ERCIM News No.25 - April 1996
Cooperation with Central and Eastern European Countries
by Jean-Michel Chassériaux
ERCIM is participating in
one of the panels which was set up after the joint European Union/Central
and Eastern Europe Countries Forum on the Information Society in June 95
in Brussels. The panel met in Slovenia on the 7-8 February and produced
a report recommending practical proposals for closer cooperation between
the European Union and the Central and Eastern European Countries in the
field of Research and Development.
The European Commission, conscious of the opportunities and threats
of the Information Society for Europe as a whole decided to call a 'European
Union/Central and Eastern Europe Countries Forum on the Information Society'
in Brussels. The underlying aim was to ensure that Central and Eastern Europe
Countries (CEECs) which have or are negociating Association agreements with
the EU will fully participate and benefit from this new revolution. Moreover,
developing a close partnership for the preparation of the Information Society
(which is of high economic and political priority for both the EU and the
CEECs) can be seen as a part of the pre-adhesion strategy. As a conclusion
to this event, it was decided to set up a steering group and four panels:
- infrastructure and financing
- standardisation and technical regulation
- legal and institutional framework
- cooperation in R&D.
ERCIM is the only non-governmental institution participating in this last
panel which met in Slovenia on the 7-8th and produced a report "The
Path to the Information Society in the Central and Eastern European Countries
- The Role of Research & Development and Experimentation".This report
presents several practical proposals in order:
- to increase awareness of the Information Society in the CEECs and
to the development of national strategies in these countries
- to stimulate joint research-projects and pilot applications leading
- the way to a globally oriented Information Technology in Europe
- to disseminate information on the different R&D and support programmes
of the EU and to improve the access of the CEECs to these programmes, taking
onto account their national strategies.
Please contact:
Jean-Michel Chassériaux - ERCIM Managing Director
Tel: +33 1 3963 5303
E-mail: Jean-Michel.Chasseriaux@inria.fr
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