European Commission DG Information Society Preparatory Workshop Brussels, 13 April 2005 SO “Collaborative Working Environments” 6th EU Framework Programme for Research Isidro Laso Ballesteros IST Programme

European Commission DG Information Society SO Collaborative Working Environments. Goal To develop next generation collaborative working environments (NGCWE), thereby increasing creativity and boosting innovation and productivity. NGCWE will enable seamless and natural collaboration amongst a diversity of agents (humans, machines-robots, etc).

European Commission DG Information Society NGCWE will be: distributed, knowledge-rich and virtualized working environments. Professional virtual communities and nomadic personal access to knowledge should be supported. SO Collaborative Working Environments. Characteristics of NGCWE

European Commission DG Information Society NGCWE environments should provide collaboration services to make possible the development of worker centric, flexible, scalable and adaptable tools and applications. SO Collaborative Working Environments. Objective Collaboration services Collaboration environments Collaboration tools Applications for collaboration

European Commission DG Information Society SO Collaborative Working Environments Where are we positioned at?

European Commission DG Information Society Research and development activities on NGCWE Theoretical research: Collaborative Working methods Research and development on Core Services for collaboration System integration into collaboration tools Development of complex applications Support for internationally agreed reference architecture for CWE

European Commission DG Information Society Research and development activities on Next Generation Collaboration Working Environments. Medium-term and Long-term perspectives Medium-term activities (horizon 2010): within the Strategic Objective of the IST FP6. Transition activities: Part of the projects to be launch during IST FP6 Strategic Objective will ensure a smooth transition towards FP7. Long-term activities (Horizon 2015): During FP7.

European Commission DG Information Society Work to be done within SO Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks Three layered tasks following a systems approach: Innovative conecpts and methods for collaborative work

European Commission DG Information Society Network Access (IP v6, wireless, ) Middleware (SOA) Group identification Synchronization and Persistence of Distributed workspaces Group Traceability Group resources Discovery and allocation. Augmented group Presence Group Management Service composition Visualisation COLLABORATION TOOLS vManufacturingeMediaeProfessionalseRural … VALIDATING APPLICATIONS Collaborative Work Environment providing core collaboration services: Digital representation of physical objects Group Security Environment awareness Semantic Modelling Of Groups Sharing support

European Commission DG Information Society 1st Focal Layered task: Theoretical research (I) Methods and concepts to: To reduce failures in diverse teams in particular when the cultural diversity is high.. To improve work practices in Collaborative Working Environments. (“Innovative workplace practices in manufacturing accounted for as much as 89% of the growth in ‘multifactor productivity’, i.e. beyond ICT increases”. San Francisco Fed, 2004)

European Commission DG Information Society 1st Focal Layered task: Research and development on Services Components (II) Research and development of service components for collaboration to complement existing middleware and platforms, such as: synchronisation and persistence of distributed group workspaces; discovery and allocation of group resources; group identification, traceability and security; management and interfacing between groups of physical materials and digital representations; and environment group awareness, with a special emphasis on mobility. This Services Components will deliver a high quality experience to co-workers based on flexible management of services and should be customizable to different communities, making use of different (mobile) devices.

European Commission DG Information Society 2nd focal layered task: Research on tools for collaborative work Bringing together core services into collaboration tools These tools will offer sophisticated services. Focus on: Group management, Visualization services, Augmented group presence, Sharing support, Seamless interaction, Semantic modeling of complex groups of workers, Service composition.

European Commission DG Information Society 3nd focal layered task: Development of Complex applications (I) In ICT-rich domains mentioned in the text: Collaborative design and engineering, in particular rapid prototyping and simulation in the context of virtual manufacturing; Collaboration in media/content production workers; Collaboration among e-Professionals; Collaboration with and among knowledge and information workers in remote and rural settings. e-Training for collaborative and remote workers (horizontal) Innovative validating applications for collaborative work in content-rich, mobile and fixed collaborative environments

European Commission DG Information Society 3nd focal layered task: Development of Complex applications (II) Cross domain fertilization domain would enrich these applications These applications should leverage, where appropriate, on experience from collaborative games (disruptive approaches)

European Commission DG Information Society Other tasks (I) To promote joint research activities with national programmes, To define future research agendas, To identify emerging topics and research groups world wide.

