Fifth Framework Programme: Working Paper

Activities for Generic Research and Development of Technologies

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Future and Emerging Technologies

This specific activity on future and emerging technologies would cover research

• that is of a longer-term nature or
• involves particularly high risks

• transdisciplinary or
• in an emerging discipline.

To ensure a seamless coverage of the information society technologies the door needs to be kept open to any new idea with a potential industrial or societal impact, in a bottom-up fashion.

[There is an inherent conflict here, between the openness to "any new idea" and the qualifier "with a potential impact", since (by definition) its not possible at the outset to judge the potential impact of a new idea, or indeed the feasibility of its moving from idea to technology to application to market impact! Indeed if the "open" approach is to be successful the role for public funding is to support research that appears to be unlikely to have an impact, since commercial investment will mainly be drawn to ideas that have clear potential!]

• highly focused well-coordinated pro-active initiatives of a strategic nature.

• proactive initiatives which need careful, but rapid, planning on the one hand and, on the other hand,
• openness to new highly promising ideas as they arise.

By definition the topics addressed cannot be prescribed. Project proposals could include, in a non-prescriptive way,

• knowledge technologies (covering technologies for the representation, creation and handling of knowledge),
• technologies for computation- or bandwidth-intensive applications,
• future devices and circuits (including those based on quantum, photonic or bio-electronic effects and technologies for very large scale integration), and
• ultra-complex systems (such as ultra-high performance computers and super-intelligent networks).

Complementing the open domain, a number of proactive initiatives having a strategic perspective and addressing areas of substantial future growth, where close coordination across different projects is necessary, would be defined in the course of the execution of the programme. The definition of topics would be based on

• their potential for long-term industrial and societal impact (including employment through "start-ups"), on
• the opportunity offered by scientific advances or
• a combination of both.

Initiatives would each consist of a set of

• autonomous but closely coordinated and appropriately networked projects.

[The tension between autonomy and coordination is almost palpable. The overhead of "enforced coordination/concertation" in EC programmes is a real disincentive to participation for some of the best people and organisations. There is a crying need for the Commission to find ways to motivate effective voluntary networking, coordination and concertation and to make forced concertation the exception rather than the rule.]

The actual choices would be made at appropriate times through consultations with the research community, following the setting of

• an agenda

• a series of strategic workshops, aimed towards setting trends[*] and research targets, and
• a technology-watch activity, to be carried out in close cooperation with the JRC's 'Institute for Prospective Studies' and the 'Scientific and Technological Options Assessment' Unit of the European Parliament where appropriate.

[* Perhaps "identifying trends" is intended, rather than "setting trends".]