European Commission

I nfor mati on S oc i e t y a nd M ed i a

Digital
Ecosystem
Projects Cluster
Section Five

Section Five

1Digital
Technologies
Ecosystems
The

cluster of

for

FP6 projects

Marion Le Louarn

European Commission, DG Information Society and Media1

[Link]
[Link]-louarn@[Link]

his FP6 cluster of IST research projects is specically focused on technologies for local growth and SMEs needs.
It implements a strong integration between European R&D policy (under the ERA/European Research Area
agenda) and national/local growth policies. It is of a highly multidisciplinary nature, with strong interaction
between business and technological aspects, and related socio-economic issues.

Aims of the Technologies for Digital

Ecosystems cluster
The Technologies for Digital Ecosystems (DE) cluster aims to foster local economic growth through new forms of
dynamic business interactions and global co-operation among organisations and business communities enabled by
the most recent, user-oriented and ecient combinations of information and communication technologies.
The main research targets basic enabling technologies supporting the local implementation and deployment of a
network of interconnected digital ecosystems. The work conducted within the DE cluster contributes to identifying
and developing the technologies as well as the scientic and economic models leading to distributed and co-operative
bottom-up development and deployment of a pervasive network of digital ecosystems populated by a diversity of ICTbased services, components, knowledge, practices and business models adapted to local conditions.
The digital ecosystem is an evolutionary self-organising system aimed at creating a software environment for
networked organisations that supports the cluster development of open and adaptive technologies and evolutionary
business models. The key enabling technologies developed within digital ecosystem research are geared at providing
an ecosystem-oriented infrastructure2 that supports the spontaneous composition, distribution, evolution and
adaptation of ICT-based services, business services, knowledge and models.

196

) The views expressed are those of the author and have not been adopted or approved by the European Commission.
2) See the descriptions in Section 3: Digital Ecosystem Technology.

This platform should allow:

The SME software industry to develop co-operatively and to launch on the network services and software
components that are composed together to form complex solutions of increased added value, suited more precisely
to users needs.
User SMEs to nd the aordable ICT services which support their specic and evolving business networking
needs, enabling them to co-operate within and among business ecosystems.
Hence the cluster is addressing the two following strategic issues, with high potential contributions towards the
Lisbon objectives:
Re-boosting the software ICT service industry in Europe, by proposing a new, more ecient, paradigm for software
production - through new forms of co-operation, developing reusable components Europe-wide and enabling
multi-revenue-models;
Preventing the decline of Small and Medium Enterprises currently unable to adopt ICT in order to increase their
productivity3 and to cooperate among each other towards higher visibility, creativity and added value by combining
services and joining resources, enlarging their global presence.
Specic outcomes expected from DE deployment include:
Enlarging the ICT market, as it adapts to the specific needs of SMEs/micro-enterprises, increasing their
productivity
Boosting software competition, with increased interoperability, reusability and exibility (i.e. durability) of software
components
Increasing quality of service and quality of life (for both producers and consumers)
Boosting training and knowledge diusion, creativity, innovation and SME-based employment
And as these improvements diuse progressively across SMEs/micro-enterprises in all sectors and reach down to
nal users/consumers, they will help bridge the digital gap throughout society.

Development of the DE cluster up to FP6:

The concept of digital ecosystem has recently emerged in Europe as the next step towards ICT adoption and a European
model for the ICT-based enabling infrastructure needed to support the local business ecosystems.
In September 2002, the e-Business unit of the Information Society Directorate-General published on the Go-Digital
website and widely disseminated the discussion paper Towards a network of digital business ecosystems fostering the
local development. The debate which followed within the scientic community conrmed that the digital ecosystem
is a complex and ambitious multidisciplinary eld of research, which is dening its identity, structure and exploitation
potential, and whose outcomes provide the technological support for innovation in the local business with an
impressive potential in generating positive economic impact.
Between and 2002 and 2003, workshops and on-line debates have explored:
The interest of the European research community in improving and enriching the research area related to digital
ecosystems.
The views of incubators and main players from local and regional communities on whether and how local digital
ecosystems could support the transition of SMEs towards the digital age.
As part of the 2003-04 implementation of the FP6 IST work programme, the development of the Digital Ecosystem
concept aggregated a large multidisciplinary community and led to the presentation of several relevant proposals for
Integrated Projects (IPs) considered above threshold, plus other large projects and specic targeted research projects
(STREPs) in related areas.
In 2004, owing to the growing interest in digital ecosystems, DG Information Society and Media created a new
sector, Technologies for Digital Ecosystems, within the ICT for Business unit which was since renamed ICT for
Enterprise Networking.
A Cluster on Technologies for Digital Ecosystems was dened, with three projects initially, including one large
Integrated Project (DBE).

