European ICT News

Brain research in Europe needs a decisive effort. We must invest more, define clearer and more innovative research and healthcare strategies, and better coordinate national efforts. We therefore decided to make May 2013 the European Month of the Brain - a full month packed with events and activities to make decision-makers, stakeholders, the media and the public aware of the successes achieved and the challenges still laying ahead for brain research. Please note the conference "European Brain Research Successes and Next Challenges" to be held on 14 May in Brussels, to which registration is open.

The European Commission welcomes the vote of the European Parliament in a plenary session today to extend the mandate of the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA).

The European Commission will launch soon a call for tenders for a service contract of a maximum value of EUR 40 000 (FORTY THOUSAND EURO). The purpose of this call for tenders is to support the Action Group related to the Specific Action D4 "Innovation for age friendly buildings, cities and environments" of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, in implementing its Action Plan.

The European Commission will launch soon a call for tenders for a service contract of a maximum value of EUR 40 000 (FORTY THOUSAND EURO). The purpose of this call for tenders is to support the Action Group related to the Specific Action C2 "Development of interoperable independent living solutions, including guidelines for business models" of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, in implementing its Action Plan.

The European Commission will launch soon a call for tenders for a service contract of a maximum value of EUR 40 000 (FORTY THOUSAND EURO). The purpose of this call for tenders is to support the Action Group related to the Specific Action A2 "Personalised health management, starting with a Falls Prevention Initiative" of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, in implementing its Action Plan.

The European Commission will launch soon a call for tenders for a service contract of a maximum value of EUR 30 000 (THIRTY THOUSAND EURO). The purpose of this call for tenders is to support the Action Group related to the Specific Action B3 "Replicating and tutoring integrated care for chronic diseases, including remote monitoring at regional level" of the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing, in implementing its Action Plan.

Are you attending the eHealth Week in Dublin (13-15 May)? Yes? Come and join the European Commission’s Digital Futures project for a special eHealth Week brainstorming session on health and medicine in 2050.

The call for innovative pilot projects in the Smart Cities domains of Interoperable Fair Management (1.2a), cooperative systems for the sustainable mobility of goods (1.2b) and the Public Procurement for Intelligent Transport Systems' solutions (1.3c) will be open for four more weeks. The precise deadline of this Call under the ICT strand of the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme is 14 May 2013, 17h00 Brussels' time. Please find the call fiche and all the other relevant documents at the link here above.

The ACCOMPANY project is developing a robotic companion that will provide a range of services to older users, to facilitate such independent living at home. A state of the art service robot platform, Care-O-bot 3 (developed by German manufacturer, Fraunhofer IPA), is being used to assess user requirements and user acceptance of the robot. The robot is also used as a platform to advance the state-of-the art of service robotics and social and empathic user-robot interaction. The proposed system will provide physical, cognitive and social assistance in everyday home tasks, and will contribute to the re-ablement of the user, by assisting them to carry out daily tasks on their own, as well as encouraging a co-learner relationship, where the robot and person can learn together. The results from project user studies are being fed back to adapt the technology, so that it better suits user demands and preferences, while using three test sites in three different European countries (UK, the Netherlands, and France) gives the research team the opportunity to consider the effects of cultural differences. Through identifying the main issues and barriers to personal independence, and by targeting these barriers using technological solutions, the consortium’s long-term vision is to prevent elderly people having to go into care homes prematurely.

The support to innovative companies is a centrepiece of the European Commission's growth strategy Europe 2020. Since November 2011, the Commission has proposed to provide support to innovative procurement though Horizon 2020, recommended the introduction of a new procurement procedure and launched the 'Public Procurement of Innovation Platform', a European-wide networking platform of link-minded public procurers. This call provides a bridge between the 11 ongoing PPI pilot projects and the launch of innovation procurement under Horizon 2020. The European Commission calls for project proposals that clearly demonstrate how public procurement bodies will act, during the project, as launch customers for innovative goods or services which are not yet available on a large-scale commercial basis.

East African livestock herders are using mobile phones to send early warnings of drought, part of a new effort to avert disasters like the one two years ago that required a massive EU humanitarian response.

East African livestock herders are using mobile phones to send early warnings of drought, part of a new effort to avert disasters like the one two years ago that required a massive EU humanitarian response.

East African livestock herders are using mobile phones to send early warnings of drought, part of a new effort to avert disasters like the one two years ago that required a massive EU humanitarian response.

East African livestock herders are using mobile phones to send early warnings of drought, part of a new effort to avert disasters like the one two years ago that required a massive EU humanitarian response.

This final report is part of the study on “Coping with an ageing population – Learning from good eHealth and telecare practices” – the eCare Benchmarking study, commissioned by the European Commission, Directorate General Information Society and Media, Brussels. The eCare Benchmarking study has to be seen within the global trend towards population ageing. This unprecedented development has a number of socio-economic side effects which are beginning to exert an influence on the way long-term care is currently provided to older people in Europe and beyond.

ICOST is considered as a premier venue for the presentation and discussion of research in the design, development, deployment and evaluation of Smart Environments, Assistive Technologies and Health Telematics systems. ICOST brings together stakeholders from clinical, academic and industrial perspectives and along with end users and their family carers explore how Smart Homes and Health Telematics can foster independent living and offer an enhanced quality of life. ICOST 2013 invites participants to present and discuss their experiences in the design, development, deployment and evaluation that demonstrate significant contributions in the areas of smart homes, health telematics and assistive technologies. ICOST 2013 will provide a dynamic program which will incorporate a range of technical, clinical and industrial related keynote speakers, oral and poster presentations along with demonstrations and technical exhibits.

Ex-ante publicity for low-value contracts between EUR 15 000 and EUR 60 000. Crowdsourcing on what are the new sources of ICT-enabled growth and jobs to take into consideration in the follow-up to the Digital Agenda for Europe (SMART 2013/0046).

May 2013 will be the European Month of the Brain. The European Commission has organised a full programme of activities and conferences to raise awareness on the importance to keep supporting brain research. On 14/5 there will be a free conference in Brussels with four speakers on eHealth.

Google has formally submitted a package of concessions to European Union competition regulators in a strong signal that the world's No. 1 search engine may be able to settle a two-year antitrust investigation without a fine.

Google has formally submitted a package of concessions to European Union competition regulators in a strong signal that the world's No. 1 search engine may be able to settle a two-year antitrust investigation without a fine.