If more than a quarter of investments in R&D in the EU are in ICT, there must be a reason why two out of seven of the Europe 2020 flagship strategies address the need to step up research and innovation and digital growth, hints Alexander Borg
Previous articles dwelt upon the importance of understanding what is research and technological development (R&D), how does it differ from innovation, how can it help organisations achieve a competitive advantage, and what is the role of ICT in developing Malta’s research potential, and possibly even create a demand for research in certain niche areas that are cognitively close to natural strengths and aptitudes.
In light of the above it becomes important to also understand the global context and how Europe intends to live up to today’s challenges of addressing the key issues facing its citizens. Among them demographic change, health, employment and economic growth, energy supply and climate change. To tackle these issues the EU has developed Europe 2020. This is an overall strategy on how Europe will achieve smart, sustainable and inclusive growth through the establishment of key objectives on employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate/energy to be reached by 2020. Within this strategic framework, to boost economic growth and stimulate the creation of jobs, the EU has developed seven sub-strategies, which it calls flagships.
Two of these flagships are the Innovation Union (IU) and the Digital Agenda for Europe (DAE), which respectively address the need to step up research and innovation, and digital growth.
In brief, the IU is the strategy on how Europe will tackle the key issues mentioned above, through the innovation of products, services, industrial processes and business models. Member countries see this as crucial for the creation of more jobs, building a greener society and generally improving our prospects for a healthier and longer life. This has to be done keeping in mind the challenge of competing in the world market. Research and innovation is therefore key to ensure that Europe’s Member States remain competitive on the world stage. The IU includes measures which all Member States will have to adopt in ways that are adapted to their own national realities, to improve conditions and access to finance for research and innovation in Europe, to ensure that innovative ideas can be turned into products and services that can create economic growth and jobs.
DAE is about how ICT can ensure that its citizens and enterprises can make faster, safer and smarter use of online digital services to improve their quality of life and efficiency, and get better prices that result from increased competition once barriers between Member States are removed and the EU’s ‘internal market’ is opened up.
Both the IU and DAE include specific actions on how these two strategies should be implemented, as well as measures on how to keep track of progress. All results and progress are kept updated on the Commission’s vast website. The web pages are thoroughly well designed and explained to the point that they are easy to understand by everyone, specialists as well as those who aren’t familiar with the topic. Progress can be viewed at an amazing level of detail. The DAE actually displays data, dynamically allowing growth and progress to be viewed by specific indicatorsand also by country, allowing countries to be compared on these particular indicators, as well as on all other indicators, and even allowing data to be exported for further analysis.
The websites are moreover structured in such a way as to allow the reader to take it to the desired level of detail: from a basic high level description sufficient for the common person to understand, to a detailed taxonomy of strategies, reports and legal documents on the various actions (refer to side bar).
The IU and DAE respectively include 30 and 101 key actions for implementation. Aptly, both strategies are mutually supportive to one another in view of ICT’s dual role: that of being an enabler of research and innovation, and that of being itself an object of research and innovation efforts. Indeed, ICT now draws well over a quarter of all investments in R&D sectors in Europe according to figures provided by the Commission.
It is not surprising therefore that the DAE itself includes a section on research and innovation which includes six specific actions (50 to 56). These cover various areas: among them, the need to increase private investment for ICT research, the pooling of resources, faster access to EU research funds in ICT, financial support of joint ICT research infrastructures, pre-commercial procurement and the engagement of public administrations in the deployment of e-government services that inter-operate between the various Member States. In the latter case the vision is to ensure that, for example, citizens going to another country of the EU for study, work, tourism or other purposes, will still be able to gain safe and secure access to online government services anywhere in the EU. Another example is the cutting of red tape for the set-up of a new company in another Member State through an online single point of contact.
In later articles I will take a brief look at how Malta has fared on research and innovation – seen from an ICT perspective – what financial help is available, and how the R&D and innovation perspective is expected to evolve and improve with the start of the EU’s new Multiannual Financial Framework covering the period 2014-2020. The latter is a mechanism which will prioritise where and how much money will be made available for the various spending areas such as research and innovation, cohesion policy, justice, education and culture, agriculture and many others.