3) It has been estimated that 50% of the dierential in productivity increase between US and EU SMEs over the last 5 years is due to
the diering adoption rate of ICT in their internal/external business processes.

197

This cluster has since grown with the addition of new sets of projects, and in 2006, with the last projects launched
within the FP6, reached its current conguration described in the table below. The complementary roles of the
various projects in the DE cluster are further highlighted on the next page and in the DE project summaries
included in the next section.
The EC-funded research in digital ecosystems is largely complemented by ERA national and regional initiatives together
with local policies, which activate a virtuous cycle based on research innovation, deployment, adoption and growth.
In addition to the three initial EU-funded pilot areas (Aragon in Spain, Tampere in Finland and the West Midlands
in the UK), a number of further regions have already joined or are in the process of joining the DBE project initiative,
like Extremadura, Lazio, Trentino and the regions of Ireland.. Interest outside Europe is also ourishing, with some
cooperation commitments with partners from Africa (such as Rwanda), Asia (such as Kanpur, in India) and SouthAmerica (in combination with the Brazilian Puntos de Cultura).

Fig. 1
The Cluster of FP6 Research Projects
on Digital Ecosystems
OPAALS

Economy and local/regional deployment

Support to pilot regions and deployment

PEARDROP
672 k
SEAMLESS

1804 k

vertical sector
TEXTILE
CONSTRUCTIONS

E-NVISION

1 597 k

vertical sector
CONSTRUCTIONS

TOOL-EAST

1 963 k

vertical sector
ERP for die-making

SATINE

749 k

1 556 k

vertical sector
TOURISM

Interdisciplinary integrated
theoretical foundation for
digital business
ecosystems
DBE

VISP

10 500 k

Paradigms +
open-source component-based
infrastructure enabling
a network of local
Digital Ecosystems for SMEs

EFFORT
994 k

LEKTOR
Legal Knowledge Transfer Accelerator for SME clusters & DBE

1 972 k

Workflow engine for

VE collaboration

ONE
Infrastructural Component
supporting negotiations

2 870 k

CONTRACT
Infrastructural Component
supporting contracts

2 510 k

975 k

LEGAL-IST

Ecosystem-oriented Technical Infrastructure

Scientific Foundations

EPRI-START
Integrating and Strengthening ERA

9 100 k

1 499 k
Legal Issues for IST

Gov ernance, policies and legal requirements

994 k

Socio-economic and legal framework

Integrated Project
Network of Excellence
Specific Support Action

STREPs (vertical sectorial projects)

STREPs (infrastructural and generic components)

1box = 100k
EC Contribution:

Overall achievements of the DE cluster

up to the end of 2006:

198

To date, FP6 results of the DE sector include:

Individual projects research results (including open-source software regarding not just the DE infrastructure
developed in the DBE Integrated Project, but also vertical applications geared to the needs of SMEs in various
sectors in support of the tourism, construction, textile and die-making industries but also new services related
e.g. to Internet Service Provision, logistics/eet management, design etc.).

 Joint results (e.g. due to result from specic collaborations between projects, such as between the CONTRACT

and ONE Specic Targeted Research Projects regarding horizontal services to facilitate electronic contracting and
negotiations) or their re-use (e.g. following adoption of the DBE architecture by the SEAMLESS STREP) and a
strategic research roadmap stemming from close collaborations within and among DE projects (see [Link]
[Link]/de/refs/ref_proj.html).
The foundation of a new interdisciplinary science helping to bootstrap, observe and guide the development of
Digital Ecosystems supporting innovation and development within/across territories, organisational systems and
cultures (through the OPAALS Network of Excellence).
Collaboration & uptake from regions across the EU & the world, with active support from the DBE and OPAALS
projects as well as from Specic Support Actions either specic to the DE cluster (such as PEARDROP aiming at
DE deployment, EFFORT aiming to develop DE governance) or with more general objectives (such as LEGALIST and LEKTOR on legal issues, EPRI-START to help Enterprise Networking uptake in countries which recently
joined or are candidate for joining the EU).

Perspectives of further Digital Ecosystems research

and uptake under FP7, CIP and Regional funds:
In the Applications Research part of IST, the FP7 programme species the following tasks: "new forms of dynamic

