ICT for the Environment - Towards a Safer and Healthier Environment for All

1. ICT for the Environment– Towards a safer and healthier environment for all -Dr. Márta Nagy-RothengassICT for the EnvironmentInformation Society & Media DGEuropean Commission, Brusselsmarta.nagy-rothengass@cec.eu.int

2. Agenda • ICT for Environment in Directorate General Information Society and Media • Past and present project activities • FP7 Programme and future prospects

3. European Support to Research • Objective: Reinforce competitiveness and scientific and technological excellence of EU • Main Instrument: Framework Programmes since the 80’s • Supporting: * EU policies (ENV, TRANS, INNOV, …) • * EU DG Research policy (ERA) • Approach: * Multinational cooperative R&D projects • * Focus on thematic priorities • Information Society Technologies: • * Supporting the Lisbon Strategy • * Managed by DG INFSO • * Highest share of the budget

4. Main ICT Themes & Activities • ICT technology pillars • Nano-electronics, photonics, micro/nano-systems • Ubiquitous & unlimited capacity communication networks • Embedded systems, computing and control • Software, grids, security and dependability • Knowledge, cognitive and learning systems • Integration of technologies • Personal environments • Home environments • Robotic systems • Application research • ICT meeting societal challenges • ICT for content, creativity and personal development • ICT supporting businesses and industry e.g. ICT for the Environment

5. Unit - ICT for the Environment • Terms of References: • R&D in ICT for environmental management and mitigation of natural, technological or man-made disasters • Exploitation of the significant developments in mobile communication, high capacity computing and data storage, advanced sensor technology, etc… • Development of user-centred systems and tools for data and model integration, as well as overall decision support tools •  To avoid patchy and fragmented implementations lacking focus and interoperability

6. EGERIS European Generic Emergency Response Information System Objective: to provide Civil Protection organisations & public authorities with the most recent information and communication technology developments to support them in their Emergency Management operations during the response & preparedness phases. Method: integration of technologies providing a full range of emergency Communication, Information and Decision Making functions. Implementation of an open system approach with focus on portability, standardisation and interoperability. http://www.egeris.org

7. DISMAR Data Integration System for Marine Pollution and Water Quality Objective: to develop a distributed system for monitoring and forecasting the marine environmentwhich provides a single entry point, via a web-based GIS portal, to services delivering a variety of remote sensing, in situ and model data to support decision-making in crisis situations. DISMAR was demonstrated in 6 coastal zone and ocean areas in Europe (North Sea / Skagerrak area, German coast, coast of Italy, coast of France, Western English Channel, and South-West Ireland).http://www.nersc.no/Projects/dismar

8. Agenda • ICT for Environment in Directorate General Information Society and Media • Past and present research activities • FP7 Programme and future prospects

9. Research Themes 1998-2002 (FP5) Approx. 85 million EUR for 60 projects • Systems for Risk & Disaster Management • Improved data flows for better prediction and cross-border planning • Coordinated emergency procedures, information exchange • Environmental Monitoring and Management Systems • Decision support systems, intelligent data capture networks, real-time information systems • Air & noise, inland, coastal, marine waters, natural resources • Participation of candidates countries: PL (5), CZ (2), HU (1)

10. Research Themes 2002-2006 (FP6) • Risk information infrastructure and generic services • Emergency management and rescue operations • Humanitarian Demining • In-situ monitoring and smart sensor networks • Public safety communication, alert systems and rapidly deployable emergency telecommunications systems • Specific support and coordination actions to achieve full interoperability Approx. 90 million EUR IST Call 23 IPs, 5 STREPS, 1 SSA IST Call 54 IPs, 11 STREPS, 1 SSA

11. Research Themes 2002-2006 (FP6) • Develop, validate and demonstrate a distributed tsunami early warning and alert system, relevant to Europe & Indian Ocean. • Participation of new Member States: • - PL (5), CZ (4), SK (1), SI (1), HU (1) • - No significant progress despite improved involvement of experts • - Should participate actively to the preparation of FP7 IST Call 6 early 2006(5-6ME)

12. Current PolicySupport Context • EU Sustainable Development Strategy. • Fight against “unsustainable trends” • LISBON Strategy and i2010. • EU the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based society with focus on growth and employment. • EU Sixth Environment Programme – 4 actions • Climate change, nature & biodiversity, environ & health, natural resources & waste • GEO (SS) and GMES

13. Agenda • ICT for Environment in Directorate General Information Society and Media • Past and present project activities • FP7 and future prospects

14. FP7 structure (2007-2013) • Trans-national cooperation: • From collaborative projects and networks to the coordination of national programmes, • to gain leadership in key scientific and technology areas Ideas: To reinforce scientific excellence through funding best “frontier research” by competing, individual teams 16% 61% People: To strengthen the career prospects,training and mobility of our researchers 10% 10% Capacities: Large-scale infrastructures, regional cooperation and innovating SMEs 3% Joint Research Centre (non-nuclear direct actions)

15. The nine RTD priorities of FP7

16. Information Society Technologies • ICT Technology Pillars • Integration of Technologies • Application Research: • ICT meeting societal challenges • For health • For governments • For inclusion • For mobility • In support of the Environment and Sustainable Development • ICT for content etc.

17. FP7 – The Vision • ICT for Environmental Sustainability: towards a safer and healthier environment for all. • ICT is key for ensuring environmental sustainability, energy efficiency and quality of life. • There is a need to develop shared information infrastructures for environmental management which will promote best practices and standards for data, model and systems integration, interoperability and exchange, monitoring and decision making in strategic planning and emergency situations.

18. ICT for Environment & Sustainability • Possible Future Research Activities: • Disaster risk reduction and safety of the citizen; from risk assessment to emergency response. ICT in support of risk prevention and mitigation, alert systems, public safety communication and to support operations under hazardous conditions. • Protection of human health and quality of life, including pollution prevention and emergency medicine. • Sustainable use and management of natural resources and waste, including pollution, biodiversity, and energy efficiency. • International Cooperation (in above areas) towards “bridging the digital divide”. • Overall vision: ICT covering environmental monitoring to reporting; shared information systems and infrastructures contributing to INSPIRE, GEOSS, etc. …

19. For more information • FP7: http://www.cordis.lu/fp7 • Registration as an expert for future evaluation of proposals: • http://www.cordis.lu/experts/fp6_candidature.htm • Information Society Technologies (IST): • http://europa.eu.int/information_society • http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ • DG INFSO Unit “ICT for the Environment” • Mailbox: INFSO - G5@cec.eu.int • http://www.cordis.lu/ist/so/risk-management/home.html • GEO:http://earthobservations.org/ • GMES: http://www.gmes.info/ • INSPIRE: http://www.ec-gis.org/inspire/ • EU-MEDIN: http://www.eu-medin.org

20. Thank you for your attention !