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On the occas ion of i ts 25th bi r thday the Nat ional
Documentation Centre (EKT) opened its new Electronic
Reading-Room. The event "Digital Library – Electronic
Reading-Room EKT: An Open Portal to Global Knowledge"
was held on 15 December 2006, in Athens, in the presence
of the deputy mini ster of Development , Mr . I .
Papathanassiou, the General Secretary for Research and
Technology, Prof. I. Tsoukalas and the special Secretary of
the Ministry of National Education and Religious Affairs, Dr
E. Kefallineou.
In a modern interactive environment, with 22 workstations
activated through "smart cards", the new Electronic Reading-
Room grants its visitors access to the entire content of EKT’s
Digital Library. In particular to: more than 12,000 titles of
scientific magazines from the world’s biggest publishers
covering all knowledge subjects; 3,000 electronic books and
book series; 54 international and 27 Greek databases on
science and technology; Digitised Greek collections; Special
thematic collections; Selected Internet links.
The Electronic Reading-Room is open to the public from
morning till late in the afternoon, and is equipped with
printing and information storing facilities. The Library has a
standard Reading-Room, as well as an area for studying and
for using pr inted documents. A high-speed wi reless
broadband network is also available.
Opening of the National
Documentation Centre's New
Electronic Reading-Room
Plants can work as "green factories", using solar energy and
producing biofuel, bioplastics and several other products
cheaply and in large quantities, according to the European
project EPOBIO, in which the Institute of Biological Research and
Biotechnology (IBRB) of the National Hellenic Research
Foundation is a partner. Their utilisation could trigger an energy
revolution and help restore an environmental balance. The
EPOBIO project ("Realising the Economic POtential of
sustainable resources - BIOproducts from Non-Food Crops")
studies the economic potential offered by organic rawmaterials
and aims to determine research priorities for bio-sciences and
to create newbio-products that will reach themarket in the next
10-15 years. ∆he project, which is co-funded by FP6, includes
12 partners from Europe and the USA, with the Centre for Novel
Agricultural Products (University of York) in the UK as
coordinator.
"Green Factories" for Energy
Production
H I G H L I G H T S
The new elements of the "Information Communication
Technologies (ICT)" programme, under FP7, were presented
by Dr Konstantinos Glinos, Head of Unit at DG "Information
Society & Media" of the European Commission, at an
interview given to our magazine. Dr Glinos referred to the
significant increase of the budget, the simplification of the
bureaucratic procedures and the 7 topics-challenges of the
new programme. Regarding the Joint Technological
Initiative for Embedded Systems ARTEMIS, he underlined
that the main priorities are: firstly, to develop a restricted
number of embedded platforms applicable to all industrial
sectors; secondly, a middleware to interconnect mainly
heterogeneous systems; thirdly, methods and tools to safely
design the electronic systems of the future. He stressed the
fact that Europe is leading in Embedded Systems, at
international level, although there are still great challenges
to confront like complexity and ambient intelligence.
The 7th Framework Programme (FP7), the main instrument
of the EU for funding research from 2007 to 2013, was
officially launched on 22 December 2006. FP7 has some
important differences to what has gone before: its lifespan is
extended to 7 years and the budget has increased
significantly to 53,2 billion euros. Moreover, the first pan-
European agency for funding frontier research - the
European Research Council - has been established. Other
initiatives on Security Research and on the development of
research at regional level have also been introduced. The
bureaucratic procedures have been simplified and a new risk-
sharing finance mechanism has been adopted to encourage
the participation of private investors in research projects.
The priorities in FP7 have been organised into 4 specific
programmes: "Cooperation" fosters collaborative research
across Europe and other partner countries, according to
several key thematic areas. "Ideas" funds investigative
research at the frontiers of science and technology. "People"
(Marie Curie actions) provides significant support for
research mobility and career development, for researchers
both inside and outside the EU. "Capacities" is designed to
strengthen the knowledge capacities that Europe needs if it
is to become a thriving knowledge-based economy.
The National Documentation Centre (EKT) operates as
Nat ional Contact Point for the fol lowing Speci f ic
Programmes: "Cooperation" (Information Communication
Technologies, Energy, Socio-economic sciences and the
Humanities), "Ideas", "Capacities" (Research Infrastructures,
Regions of Knowledge, Research Potential and Coherent
development of research policies). The information and
support services are provided free of charge and include: the
operation of a HelpDesk, the organization of events, the
development of relevant websites, the distribution of
printed and digital material, the pre-screening of proposals,
partner searches across Europe, etc.
Interview with Dr
Konstantinos Glinos on
the ICT programme (FP7)
7th Framework Programme:
taking European Research
to the forefront
Information and Communication Technologies (FP7)
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/
ARTEMIS
http://www.artemis-office.org
7th Framework Programme (CORDIS)
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/
7th Framework Programme (EUROPA)
http://ec.europa.eu/research/fp7/
EPOBIO
http://www.epobio.net
National Documentation Centre
http://www.ekt.gr
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INNO
VATION
RESEARCH
TECHNOLOGY
&
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER
2006
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