networked co-operative business processes, digital eco-systems in particular for small- and medium-sized
organisations; optimised, distributed work organisation and collaborative work environments such as knowledge
sharing and interactive services (e.g. for tourism)".
While Digital Ecosystems research activities are not called for in the initial FP7 work-programme among the
priorities covering the period 2007-08, most of the DE cluster projects launched under FP6 will continue within
this period.
The Competitiveness and Innovation Programme (CIP) being set up in parallel to FP7 includes ICT demonstrations
via large scale pilots and networking actions, which should be applicable to Digital Ecosystems (some feasibility
studies are due to be called for initially).
DG Regional Policy is also intending to cooperate with DG Information Society and Media in order to identify how
deployment of Broadband and Digital Business Ecosystems across Europe may be boosted within the Regions for
Economical Change framework.
In summary, due to the important economic and regional development stakes addressed by the DE cluster, the
soundness of its objectives and progressive implementation path, and the remarkable quality of the results attained
so far within this sector of FP6, an uptake process has been triggered which goes much beyond the three EU
regions originally involved in the DBE integrated project (with over a dozen regions now either actively engaged
in or contemplating DE uptake), and has the potential to spread much more quickly and eciently across the EU if
knowledge transfer actions of the DE results are launched within the CIP Programme and as part of Regional Policy
actions.
These results have been achieved thanks to the intensive work and high academic and scientic standards of the
members of the DE research community, and their strong personal engagement and enthusiasm towards the shared
objectives of this new research discipline - whose foundations they are helping to lay, and which the February 2007
IEEE Conference devoted to Digital Ecosystems for SMEs in Cairn, Australia, will help to further disseminate on
the international stage.

199

Section Five

2FP6
Summaries
projects

of
from

Technologies
Digital
Ecosystems (DE)
cluster
the
for

200

. Network of Excellence structuring the Digital

Ecosystem Knowledge/Research
OPAALS
Open philosophies for associative autopoietic digital ecosystems
Project Acronym:

OPAALS

Project reference:

034824

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE

DINI, PAOLO

Description

Objective:
Digital Ecosystems are emerging as a novel approach for the catalysis of sustainable regional development driven by
SMEs. The two overarching aims of the OPAALS NoE are to build an interdisciplinary research community in the
emerging area of Digital Ecosystems, and to develop an integrated theoretical foundation for Digital Ecosystems
research spanning three widely dierent disciplinary domains: social science, computer science, and natural science.
The main claim that OPAALS makes is that in order to achieve sustainable digital business ecosystems of SMEs
and software components we need to understand in depth the collaborative processes and ICTs that underpin the
continuous creation, formalisation, and sharing of knowledge in the form of business models, software infrastructure
for e-Business transactions, and new formal and semi-formal languages. Our strategy is based on the development of
an Open Knowledge Space.
Because this process must be sustainable and scalable it must be recursive and self-reinforcing. It follows that OPAALS
is the rst step in a recursive, reexive, and self-reinforcing community building process that will culminate at the
end of the project with an Open Knowledge community of research and innovation inclusive of all the stakeholders
of digital ecosystems but mainly of academic institutions and SMEs.
We will integrate the research outputs in automatic code generation, autopoietic P2P networks, and distributed
accountability, identity and trust into the existing infrastructure from the DBE project. These technical and scientic
research activities will be balanced by research in the role of formal and semi-formal languages in epistemic
communities and in new Open Source models emerging in public and commercial projects. Finally, we will develop a
unifying evolutionary framework for language in order to base the evolutionary and adaptation characteristics of the
digital ecosystems on the main medium of social constructivism: language.

Start date: 2006-06-01

Web site: [Link]

End date: 2010-05-31

201

2. Integrated Project developing the rst core

of the Digital Ecosystem infrastructure
DBE
Digital Business Ecosystem
Project Acronym:

DBE

Project reference:

507953

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

T6
NICOLAI, ANDREA

Description

Objective:
The overall objective of the DBE is aimed at proving Europe with a recognized advantage in innovative software
application development by its SME industry, launching a disruptive technology paradigm for the creation of a digital
business ecosystems for SMEs and software providers thus improving their value network.
An open-source distributed environment will support the spontaneous evolution, adaptation and composition of
software components - which also embed business rules - and services allowing SMEs, that are solution and e-business
service providers, to cooperate in production of components and applications adapted to local business needs.
This will allow EU small software providers to leverage the possibility of new distribution channels providing
services at local ecosystems and extending their market reach through the DBE. Easy access and large availability of
applications, adapted to local SMEs, will foster ICT adoption and local economical growth of innovation nodes. This
can only be achieved with a vision leading to a paradigm shift: the complexity of distributed software production
and the new forms of networked business require a multi-disciplinary approach based on biology, physics and social
sciences mechanisms and models.
DBE transposes from living organisms mechanisms like: evolution, adaptation, autonomy, viability, introspection,
knowledge sharing, selection, and will lead to emergence of novel architectures and technologies, business processes
and knowledge. The DBE will change the way SMEs and EU software providers use and distribute their products and
services. It will allow SMEs to link enterprise-wide external resources and value networks, and to allocate them based
on their business priorities.
The DBE is based on the key nding that with such evolutionary and self-organising system Europe could harness the
complexity of software production and its SME software industry could regain competitiveness.

