CAPSIL

The European Commission has sent today a Statement of Objections (SO) to the Polish telecoms incumbent operator - Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TP). The SO outlines the Commission's preliminary view that TP has abused its dominant position by refusing to supply remunerated access to its wholesale broadband services.

The Open architecture for Accessible Services Integration and Standardization (OASIS) project - a Large Scale Integrated Project co-financed under FP7 - has released its first animated project video. The project's scope is to revolutionise the interoperability, quality, width and usability of services for all the daily activities of older people. More specifically, OASIS intends to use ICT and other key technologies to provide holistic services to older people in order to support their physical and psychological independence, stimulate their social or psychological engagement and foster their emotional well being.

ACGT is a European Union co-funded project aiming at developing open-source, semantic and grid-based technologies in support of post genomic clinical trials in cancer research. It addresses clinicians, bio-researchers as well as software developers' needs, providing an open platform where novel and powerful services can be offered and used by practitioners in the field.The ACGT Competition has been set up to encourage the development of Grid enabled services that can be used for the support of multi-centric clinical trials and research. The ACGT Competition is open to all parties that are interested in developing ACGT-compatible services. The competition will take place between March and June 2010. Deadline for registration is 30 March, for submission 30 May.

The European Commission launched the Virtual Physiological (VPH) initiative to research and develop patient-specific computer models for personalised and predictive healthcare and ICT-based tools for modelling and simulation of human physiology and disease-related processes. This is the first of a series of conferences to be held by the VPH Network of Excellence (VPH NoE). The VPH NoE is an umbrella project, representing the Virtual Physiological Human Initiative set up by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. The VPH NoE is also responsible for producing a ‘VPH Vision and Strategy Document’ in preparation of the next calls under FP7, FP8 and for European large infrastructural actions. A call for abstracts has been launched (Deadline: 1st May)

This study is to provide input to the assessment of competitive developments of the EU roaming market and the review of the functioning of the Roaming Regulation. The closing date for submitting a tender is 26 March 2010.

Selected successfull EC funded ICT for Health projects will be on the EC stand (801) to show their research achievements as well as discuss them and the potential use of these results. Details on the projects and their presence on the EC stand are now available.

The European Commission has ruled that Polish telecom regulator Urząd Komunikacji Elektronicznej (UKE) must withdraw its plans to regulate the markets for internet traffic exchange services in Poland. Internet service providers use these data traffic exchange services to connect their customers to the Internet. After a two-month investigation, the Commission has decided that UKE has failed to show that competitive conditions in Poland require the regulation of these markets, which are not regulated elsewhere in the EU. Indeed, internet service providers are able to connect to the Internet not only by using direct interconnection services provided by the Polish incumbent Telekomunikacja Polska "TP" but also by indirect interconnection via other operators. The Commission's view is that Polish consumers already benefit from competitive services without the need of an extra regulatory burden, and prices are falling. Moreover, the Commission considers that if these markets were regulated, it could adversely affect alternative operators offering transit services and discourage them from investment in network infrastructure. The Commission also rejects the way that UKE has defined these IP traffic exchange markets. The Commission decision is based on Article 7 of the Framework Directive of EU telecoms rules.

The European Parliament and the European Commission are hosting a Spectrum Summit where key decision-makers and stakeholders will discuss the role and objectives of European spectrum policy in supporting economic growth and social inclusion as well as underpinning internal market policies. The summit is an opportunity to develop a better understanding of the direction of spectrum policy, and also to identify key themes that are both of sufficient importance and at the right stage of maturity to be the focus of co-ordinated action at EU level. This event and the forthcoming public consultation will be opportunities for stakeholders to contribute to the Commission's preparation of the forthcoming legislative Radio Spectrum Policy Programme.

The event will focus on the following issues : promoting a new European Strategy for Research Infrastructures (RIs) in the framework of the future Strategy for the EU2020 ; prioritising the RoadMap outlined by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI), which identifies new RIs of pan-European interest corresponding to long term needs of the European research communities ; the e-infrastructure for Science ; the Management and funding of the RIs within context of the European Research Area (ERA) ; the Governance and future of RIs within the ERA

This event includes a high level conference on the theme of cooperative mobility, live on-road demonstrations and an exhibition. The showcase will be the biggest ever in Europe of cars 'talking' to each other and the traffic infrastructure to achieve greener, safer and smarter road transport. The final results of the three major integrated projects COOPERS, CVIS and SAFESPOT, co-financed by the European Union’s Sixth Framework Programme for Research will be presented. The demo rides will feature around 40 cooperative applications live on the public road network and in a dedicated safety area. The i&CDrive exhibition will display the products of cooperative mobility components and systems manufacturers and service providers. Subscription to the conference includes a 60 minute all-inclusive demo ride.