Alexander Borg is an R&I Consultant at MITA
IDC IT Security, Cloud Computing and Datacenters Transformation Roadshow 2012
International Data Corporation (IDC), the global provider of market intelligence, advisory services and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets is organising a half-day conference titled IDC IT Security, Cloud Computing and Datacenters Transformation Roadshow 2012
The Roadshow is part of a regional series of conferences organised by IDC and is supported by globally recognised local and international IT organisations and vendors such as MITA, APC by Schneider Electric, Hewlett Packard, and Cisco. This year’s event will take place on 15th March at the Westin Dragonara Resort in St. Julians and will feature presentations from IDC analysts, representatives of international and local software and hardware vendors, independent experts, as well as case studies from end-user organisations. The opening will be delivered by MITA’s Chief Technology Officer, Mr.Godwin Caruana.
The Roadshow’s main objective is to provide a platform for a meaningful discussion on ways to enhance corporate IT infrastructure efficiency and ensure sustainable business continuity. It will be focused on a variety of issues associated with today’s IT infrastructure management. More specifically the key topics that will be covered are, but not limited:
The Business of Security
Security and Business Strategy
Enterprise Security Intelligence
Network and Mobile Security
The Benefits and Perils of Cloud Computing
Private, Public, and Hybrid Cloud Models
Security in the Cloud
Cloud-Based Applications
The Next Step of the Journey to Virtualisation
Combining Your Cloud and Virtualisation Strategies
Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery in the Cloud
Simplifying Network Strategy in Datacenters
IDC helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community, make fact-based decisions on technology purchases and business strategy. More than 1,000 IDC analysts provide global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 100 countries.
The Roadshow is mainly addressed to CIOs, CTOs, CISOs, CSOs, IT Directors/Managers, Datacenters, Enterprise and Solutions Architects, Government Directors and Administrators and Decision Makers.
Registration is free of charge for all end-users, however there is a charge of EUR 150 for representatives of IT Vendors.
More information about IDC and our Conferences may also be found on www.idc-cema.com or www.idc-cema.com/events/secdata12mt.
Terry Mattheoyianni is a Senior
Conference Specialist
(Greece, Cyprus & Malta) at IDC
The Malta Independent ICT Feature
All parents think that their children are the most adorable. This week we will take a look at a new blog focusing on babies and their interactions with new gadgets. The rise in new technologies has created a new generation of children and toddlers who are more tech savvy. The blog provides a portal for parents to share experiences which their children are having with technology. We will also be seeing some of the most popular apps among children, ranging from drawing and counting to listening and reading.
This week’s feature will be looking into the role of ICT in Malta and how Europe 2020 can help develop Malta’s potential. It has become important to understand the wider context and how Europe plans to address key challenges. Europe 2020 originated with these challenges in mind, to achieve smart growth. Two categories have been created to achieve the innovation goals to ensure citizens and enterprises can make better use of available digital services.
Also, in today’s feature we will be reading about an upcoming conference organised by the International Data Corporation (IDC). The conference which will be taking place later on this month will be featuring presentations from IDC analysts, independent experts as well as case-studies from organisations.
Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Manager at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature
Babies with iPads
The rise of gadgets is introducing a new generation of kids who are growing accustomed to having such technology readily available. Two men who don’t own iPads or have children of their own are the brains behind the new blog Babies With iPads.
“Whenever we see babies with iPads, we view them as social media rock stars in the making,” says Stelios Phili, a GQ magazine web producer and co-creator of the blog. “Right now, they look innocent, but really they’re just preparing to take over the world. We think that’s cute.” Phili and Jeff Luppino-Esposito, a social media writer at Nickelodeon, posted nine pages worth of baby shots and wrote amusing captions for each of them. Once you flip through them you’re bound to smile. The pair started Babies With iPads after seeing many Facebook photos of babies using various gadgets. At present, they’re just focusing on iPads but they might consider “expanding the crib” to include other devices or brands if they begin noticing an increase of babies using other gadgets.