Start date: 2003-11-01

Web site: [Link]

202

End date: 2007-01-31

3. Specic Targeted Research Projects developing

horizontal services to provide enhancements to
existing infrastructures, with a focus towards the
DE infrastructure
ONE
Open Negotiation Environment
FP6-IST-2005-2.5.8
ICT FOR NETWORKED BUSINESSES
Project Acronym:

ONE

Project reference:

034744

Contact person
Organization name: CREATE-NET (CENTER FOR RESEARCH AND TELECOMMUNICATION EXPERIMENTATION FOR NETWORKED COMMUNITIES)
Contact person name:
TELESCA, LUIGI

Description

Objective:
The main objective of the ONE project is to enrich Digital Business Ecosystems with an open, decentralised negotiation
environment and enabling tools that will allow organisations to create contract agreements for supplying complex,
integrated services as a virtual organisation/coalition.
The project is especially geared towards SMEs, providing them with a trusted, secure and free of charge technological
environment through which they can create the tactical and strategic alliances to pursue business opportunities and
growth. To be competitive in Digital Ecosystems SMEs will need to develop alliances and collaborate to provide joint
service oerings and also address large tenders.
Current negotiation platforms, such as Business-to-Business electronic marketplaces and Internet trading platforms
are centrally managed, not fully trusted by SMEs and/or too expensive and hence not widely used by European SMEs
today. Without the support of proper tools, SMEs cannot easily nd trustworthy partners to provide services or be
found themselves. Access to reputation information is not readily available and negotiations are time consuming.
To solve these problems, a negotiation environment must be aordable, open, not centrally controlled, support the
sharing of knowledge via exible security and trust policies and be able to learn and evolve with the changing market
conditions.
ONE provides such a solution via an open-source approach ensuring transparency and sustainability. By using
the ONE environment all business players (SMEs, Corporations and others) will benet from reduction of time
to market and transaction costs. The ONE environment will also provide wider ecosystem benets in terms of an
increase in the number of participants; better negotiation performance and collaboration while creating new business
opportunities.

Start date: 2006-09-01

Web site: [Link]

End date: 2009-02-28

203

CONTRACT
Contract based systems engineering methods for veriable cross-organisational networked business applications
Project Acronym:

CONTRACT

Project reference:

034418

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA

WILLMOTT, STEVEN

Description

Objective:
As technologies for new generations of digital business systems have forged ahead, new and exciting applications
have become feasible. However, along with this potential it has also become clear that very signicant challenges
remain in the need for rigorous analysis of possible execution behaviour and the need for business interactions to be
underpinned by sound, binding legal agreements. The main aim of the CONTRACT project is therefore to provide
innovative new solutions, which specically address the need for sound software and business guarantees in digital
business applications. In particular, CONTRACT will build on existing theories of software contracts to create new
formal models and practical tools for use of dynamic contractual agreements in electronic business environments.
The results will make it possible to:
specify electronic business interactions in terms of contracts,
dynamically establish and manage contracts at runtime,
apply formal verication techniques to collections of contracts in a digital business environment, and,
apply monitoring techniques to contract implementation to help increase condence in business infrastructures.
The contract based approach promises to be a signicant breakthrough in the formal specication and verication of
business software systems since it raises the level of abstraction at which verication methods can work from detailed
execution code to obligations, commitments and rights. Project results will include publicly available theoretical
models and a reusable contracting language specication, open source software components compatible with leading
business environments and tools implementing innovative verication techniques that make it possible to check
contract properties both at design time and run time.
The consortium includes major industrial partner, 3 Universities, a research institute and 3 associated SMEs
participating in distinct business case studies.

Start date: 2006-09-01

Web site: [Link]

204

End date: 2009-02-28

4. Specic Targeted Research Projects developing

enterprise networking applications (which could
be installed on, or linked to the DBE infrastructure)
targeting SMEs
SEAMLESS (Construction + Textile sectors)
Small Enterprise Accessing the electronic market of the enlarged Europe by a smart service infrastructure
Project Acronym:

SEAMLESS

Project reference:

