Researchers from Waterford IT’s Telecommunications Software and Systems Group (TSSG) are to lead in a European Commission (EC) project tasked with plotting the future of the Internet.
Entitled SpeakNGI.eu, the €700,000 project will focus on three areas: the identification of research topics; dynamic and continuous consultation; and a programme shape for a Next Generation Internet initiative.
Each group will help the Research & Innovation designers and developers to consider how the Internet will be perceived 10 years from now. It will deal with issues like mounting concerns with security and privacy; radically new functionalities and, for example, what users might possibly see in terms of social media in the future. TSSG are leading the second requirement of the project SpeakNGI.eu, which addresses that of dynamic and continuous consultation.
“SpeakNGI places TSSG at the forefront of European discussions and strategy for the future Internet,” said TSSG Director of Innovation Kevin Doolin.
“This is a strategically critical initiative for TSSG and its partners and is the only Irish coordinated project of its type in this field. This project is seen by the European Commission as very much one of the necessary ‘Pathfinder’ projects for the building of the Next Generation Internet Flagship initiative.”
WIT TSSG coordinator James Clarke (pictured) said: “SpeakNGI.eu aims to establish and enact an open, dynamic and continuous consultation process with the active involvement of key stakeholder groups on a ‘citizen-centric’ quest to discover their fundamental needs for the NGI.
“The NGI flagship is the ‘big news’ part in the beyond H2020 programme that will be potentially worth many tens of millions of euros. And having an Irish coordinator of one of the projects in the NGI flagship building ecosystem is a huge benefit to Ireland, Inc.”
“The project’s multi-faceted consultation process will be supported by an authoritative SpeakNGI.eu European Champions Panel (ECP) that is composed of carefully selected stakeholder representatives acting as recruiters, motivators and evangelists for NGI activities in their respective domains.
Congratulating TSSG on securing the lead co-ordinator role, Stephen O’Reilly, Horizon 2020 National Contact Point for ICT in Enterprise Ireland, said: “Enterprise Ireland regard TSSG’s appointment as Co-ordinator of the SpeakNGI.eu project as a major coup as it places Ireland in a favourable position in the early stages of building this large NGI Flagship initiative.
“This is a big topic win for the future, built upon the strong focus on European values and requirements. Having this leading role puts Ireland right at the heart of European ICT research.”
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