ITEA: the best is still to come

Europe's ITC policy-makers and software experts gathered together at Leuven, Belgium, for ITEA's 4th Annual Symposium (9-10 October).

Opened by Patricia Ceysens, the Flemish Minister for Economy, Foreign Policy and E-government, the two-day programme of project demonstrations, seminars and presentations marked the halfway point of ITEA's eight-year programme.

Delegates took the timely opportunity to review achievements to date and preview exciting plans still to come.

The 32 projects on show reflected the cluster's shared vision for 'building the digital future' and demonstrated just how successfully ITEA is driving the strategic development of European embedded and distributed software. The recent sixth call for projects brought ITEA's project value to €1 billion. "Essentially all industries are on the verge of becoming digital industries and software is the key," confirmed ITEA's chairman, Paul Mehring.

Prince Philippe of Belgium presents ITEA's Achievement Award to the Ambience team
A highlight of the symposium was the presentation of the 2003 ITEA Achievement Award by Prince Philippe of Belgium to project ITEA 00003 AMBIENCE. This remarkable new IT concept aims to improve quality of life by providing an ambient intelligent environment that's conscious of a person's presence and sensitive and responsive to their needs, habits, gestures and emotions.

See our feature on cluster projects (page 4) for more information about AMBIENCE and ITEA's ambitious roadmap for the future.