026476

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI MODENA E REGGIO EMILIA

BONFATTI, FLAVIO

Description

Objective:
The SEAMLESS project studies, develops and experiments an embryo of the Single European Electronic Market (SEEM)
network where a number of eRegistries are started up in dierent countries and sectors. Distinctive features are:
Addressing Craft & Trade (C&T) companies through the respective mediators (chambers of commerce, entrepreneurial
associations, local development agencies, ASPs).
Focusing on two sectors, Textile (TEX) and Building & Construction (B&C) that are relevant to C&T companies
and present overlapping areas (e.g. fabrics for tapestry).
Starting up experimental RRs in both EU-5 and new member states (NMAS) and establishing interactions between
them based on a proper collaboration framework.
In adopting eBusiness solutions, the target companies present gures lower than those of larger enterprises and
increasing at a slower pace. The situation in NMAS, where the percentage of C&T is even larger than in EU-5, is
generally worse, with signicant dierences between countries. The SEEM vision is towards a web-based marketplace
where companies can dynamically collaborate without cultural and technological constraints. The SEEM allows an
objective comparison of proles and oers of company of any size and location, and this could open the eBusiness
space to the many small companies (providing high quality products and services at lower cost) that now risk to be
left aside from the electronic market.
The main project activities are devoted to dene a collaboration framework and proper business models, realise
evolving sectoral ontologies, develop a technological infrastructure and a number of applications and services on top
of it. Six eRegistries are experimented, in Poland and Slovenia (B&C sector), in Spain, Slovakia and Romania (TEX
sector), and in Hungary (generic). The SEAMLESS project intends to provide an independent contribution to the
Digital Ecosystem initiative and strictly collaborate with the relative cluster of projects.

Start date: 2006-01-01

Web site: [Link]

End date: 2008-06-30

205

E-NVISION (Construction sector)

A new vision for the participation of European SMEs in the future e-Business scenario
Project Acronym:

E-NVISION

Project reference:

028067

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

FUNDACION LABEIN
ANGULO, JOSEBA INAKI

Description

Objective:
The future business scenario will be global, open and collaborative, dynamic and adaptive, frictionless and consistent.
The main barrier SMEs have to face in order to exploit, adapt and migrate to this e-Business scenario is the lack of
SME-oriented methodologies or tailored solutions.
The main objective of e-NVISION is the development and validation of an innovative e-business platform enabling
SMEs to model and adapt particular business scenarios; to integrate all their enterprise applications and to incorporate
legal, economical, social and cultural services, with the nal goal of facilitating their participation in the Future
European e-Business Scenario.
The main outcomes of the project are:
1. A specic SME-oriented e-Business Model formally described by a set ontologies.
2. A semantically enriched web service-oriented e-Business architecture providing modularity and integrability.
3. A set of business contextual services enabling SMEs to incorporate legal, social, economic, and trust aspects in
their business model.
4. A number of semantic integration components facilitating the integration of the most common enterprise
applications: Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relation Management, logistics, etc.
5. A range of Semantic Tools providing the necessary decision support for governing the behaviour and progress of
e-Business, through inference processes.
6. An Open Source e-Business Platform integrating the previous elements in an ecient SME-scale Information
System, open and congurable enough to be adopted by SMEs.
This Semantic e-Business Platform will be validated in the framework of four dierent scenarios involving SMEs of
the Construction and Building industry.
The consortium is composed of 3 RTD organisations, University, 4 ICT & consultancy companies, 4 SMEs and 3
Clusters of organisations from 5 European countries (Spain, France, Lithuania, Slovenia, and Poland) with the clear
aim of incorporating and validating as much experience as possible.

Start date: 2006-01-01

Web site: [Link]

206

End date: 2008-12-31

SATINE (Tourism sector)

Semantic-based interoperability infrastructure for integrating Web service platforms to peer-to-peer networks
Project Acronym:

SATINE

Project reference:

002104

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY SOFTWARE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CENTER

PROF. DR. ASUMAN DOGAC

Description

Objective:
SATINE aims to develop a secure semantic-based interoperability framework for exploiting Web service platforms in
P2P networks for tourism. Quantied objectives achieved:
Exploiting semantics for Web services in the travel domain: SATINE provides a component to wrap existing
information resources to make them appear as semantically well described Web services. It provides an easy to use
tool for SMEs to easily create Web services from their existing enterprise applications. The wrapped resources are
able to exchange information with other Web services in a Peer-to-Peer network.
Semantically enriching Web Service Registries: Currently, the main service discovery mechanism is the service
registries like UDDI and ebXML. SATINE project enriches the UDDI and ebXML registries with mechanisms to
store and access Web service semantics to facilitate the discovery and automated composition of complex Web
services for travel.
Semantic Discovery of Service Registries: In SATINE architecture the Web service registries are connected through
a Peer-to-Peer network to facilitate their discovery performing semantic routing of the queries.
Semantic Interoperability of Diverse Tourism applications: Although there are eorts to standardise the messages
exchanged in the travel domain such as Open Travel Alliance, not every travel company can be OTA compliant.
In SATINE, the interoperability of all sorts of Web services is addressed at the semantic level through ontology
mapping.
Semantic Web Service Composition Tool: The platform provides a set of tools supporting the semi dynamic
composition of semantically enriched Web services.
Support for SMES: Web services could not be registered to any service registry but simply made available through a
Web site, especially by SMEs. SATINE provides a mechanism to facilitate automated discovery of services through
P2P technology.

