INNO-UTILITIES – Model Driven Architectures for Telecommunications System Development and Operation
Essential resources like telecommunications, electricity, water and gas that are taken for granted in 21st-century Europe are provided by utilities. In order to provide these life-goods continuously, utilities must innovate relentlessly.
However, in order to innovate, utilities must follow strict procurement procedures that have their origin in public procurement provisions.
At the same time new procurement models, for example electronic procurement and electronic auctions, are introducing a further complexity parameter into the already complex procurement environment.
In addition utilities must innovate not only to meet demand for better services but also increasingly to protect their infrastructure from malign attacks that become more and more frequent due to the omnipresence of information technology. There are two challenges: (i) how to make public procurement procedures more innovation friendly and (ii) how to protect utilities from modern technology attacks against their infrastructure. The combination of these two important points gave birth to the INNO-UTILITIES project.
The project is focused on telecommunications utilities, which are on the forefront of both challenges.
However, other utilities can benefit from the project results as well.