European Commission DG Information Society Other tasks (II) To achieve internationally agreed reference architecture for collaborative work (guidelines), including core components providing seamless collaboration. Through Collaboration with international research and standardization activities. Build on international RTD activities in particular USA, Canada, Korea and japan Linked to international standardisation activities, including W3C and IETF.

European Commission DG Information Society S.O Instruments for layer IP Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks STREP CA/SSA

European Commission DG Information Society SO Integrated Projects (I) Budget: 70% (around €30 Mio) Integrated, goal-oriented R&D: Cut across the 3 layered focal tasks, including Work on: innovative concepts and methods, core collaboration services, tools for collaboration, AND validation on testbeds and large demonstrators. Critical mass is required to have impact IPIP IPIP IPIP IPIP Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks

European Commission DG Information Society SO Integrated Projects (II) Tasks: Clustering and coordination of activities among the IPs in order to achieve a common ‘upper layer’ Collaborative Work Platform and to avoid overlapping in the development of tools for collaborations. To contribute to ERA activities with National and regional funding agencies. To contribute to achieve internationally agreed reference architecture for collaborative work by: Knowledge creation Workshops, committes, etc. IPIP IPIP IPIP IPIP Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks

European Commission DG Information Society SO Integrated Projects (III) Application domains: The ICT-rich domains mentioned in the official text are: 1.collaborative design and engineering, in particular rapid prototyping and simulation, virtual manufacturing; 2.Media/content production, 3.e-Professionals and 4.knowledge and information workers in remote and rural settings IPIP IPIP IPIP IPIP Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks

European Commission DG Information Society SO Integrated Projects (IV) The use of Experience and Application Research (EAR) approach is encouraged. EAR is defined by the ISTAG: they are designed for an early involvememnt of users and to create links to structures, business processes and workplace practices of the organisations. Examples of EARs budget: 700,000 € IPIP IPIP IPIP IPIP Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks

European Commission DG Information Society SO Targeted RTD Projects Only in the 1st and 2nd layers. Tasks: To explore emerging alternatives to pave the way for additional technological advances in the field. Disrupting approaches are encouraged. For example: Is there an alternative to Semantic web more adequate to collaborative work? To investigate ICT-bio, ICT-cogno and ICT-nano convergence in the context of New Working Environments. To explore human robotics working environments. To extrapolate collaborative games experience to collaborative work Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks STREP

European Commission DG Information Society Aim: to promote and support the networking and coordination of research and innovation activities needed for European leadership in ICT-enabled Collaborative Working Environments. SO Co-ordination Activities and Specific Support Actions (I) Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks CA/ SSA

European Commission DG Information Society SO Co-ordination Activities and Specific Support Actions (II) Tasks: To ensure that the work is consistent across IPs and STREPs. To promote joint research activities with national programmes, to define future research agendas or to identify emerging topics and research groups world- wide. Collaboration with international research and standardisation activities to achieve internationally agreed reference architecture for collaborative work. Validating Applications Core (crucial) Services for distributed collaboration at work Tools for collaborative tasks CA/ SSA

European Commission DG Information Society Actions targeting SMEs developing collaborative tools and application are encouraged (2nd and 3rd layers) Aim: To achieve better interoperability of complementary services and tools. To leverage on innovative SMEs. SO SMEs

European Commission DG Information Society Aim: To complement the ERA pilot project on CWE launched in the call 3. strengthen and complement research carried out under ESA, EUREKA and national initiatives. In particular, links to Eureka ITEA projects related to Nomadic and Cyber-Enterprise domain applications should be described to assess synergies and inter-dependencies in terms of timing and funding. SO ERA activities

European Commission DG Information Society For More Information... Main source of information: Includes: Workshops on CWE. Work Expert Group (CWEG): 1st Report on NGCWE vision and ICT challenges 2nd Report on Applications scenarios for NGCWE Advisory group Research papers and project results. Web Ring of CWE related projects (If you want to be incorporated to this web ring, please send an to: with copy to SO EC contact person: Isidro Laso-Ballesteros