Use and Impact:

Providing an easy to use tool for Small and Medium Enterprises to easily create Web Services from their existing

enterprise applications including a component to wrap existing information resources to make them appear as
semantically well described Web Services.
Extending the reach possibilities of tourism enterprises by making their own semantically enriched web services
available to others either through service registries like UDDI and ebXML or directly through the peer-to-peer
network.
Extending the life of existing software by exposing proprietary functions as Web services.
Saving time and money by cutting of software development time by wrapping already existing travel information
system applications as Web services.
Allowing complex service composition exploiting the semantics of travel services.

Start date: 2004-01-01

End date: 2006-06-30
Web site: [Link]/webpage/projects/satine/[Link]

207

TOOL-EAST (Die-making sector)

Open source enterprise resource planning and order management system for Eastern European tool and die making workshops
Project Acronym:

TOOL-EAST

Project reference:

027802

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT FUER RATIONALISIERUNG

IMTIAZ, ALI

Description

Objective:
Tool and die making workshops provide critical support for industry by providing and designing customized
mechanical components. It is estimated that within the EU these enterprises, especially the Eastern European, are
mostly organized as SMEs. They do not have the nancial and human resources for the implementation of complex
ERP applications from the powerful software suppliers. Furthermore the functionalities of these standardized
applications do not full the specic requirements of the tool and die making industry.
The project Tool-East will provide a cost-ecient ERP application for tool and die making workshops on the basis of
existing open source ERP applications. Within the project the open source application will be adapted and modied
for the specic requirements of this branch. The new adapted and modied ERP application supports the ecient
coordination of intra-enterprise order processing and strengthens competition and competitiveness of Eastern
European SMEs. Primarily, orders management, work planning, resource allocation and CRM need to be optimised
and linked together in a dynamic work environment. Moreover ERP applications are necessary for the electronic
collaboration in dynamic business networks. To enable industrial cluster to e-collaboration the consisting process and
data standards will be considered for the Tool-East project.
One main challenge of this project is to use open source technology for the development of an integrated business
application for tool and die making enterprises with high performance regarding availability, safety and maintainability
at the very onset. Strengthening the open source initiative in general and particularly in this eld of business opens an
enormous potential for SMEs. Since demands for business software from other branches with specic SME structures
are predominantly comparable, results from this project can be transferred easily, so that a large impact can be
assumed.

Start date: 2006-01-01

Web site: [Link]

208

End date: 2007-12-31

VISP (Internet Service Provision)

Virtual ISP
Project Acronym:

Project reference:

VISP

027178

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

PERCEVAL TECHNOLOGIES SA
MANNIE-CORBISIER, ERIC

Description

Objective:
The VISP project will enable a cluster of SMEs to operate, as a single business entity, in multiple dynamic business
models, for the production of tailored Internet Service Provider (ISP) solutions adapted to local business needs. VISP
will specify ISP services by combining building blocks chosen in a list of a few hundreds that can each be parameterised.
This will allow selling tailored services with a ne control and to dierentiate from incumbent operators.
Ontologies of building blocks specied in a language like OWL will enable software based service design and ordering.
It will result in a precise description of the services (knowledge base) to be implemented and provisioned that will
be advertised in WSDL using UDDI. Implementation and provisioning of building blocks by dierent partners will
require business and technical processes in the cluster. They will be modelled as workows using choreography and
orchestration formal languages in order to be executed and monitored on distributed workow engines.
Technical workows will act on network components through an abstract object representation based on existing
standards like MIB, CIM, etc. Global data will be stored in LDAP following the Directory Enabled Networks (DEN)
principles to be accessed by clusters partners.
VISP will combine multiple innovative technologies mainly based on XML in the eld of ontologies, workow
technologies, network modelling, DEN and Web services. VISP will build an integrated and automated software
platform made of a modelling environment linked to a distributed, secured and manageable workow execution
environment interfaced with ERPs. VISP intends to use and produce Open Source software as much as possible.
VISP will also contribute to standardization by extending existing standards to encompass ISP services and their
implementation. It will adapt and complement business workows, and specify technical workows as contribution
to standards.

