The programme of the Future Internet Week in Budapest was ambitious: from 16 to 19 May 2011, altogether 450 delegates gathered for no less than twelve events to discuss how Europe should tackle the challenges of the Future Internet. The magnificent Hungarian capital was the perfect place to enhance the dreams of European technological leadership for the networks of the future. Worryingly the conference routine was only occasionally disturbed by some critical alternative thinking.

Of craftsmen and seers

One of these occasions was the speech by Internet pioneer John D. Day, professor at Boston University, in the opening session of the Future Internet conference. He declared the global efforts for a future Internet to have failed so far. “There was a decade of work without a single breakthrough,” he said. In this context he mentioned version 6 of the Internet Protocol, saying that “IPv6 has been a waste of time”. At the root of this lack of disruptive innovation he sees the dominance of “craftsmen” over “seers” in R&D. The result, according to Professor Day, is a low-uncertainty approach to a high-uncertainty problem. “Would you ask a carpenter to design a high-rise building?” he asked the audience provocatively. He went on to postulate the need for good revolutionary theorists who want to think anew before building the architecture of the Future Internet.

Professor John D. Day from Boston University

FI-PPP panel

After the Internet pioneer’s speech, a high-level panel discussed the Future Internet Public Private Partnership (FI-PPP). Mario Campolargo, Director for Emerging Technologies and Infrastructures at DG INFSO, explained that the FI-PPP aims to be the catalyst for Internet-related R&D and innovation in Europe. The industry representatives Fernando Fournon González-Barcia President of Telefónica D&I, and Jose Maria Cavanillas de San Segundo from ATOS Origin supported this thesis and explained their companies’ motivation for being active in the FI-PPP and why they think it will be a success.

Hungarian-born professor Albert-Laszlo Barabasi from Northeastern University/Harvard Medical School gave an excellent presentation on "Network Science: From the Internet to Human Communications".

The smooth harmony of the panel session was only disturbed when Antonio Kung, representing the Ambient Assisted Living Joint Programme Initiative community, reminded everyone not to forget interoperability in the grand designs developed in the FI-PPP. “If we don’t have common platforms and interoperability, we will fail,” he said. His suggestion that the Commission should ensure interoperability was immediately bounced back to the community by Mr Campolargo saying that “if you rely solely on the Commission, you are lost” to stress the nature of the partnership being undertaken.

Panel discussion on “Future Internet beyond FP7” - from left: Nick Wainwright (FIA and HP Labs), Heikki Huomo (ISTAG), Bridget Cosgrave (Director General, DIGITALEUROPE), Steve Wright (Head of Strategic Research in BT), and at the lectern Zoran Stancic (Deputy Director-General, European Commission DG INFSO), who chaired the session.

Wide variety of topics

Through the week, there were a number of sessions and workshops which explored a plethora of subjects related to the Future Internet. Topics included the Internet of Things, social computing, ICT and sustainability, smart cities and future Internet research and experimentation (FIRE), the economics of privacy, interactive media, usability and security, cloud computing, adaptive services, content-centric networking, standardisation, and linked data.

FIRE man: Anastasius Gavras (Eurescom) speaking at the FIRE workshop on Future Internet Research and Experimentation in Budapest on 16 May 2011.

What I missed

Despite the impressive list of topics and the sometimes excellent presentations and constructive discussions, I perceived two general deficiencies that I notice in EC-organised Future Internet events.
Firstly, the sessions showed a tendency that certain communities, like the FIRE community or the Internet of Things community, talk only among themselves. There is a lack of truly inter-disciplinary and cross-sector discussion in these events. Where were the representatives of users from sectors like transport or energy, who are supposed to employ the novel technologies developed by the Future Internet community?

The second deficiency is the lack of productive interaction in most sessions. The usual procedure, which was frequently repeated in Budapest, is that there are too many presentations, mostly supported by text-heavy Powerpoint slides, and little time control leaving not enough time for discussions – not to mention conclusions. The panel sessions were also too proscriptive where a series of short presentations triggered prepared questions and often lacked any real contention between the panel members. If we all really agreed this much, we should have advanced much further by now. The intellectual capacity of the highly qualified audience was only actively exercised in the breaks and at lunchtime, when participants used the time for face-to-face social networking.

Everybody seems to have come to terms with this tradition of organised meetings where it is more important to have a full agenda rather than discussion. However, the question should be asked if such a conservative approach to organising a Future Internet event is sufficient in view of the highly innovative nature of the subject and the progress we want to achieve.

Europe be brave

That said I would like to encourage the European Commission, the Polish Presidency, and the research community to take a more innovative approach to organising the upcoming Future Internet Assembly in Poznan in October 2011. It may be worthwhile to take one aspect of the discussion, invite perspectives from various sectors and disciplines, and allow time for a meaningful discussion. If we are really brave, we could try to come to a conclusion. Another suggestion is to add some sessions with highly interactive formats like Open Space and World Café that have proven to lead to results if properly done.
The Future Internet Week in Budapest showed the high level of European ambition and the high level of competence in Europe, but it also displayed some of the reasons why Europe, despite all of its efforts, has yet a long way to go before its Internet leadership dreams will come true.

One of the few really interactive discussions at the Future Internet Week - the session on "ICT and Sustainability" (from left): Alice Valvodova, Executive Director Global e-Sustainability
Initiative (GeSI); Seppo Yrjölä, Nokia Siemens Networks, Smart Grids and Engergy Markets Program; Jean-Marc Pierson, Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France; Anastasius Gavras, Eurescom; moderator Markus Fiedler, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

Further information is available at
www.fi -budapest.eu