InterLink research roadmaps published

The Coordination Action InterLink (International Cooperation Activities in Future And Emerging ICTs), coordinated by ERCIM and ICS-FORTH, and funded by the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) Programme of the European Commission, has elaborated research roadmaps for international collaboration in the domains of Software-Intensive Systems and New Computing Paradigms; Ambient Computing and Communication Environments and Intelligent and Cognitive Systems.

To attract and foster trans-disciplinary research excellence, research programmes involving international cooperation need to be defined around new grand challenges and/or key technological issues that have major economic importance or are derived from major societal drivers. Such programmes should explore visionary research themes, demanding breakthroughs in basic research and engineering in key technologies and investigating radically new uses for technology.

The main goals of InterLink were to:

bring together internationally renowned scientists and highlight the latest advances in their areas
facilitate the exchange of experiences and discussion of the latest progress and findings in challenging research problems relevant to the selected thematic areas
collectively identify new research topics
link European research communities to the best research carried out in other developed countries in the respective research fields
enable European researchers to access knowledge, skills and technology available outside the EU
provide a critical assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of international collaboration
promote European solutions and knowledge worldwide and influence the way in which science and technology evolve internationally
build new international strategic alliances, wherever this may be of benefit to European efforts
influence the design of new research programmes to be funded by the EC, and also by other funding agencies worldwide
broadly disseminate the findings of InterLink at a European and international level.

InterLink has addressed three thematic areas carefully selected based on the need to address the evolution of the Information Society in the next ten to fifteen years and the challenges this imposes on computing, software engineering, cognition and intelligence:
1. Software intensive systems and new computing paradigms
2. Ambient computing and communication environments
3. Intelligent and cognitive system.

For each thematic area, a Working Groupwas established, and these worked in a coordinated fashion. They had a scientifically and geographically balanced participation, involving experts, mainly from the academic and research sectors, representing various research practices and innovation strategies, from Europe, North America, Australia, Asia and the Far East.