Start date: 2005-11-01

Web site: [Link]

End date: 2008-06-30

209

5. Specic Support Actions supporting specically

the DE cluster
PEARDROP
Promoting ecosystems and regional development - in support of regional operational programming
Project Acronym:

PEARDROP

Project reference:

034735

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

ASSOCIATION REGIONALE EUROPEENNE SUR LA SOCIETE DE LINFORMATION

HUGHES, GARETH

Description

Objective:
The principal focus of PEARDROP is to make more accessible and more practicable for regional policy makers and key
local actors the instruments for exploitation and adoption of research and deployment results in ICT for Enterprise
Networking and, in particular, in Digital Ecosystems.
PEARDROP aims to draw together the most salient results of the innovation and digital business ecosystem cluster of
FP6, including some rst regional deployment experiences and results, converting these where necessary into laymans
terms, as well as into a number of EU languages (minimum 5), with a view to making them more accessible and of
more practicable use to regional policy makers, especially those concerned with regional operational programming
and with eBusiness development.
PEARDROP expects to increase signicantly the number of regions that are interested to adopt it, and actively
participate in, or considering deployment of, innovation and digital business ecosystem research and models.
PEARDROP will seek to better understand critical success factors in terms of the behaviour of regional development
agents, and will propose systems (tools, methodologies and models) for assessing the risks and barriers, as well as
the benets and eectiveness, of such approaches and related policy interventions with a view to supporting regional
policy makers and programmers in formulating more eective policies.
PEARDROP acknowledges and will take due account of the diversity of European regions and the inter-regional
variations of context and conditions that exist. PEARDROP does not propose to identify, develop or promote a single
DBE approach or deployment model but rather to collaboratively dene alternative approaches or models that could
be adopted according to specic regional circumstances.

Start date: 2006-09-01

Web site: [Link]

210

End date: 2008-08-31

EFFORT
Governance behaviour, policies and legal requirements for facilitating access to market by dynamic clustering of SMEs
Project Acronym:

EFFORT

Project reference:

035088

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

UMBRIA INNOVAZIONE S. CONS. A. R. L.

CARDONI, GIUSEPPE

Description

Objective:
The objective of EFFORT is to gain understanding of the behaviour, governance, sustainability and constituency
drivers of dynamic cross-border and cross-regional clusters of SMEs to improve their ability to access the global
market, facilitating collaborative production of products and services, as well as responding to procurement contracts
of public or private organizations.
EFFORT will investigate also the legal framework and policy activities needed to address the setup of the innovation
ecosystem governance structure. Market access will be improved through a double process of extended and
dynamic clustering. The extended clustering implies aggregating capabilities of clustered SMEs at dierent level
overcoming the geographical boundaries and operational limitations of traditional clusters. The dynamic clustering
implies adaptability in conguring virtual clusters to respond to specic market opportunities.
The fundamental challenge is how to facilitate dynamic external clustering, and to build capacity across clusters and
networks of SMEs. This challenge involves building internal capabilities enhancing the organizational, knowledge
and technological capacity of SMEs, and building external capacity in the environments in which SMEs and their
clusters operate. The key issues have to do with regulation/policy, legal framework, governance mechanisms and
technological conditions that can function as the enabling framework for completing the Internal Market and to
complement the vision of the innovation ecosystem objective.
EFFORT will bring a multidisciplinary perspective on the current status and future possibilities of cross-border and
cross-regional dynamic and extended SME clustering based on the notion of building SME cross-cluster capacity
by selecting complementary partners out of SME networks that extend beyond the boundaries of a traditional cluster.
Thus, our working hypothesis is that dynamic clustering will facilitate market access for SMEs.

Start date: 2006-09-01

Web site: [Link]

End date: 2008-08-31

211

6. Further Specic Support Actions included in the

DE cluster
EPRI-START
STimulate the pARTicipation of SMEs from NMS in IST activities
Project Acronym:

Project reference:

EPRI START

015801

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

TELEPORT SACHSEN-ANHALT GMBH

LANGHOF, MARCO

Description

Objective:
EPRI start aims at stimulating, increasing, but at the same time qualifying the participation of SMEs from New
Member States of the EU in the IST Programme.
In particular, it aims at:
establishing a Qualied Partner Pool of at least 500 IST oriented SMEs from NMS, qualied by LoIs and concrete
project ideas;
developing a Certied Partner Pool of 200 qualied IST oriented SME partners from NMS described by Company
Fact Sheets developed by a Guide for NMS participants;
ensure an overall number of 00 project participations from IST oriented SMEs from NMS in the dierent IST
Calls during the lifetime of the project.
The process of stimulating and developing SME participation will feed a second, parallel process which involves
political decision makers of the target countries and Political Decision makers on the level of European ICT Policy
in order to discuss socio-economic impacts of ICT and to prepare and support the discussion of the 7th Framework
Programme. EPRI start aims at the broadest possible coverage by involving partners from all New Member States of
the European Union.
On the other hand EPRI start works with a clearly specied and realistic focus on the eld of SME participation in
the IST programme. It addresses three important target groups:
The group of highly innovative research oriented SMEs from the New Member States with no or low experiences
in participating in the IST programme;
The IST community who will benet from new and innovative resources as an enhancement of existing or newly
arising consortia;
The societal environment receiving impacts from participation of NMS SMEs in IST research projects being
represented by political decision makers of the SMEs regional and national environments.
The consortium refers to comparable experiences in earlier programmes. Its coordinators have carried out a similar
project during the accession process of the German New Laender.

