2 aims to match regional development with the requirements of private organisations within regional private/public partnerships. Beyond that, it wishes to merge and validate existing integrated practical telematics applications and services to achieve a regional and trans-national network of end-users from a variety of sectors. The exercise comes in response to needs identified under a predecessor EU funded project, SUN1, and addresses several key EU policy areas focusing on providing regional information services. TELEREGIONS SUN2 features six regions, and over 35 regional applications and services in seven fields of the Telematics Applications Programme. Cluster applications are being designed to generate real cross-sector co-operation. Included in the consortium are Centre Informātic de la Generalitat de Catalunya and Deutsche Telekom.

Rural areas have special needs too and TITAN, a consortium of regional service providers, industrial and national public network operators, sets out to address them. Including sparsely populated areas of Scotland, Ireland and Norway where geographic isolation reduces opportunity, the project also involves the Tuscany region of Italy. TITAN’s main aims are to support SMEs by networking the community, to provide access to integrated public services, and to improve training and education by providing lifelong learning opportunities. Expected benefits to Citizens will be faster and more efficient service access, substantial increase in the availability of telematics facilities offered by Regional and Public Administrations, a reduction in barriers to mobility and general improvement in competitiveness and job prospects. This will be achieved by providing personalised access to integrated public services. British Telecom, Telecom Eireann and Analysis Automation Trading are among the partners in the TITAN consortium. Core technologies to be deployed are intelligent network search agents (pull and push technology via Internet), geographic information systems and data mining techniques.