The European Commission has launched a consultation on strategic priorities for an EU radio spectrum policy programme for 2011-2015. Access to radio spectrum is essential for a huge range of activities from telephony and broadcasting through to transport and space applications. Wide and fair access to radio spectrum is crucial to ensure that EU citizens in both urban and rural areas can enjoy the benefits of digital technology. Better use of spectrum could also give Europe's economy a boost since rolling out fast wireless services would enhance competitiveness and growth. Industry, consumers and other stakeholders are invited to respond to the consultation by 9 April. A "Spectrum Summit" held jointly by the Commission and the European Parliament will take place on 22/23 March to discuss Europe's spectrum priorities.

The Information Society Directorate General of the European Commission is organising this workshop to get input from all stakeholders : Member States, National Regulatory Authorities, operators and associations, including consumer associations. The aim is to prepare an intermediate report on the functioning of roaming in the EU to be presented by the Commission to the Council and the Parliament by the end of June 2010. Attendance is free of charge but prior registration is required. For organisational reasons, the Commission may need to restrict the number of applicants.

The European Commission has launched today the Europe 2020 Strategy to go out of the crisis and prepare EU economy for the next decade. The Commission identifies three key drivers for growth, to be implemented through concrete actions at EU and national levels: smart growth (fostering knowledge, innovation, education and digital society), sustainable growth (making our production more resource efficient while boosting our competitiveness) and inclusive growth (raising participation in the labour market, the acquisition of skills and the fight against poverty). This battle for growth and jobs requires ownership at top political level and mobilisation from all actors across Europe. Five targets are set which define where the EU should be by 2020 and against which progress can be tracked.

For the 3rd time, the Information Retrieval Facility (IRF) organises a symposium with international experts from the Information Retrieval and Intellectual Property domains. The IRF Symposium is a forum to discuss the specific challenges of patent searching and analysis and exchange ideas on potential solutions, with the objective of making the latest IR technologies available to the industry.

This event will explore the technical requirements and business challenges of integrating physical items into today’s internet. This Internet of Things shall be applied to address various societal challenges: health monitoring systems to support the aging society, distributed awareness to help predict natural disasters, transparency of transportation to reduce carbon footprint, product lifetime information to improve recyclability, and general visualization of processes to optimize efficiency. The call for paper closes on 1 June 2010.

A public consultation on what is the best approach to ensure that basic telecoms services are available for all EU citizens has been launched today by the European Commission. Current EU rules on universal service obligations for telecoms date from 2002 and guarantee that Europeans have access to public telephone networks and to services like basic internet access. The consultation launched today aims to see if these rules and definitions on universal service need to be updated for the digital age, and in particular if they should be extended to cover broadband access. Reactions from consumers, industry stakeholders, and policy experts will help the Commission decide if it needs to present new legislative proposals on universal service obligations for telecoms by end of 2010. The consultation will run until 7 May 2010.

European e-skills Week 2010, from March 1-5, aims to review the EU e-skills strategy's achievements in terms of digital literacy and boosting the e-skills of all EU citizens, to share experiences, build links and mobilise stakeholders across the EU. The official launch of the European e-Skills Week at CeBIT, the world’s largest digital tradeshow, in Hannover, Germany, on 2 March 2010, marks the culmination of a campaign of more than 200 events and activities such as conferences, web seminars, company executive tours to schools and workshops. European e-Skills Week is the result of a coordinated effort by the European Commission, governments, industry and educational establishments to inform the European public about the critical role ICT skills play in securing Europe’s future economic competitiveness. A broad range of activities across 35 countries in Europe will highlight the demand for skilled ICT users and professionals. Public authorities, ICT companies and educational institutions have together engaged in hundreds of activities, training events and competitions to inspire people to discover e-skills (such as using the internet) from their youth to retirement .

The European eParticipation study has demonstrated the considerable potential for eParticipation to change the broader interactions between citizens and governments. eParticipation can also improve the overall quality of engagement and decision-making whilst widening involvement of all citizens. Information and communication technologies are opening up new opportunities but also reveal new dangers. The report examines all these aspects and provides a coherent view of where Europe currently stands regarding eParticipation. It gives recommendations for future actions to the main actors focusing on the European level.

The annual EU conference for data centres will this year include a special focus on enterprises and their evolving outsourcing needs as emerging private clouds, new technologies and market changes impact across the sector. The event is accompanied by an industry exhibition, special workshops and an Awards Dinner.

Tecnimap is the 11th in a series of conferences on Information Technology for the Modernisation of Public Administration. It aims to share practices and experiences related to the usage of ICT in eGovernment services. It is the largest Spanish event on eGovernment, regularly attracting 5000 delegates and 250 exhibitors. On the occasion of the Spanish Presidency of the EU, this year's event encourages the participation of other Member States and European institutions.