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NEM general assembly in Brussels
At the general assembly of the Networked and Electronic Media initiative (NEM) in Brussels on 10 and 11 October, a significant evolution happened. After two years of discussion about the Strategic Research Agenda and the priorities that the community need to address, we moved on to the first discussion on the work we should do to realise the NEM objectives. Elections The first major item at the meeting was the election of some new steering board members. We had about 25 candidates for 14 positions so there was some hot competition for the posts. All the candidates made short presentations highlighting their company capabilities and what they could bring to the NEM Initiative and then the assembled representatives cast their votes in a secret ballot (see box for election results). Talking technical The entire second day of the general assembly was devoted to assisting the emergence of projects that will implement the Strategic Research Agenda. First, Luis Rodriguez-Rosello, Head of Unit, Networked Audiovisual Systems, Directorate General Information Society and Media, gave an update on the status of FP7 and what we should consider there. Then we quickly went into discussion on project ideas. Over two fast moving sessions around 50 organisations presented their expressions of interest and ideas for projects and we had some discussion on how to proceed. What was probably more important is that the participants had the time and information to identify potential partners with similar interests so that already discussion groups are forming with a view to preparing proposals.
We had some discussion then on how to proceed and some clear actions emerged. First the expressions of interest form the meeting would be posted on the NEM website to allow follow up and further discussion to occur. Second, an additional web space will be made available on the NEM website to post new ideas and look for partners. Then we discussed how to keep the conversations going; the NEM office is offering to provide e-mail exploders and discussion groups but in the meeting the exact structure of such discussion groups was not finalised. For the moment we will allow it to grow organically and NEM members may request such support if they have a group emerging. Conclusion The main point now is that 2007 will be the year of the project proposals. The NEM community is now working towards proposals for FP7, call1 and call 2, and call 5 of Eureka cluster CELTIC. The next NEM general assembly is going to be held early next spring, and there we will have a discussion on how the NEM proposals fit together and what milestones a proposal should include to be part of the NEM community.
NEM Steering Board The following companies have been elected for the NEM Steering Board: Category: Industry and content
Category: Academia and research
Category: User view and/or SME
Category: Network Operator/ Broadcaster Views (elected by acclamation)
In addition the Pôle de compétitivité "Images & Réseaux" from France, represented by Christiane Schwartz, was invited to become an observer member of the NEM Steering board. Please send us your comments on this article. |