Start date: 2005-03-01

Web site: [Link]/

212

End date: 2006-08-31

LEGAL-IST
Legal issues for the advancement of Information Society Technologies
Project Acronym:

LEGAL-IST

Project reference:

004252

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

ESOCE NET (EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CONCURRENT ENGINEERING)

SANTORO, ROBERTO

Description

Objective:
LEGAL-IST aims to provide support to the IST programme execution and to facilitate the rapid adoption of the
relevant research results, by addressing legal issues and barriers which are hampering the implementation of IST
related technologies and business models and by identifying an evolution strategy for the EU regulatory framework
in the IST/eEconomy domain.
The Legal-IST initiative is capturing, analysing and framing the legal aspects of innovative technologies and
methodologies emerging from within the Information Society, in order to:
harmonise and consolidate legal research results undertaken in IST and support their use
support the IST research activities from a legal viewpoint, by studying the legal implications of current IST
research initiatives (in terms of both new emerging technologies and relevant networked business models) and
providing implementation strategy suggestions. This is achieved by conducting research studies on selected IST
legal issues, and providing legal support to on-going IST projects;
increase the awareness of legal issues aecting ICT adoption/implementation
contribute to the denition of emerging policies to strengthen the EU regulatory framework, validated through
consensus building with Governments, Policy-Makers and Public Institutions representatives (for SMEs which
cannot evaluate legal implications of their research)
provide IST-related legal support to industry (SMEs) and the IST research community.
The LEGAL-IST project delivered:
A State-of-the-Art survey on the IST research undertaken under FP5 and FP6. A public report highlighting
research ndings, recommendations and roadmaps is available and can be used by the European Commission,
policy makers and researchers to consolidate results and facilitate their use;
Nine dierent studies on selected legal issues relevant to IST areas of investigation, which are consistent with the
needs identied in the State-of-the-Art survey. The reports on the studies give cases and recommendations on IST
hot topics from a legal point of view and can be consulted by researchers, practitioners and lawyers in order to
support their own activity in the eld;
Legal support services to facilitate the implementation of Collaborative Innovation Clusters, Virtual Professional
Communities and Business Ecosystems, including:
Training on legal issues relevant to IST related topics and relevant business models;
Support to IST research initiatives, based on the Legal-IST approach and methodology;
Provision of legal/business consulting;
A roadmap for the implementation of the collected suggestions by the European and national regulatory
frameworks, validated through a consensus building campaign, aiming to contribute to dening emerging Policies
for an IST related regulatory framework (with as target audience: the European Commission, policy makers,
consumers, trade and industrial associations).

Start date: 2004-04-01

Web site: [Link]

End date: 2007-03-31

213

LEKTOR
Legal knowledge transfer accelerator for SME clusters and digital business ecosystems
Project Acronym:

LEKTOR

Project reference:

034932

Contact person
Organization name:
Contact person name:

INMARK ESTUDIOS Y ESTRATEGIAS S.A.

URSA, YOLANDA

Description

Objective:
LEKTOR is a 24 months SSA intended to raise awareness of potential legal obstacles in the context of eBusiness
and to provide solutions by creating a platform for autonomous legal knowledge exchange among the target groups,
i.e. SMEs. LEKTOR is geared at SMEs, SME clusters and digital business ecosystems for SMEs and all multipliers
involved.
LEKTOR will not investigate on its own into legal matters but will identify, compile and assess those existing (from
other European, national and regional projects and initiatives), making the results available on the LEKTOR platform.
Furthermore, it will identify legal eBusiness issues from the user side.
Final goal is to create a mechanism, the LEKTOR P2P (peer-to-peer) platform for legal knowledge exchange that will
be based on OSS and functioning P2P models such as Wikipedia or [Link]. It will be usable for all involved in
eBusiness to showcase legal achievements and solutions in a global business environment and to foster the exchange of
legal knowledge between those directly aected: SMEs. The increased knowledge will dissolve doubts or insecurities
and accelerate the take-up of ICT in various business processes, thus, enhance the competitiveness of European SMEs
in the global digital business environment (as postulated in the i200 programme, amongst others).
To achieve these objectives, the LEKTOR Consortium partners will take advantages of their respective experience and
networks that link SMEs in Europe (EU-25) and outside, through the international partners in India, USA and Chile
(for Latin America). The 6-step methodological approach is reected in the work plan, split into 6WPs: Identication
of legal and regulatory issues aecting eBusiness; draft an eCatalogue; technical implementation of P2P platform;
test phase of the legal knowledge exchange platform; Dissemination strategy and implementation activities in 9 EU
countries and 3 outside Europe; and project management.

Start date: 2006-06-01

Web site: [Link]/lektor

214

End date: 2008-05-31