According to a Nielsen survey of adults with children under 12 who live in tablet-owning households, seven out of every ten children use a tablet computer. This finding was the result of a survey conducted during the last quarter of 2011 (October– December) and marked an increase of 9% from a similar study made just 3 months earlier.. 70% of those surveyed said children play downloaded games on their tablets and 57% said children used tablets to access educational apps. The portable gadget also keeps children occupied for those families which are constantly on-the-go. 55% and 41% of parents report their children used tablets for entertainment while travelling or in restaurants, respectively. This can also include watching TV shows and films, which 43% of children often do. Communicating with friends and family is a less popular function on tablets with only 15% engaging in this activity.
“We have so much fun bringing together two of mankind’s most epic creations in a helpless adorable way and writing these captions that are practically direct quotes from our co-workers and from ourselves,” Luppino-Esposito says.
If you have a child age zero to five, it means that as a parent you must constantly come up with new ideas to entertain your children. Fortunately iPad is bursting with fresh ways of entertainment. Touchscreens are great for children, yes they get smudged and salivated on, but it’s nothing that the oleophobic coating (the special coating on such screens) can’t handle but it’s advisable to invest in a iPad case. Some of the best children-friendly apps are just HD versions of iPhone apps which are all they need to be when it comes to children and toddlers. Other apps are created specifically for the iPad’s bigger screen.
Apps are created each day so there is a wide range to choose from and according to another blog on Gizmodo, these are some of the best in terms of apps for babies and toddlers:
Drawing Pad ($2)
This app, with its multicoloured range of crayons, assortment of pencils and brushes and its big erasers is fantastic for drawing and colouring. It also has stickers and you can’t have a children’s app without stickers these days. iPad keeps these stickers innovative; they float like Photoshop layers that you can delete if you don’t like them any longer. Available on iPad only.
Fish School ($1)
Fish school is an unexpected new direction from the Duck Duck Moose Developer. Instead of a single song and activity, Fish school involves different activities, from naming numbers and letter to guessing colours and playing memory matching games. It’s lots of fun and highly musical. Available on iPad only.
I Hear Ewe (free)
This is a free app of surprisingly high quality with no obvious promotional information. The app has 24 animal cards, and another page of 12 vehicles, each identified in a clear voice before you hear the vehicle’s authentic sound. This is available on iPad and iPhone.
Smule Magic Piano ($1)
Smule is a favourite publisher of weird musical apps for the iPhone, but the Magic Piano breaks new ground not only because it’s super sized for iPad but more accessible to young children. It’s not only for young ones since its coolest feature is a Guitar Hero-style rhythm game played with classical tunes like Beethoven’s Fur Elise. This is available on iPad only.
Toy Story, Toy Story 2, The Princess and the Frog Read Along (Toy Story-free; other titles, $9)
Disney knows that $9 is a bit steep for their interactive e-books, so they give you the first one for free. They’re very good looking, with interactive colouring books, puzzles and sing-alongs in addition to full readings of the stories inserted with movie clips. It provides a refreshing version of story without staying so faithful to the script that your child gets lost in detail. This app is only available on iPad.
Miss Spider’s Tea Party ($10)
This is the most expensive app on this list, but it’s a fantastic one. A different title by the same artist, Miss Spider’s New Car, this app is potentially the one which most children will enjoy reading because of it’s so well conceived and brilliantly illustrated. When you take these elements and add in impressive animation, music and narration, it’s bound to cost money. This app is only available on iPad.
These apps are all suitable for children up to the age of six. Although these app are listed as being among the best, it doesn’t mean that all children will like them. A parent must introduce technology into their children’s lives and notice what elements they respond to best. Technology is subjective and doesn’t necessarily work the same for each individual.
Babies With iPads blog: http://babieswithipads.blogspot.com