NEWSFLASH

Commission supports upgrade of Trans-European Internet research network through 80 million euro GÉANT project

The European Commission has agreed to sign a 80 million euro contract with the GÉANT Consortium, to put in place a 2,5Gbit/s trans-European Internet backbone for research purposes. This represents a major step in the practical implementation of the eEurope action plan and marks an important move in Europe's evolution towards Internet II. With GÉANT having already launched its tendering process to procure the necessary capacity and points of presence in 30 countries, all is now in place for network operations to begin early in 2001. Additional moves to extend these high-speed links from Europe to the research backbones of the USA and Asian regions are foreseen at later stages of the project.

Download the press release/00/1118 of the 6/10/00:

http://www.ispo.cec.be/docs/services/docs/2000/October/ip_00_1118_en.pdf

Pan-European registry of Internet domain names

The Commission’s InfoSoc DG announced plans in February 2000 for 2 initiatives. It proposed a registry to regulate the assignment of domain names to Internet users for use as part of their unique electronic address. It also recommends the creation of a new top level domain (TLD) name, . eu, as an alternative to names based on a two-letter country code or a generic non-geographical code such as .com, .net, or .org

The Telecoms Council met on Octobre 5th in Luxembourg. Mr Errki Liikanen, Member of the Commission assured the Council that following a recent clarification of the rules applied by US organisation ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and ISO about two letter country codes (such as .LU or .FR) it would now be possible to anticipate that the Dot EU Registry will be set up soon, subject to technical and legal agreements with ICANN.

The Creation of Dot EU is planned to boost e-commerce and the use of the Internet by individuals, administrations and SMEs, in the light of the E-Europe initiative recently approved by the European Councils of Lisbon and Feira.

For further information about Internet policies, please consult the following Web address:

http://www.ispo.cec.be/eif/InternetPoliciesSite/InternetGovernance/Main.html

? European Employment Strategy: New Package

The European Commission has approved a new employment package. In this employment package the employment guidelines for the year 2001 were incorporated, as well as specific recommendations for individual member states and

the Joint Employment Report in which a survey is given of the developments pertaining to employment in the European Union in 2000. At some points, the employment guidelines for the year 2001 differ from the employment guidelines for the year 2000. As a result of the European Summit in Lisbon, a number of new elements were included. Elements such as the elimination of the deterioration of poverty, eradication of illiteracy, strategies concerning active ageing and elderly employees, investments in education and training, combating discrimination, objectives for care services for children. The employment guidelines for 2001 will in all probability be finally approved by the end of the year 2000 by the European Council of Ministers and will be the leitmotiv for national employment strategies in the individual member states in the year 2001.

Additional information on the employment package is available from the following Internet address:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/empl&esf/ees_en.htm

□ Fifth IST call expected to be published on 13 October

The fifth call for the IST programme of FP5 is expected to be published on 13 October 2000. The call is expected to cover RTD Actions, Take-Up Actions, Support Measures, FET Open, Support Measures and Grant applications. Draft materials are already available on CORDIS at the web address below:

URL: http://www.cordis.lu/ist/calls/200005.htm

Information Society programmes

In line with Commission policy, independent and regular evaluation of policies and programmes takes place and the Information Society DG has made available a number of such reports.

The reports, in PDF format, are on the following areas:

16:9 Action plan: FE; INFO 2000: FE; Internet Action Plan: IE; IST programme: 5 year assessment, MLIS: FE; PROMISE: IE, Telework Pilot: FE; TEN-Telecom: IE

FE = Final Evaluation

IE = Intermediate Evaluation

More info at:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/information_society/evaluation/index_en.htm

InfoSoc DG: Prior information of open calls for tender in 2000

The calls for tender (OJ N° S 176 of 14.9.00, p. 37) refer to service contracts on some or all of the following issues:

editorial support for promoting the ISTweb which is the public face of the IST programme for any information relating to its calls for proposals, its projects and its technical activities.

ST publication services: this will include paper publications of fact sheets (to provide basic information about the projects), an annual publication (achievements at programme level), and the issuing of a brochure and video productions.

Information services stimulating innovation: will provide an operational environment for professional users to ensure that the largest possible extent of all benefits from the IST programme’s activities are reaped in terms of innovation, social, economic and political impact and to inform the broad public about the IST programme, actions, achievements and impacts.

Its financial scope will comprise 2 main lines of service:

a Web-based valorisation system;

Market intelligence service for emerging IST products and services, including statistical and new indicator data.

Each contract should run for two years with the possibility of an extension for a maximum duration of 4 years. Some €9,800.000 will be available to fund this work.

The Commission expects to publish these calls between October 2000 and March 2001.

□ Statistical Overview of IST Calls 1 & 2

ftp://ftp.cordis.lu/pub/ist/docs/ist_call_stats_260600.xls

(no password)

? MINERVA: ICT for open and long-distance learning

The Minerva Action seeks to promote European co-operation in the field of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education.

The Action has three main objectives: (1) to promote understanding among teachers, learners, decision-makers and the public at large of the implications of ODL and ICT for education, as well as the critical and responsible use of ICT for educational purposes; (2) to ensure that pedagogical considerations are given proper weight in the development of ICT and multimedia-based educational products and services; and (3) to promote access to improved methods and educational resources as well as to results and best practices in this field.

Deadline for preproposals: 1st of November 2000

For more info, have a look at the Minerva website:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/education/socrates/minerva/ind1a.html

? EUMEDIS (Euro-Mediterranean Information Society) Initiative

Call for Proposals issued by the European Commission for projects funded by the European Community.

Deadline: 22 January 2001

Published in the Official Journal JOC 2000/C 88/09 of 25.03.2000

Check also URL: http://www.ispo.cec.be/eumedis/Welcome.htm#callgb

? IST News search facility

The comprehensive News search facility on the CORDIS ISTweb pages is now enhanced to help locate all the news articles relating to the Information Society Technology (IST) programme.

A specific search for these articles, as well as the ability to keep abreast of IST-related developments on the Europa and ISPO sites, can be performed by accessing the IST News page at the URL below:

http://www.cordis.lu/ist/news.htm