The increased Greek participation in European research projects on the Internet of Things (IoT) and the development of collaborations and networking between the academic and business community, with the creation of a Greek organization for the IoT, were some of the themethose that emerged at the highly successful event organized by the National Documentation Center (EKT) and the European Alliance for the Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI). The event was held with the support of the European Commission, on February 8, 2016 at the National Research Foundation.
Contact for the ICT program) at the IoT event
The event “AIOTI Open Day: Financing & innovation through the Internet of Things (IoT) in Greece" was addressed to the actors of the IoT ecosystem, both from the supply side (technology providers) and the demand side (end users) of technology, and aimed to expand national participation in one of the most important future technologies, alongside the actions being taken for IoT at European level.
The Internet of Things concerns the interconnection of people, machines, household appliances, simple objects and processes, which creates unlimited possibilities and prospects for governments, businesses and citizens. Today, devices that are online are touching 10 billion while 2020 is predicted to reach 34 billions. Over the next five years, research predicts that 6 will be invested with trillions of dollars in the Internet of Things.
As Evi Sahini, Director of the ESF, pointed out, the scientific excellence of Greece is documented by successful participation in one of XnumX's most competitive notices in the ICT program on Internet of Things. At the same time, he stressed that the ESF, in addition to its role as a National Contact Point for the ICT program, offers infrastructure and services to exploit and disseminate both the reputable Greek digital content and the data, emphasizing openness and re-use. In this context, the data coming from the Internet of Things in the future will gain momentum and the ESF will actively support it, targeting more and more user communities.
Iraklis Agioblastis from the ESF, National Contact Point for the 2020 Horizon ICT Program (European Research and Innovation Framework Program), reported the results of the ICT-30-2015 Call for Proposals: Internet of Things and Platforms for Connected Smart Objects for Research on Web technologies of Things, which submitted 137 project proposals and approved 7 Research and Innovation Actions and 2 Coordination and Support Actions.
Greece participates in 4 of the 7 approved research and development projects at pan-European level, raising a total of € 3,36 million in Community co-financing, while the total Community co-financing for research and development is € 51,5 million. Greece's share amounts to 6,5% of the total available Community co-financing. Specifically, there is Greek participation in the BIG IoT, Agile, SymbIoTe and Vicinity projects. The following 7 organizations participate in these projects: National Center for Research & Technological Development (CERTH), GNOMON Informatics SA, Municipality of Pylaia Chortiatis, Econais SA, Bioassist SA, Intracom SA Telecom Solutions, Hellenic Telecommunications Organization (OTE).
In the first part of the event, the funding possibilities for research and innovation through Horizon 2020 were presented in detail. Peter Friess, representative of the European Commission (DG CNECT) detailed the details of the announcements regarding the Internet of Things, characterizing the IoT as the next digital revolution. P. Friess underlined that Europe has the capacity to be a pioneer in IoT, as there are the right actors, both research and an established IT ecosystem, but there is a risk of fragmentation of efforts and delay due to international competition as well. He also presented at length the open calls for Large Scale IoT Pilots in Horizon 2020, which have a deadline date April 12, 2016.
Large-scale pilot projects concern the following areas:
- 1 Pilot: Smart living environments for aging well (20 million),
- Pilot 2: Smart Farming and Food Security (30 million),
- 3 Pilot: Wearables for smart ecosystems (15 million),
- Pilot 4: Reference zones in EU cities (15 million euro),
- 5 pilot: Autonomous vehicles in a connected environment (20 EUR million).
P. Friess closed with useful instructions for successful submissions and answered questions from the public.
O Konstantinos Spyropoulos, Director of Research at NCSR Demokritos, spoke about the Alliance for the Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI), in his capacity as coordinator of AIOTI in Greece.
NCSR Demokritos, AIOTI coordinator in Greece) at the IoT event
The Alliance for the Internet of Things (AIOTI) was launched by the European Commission and major organizations active in the IoT field. AIOTI aims to ensure that the EU takes the lead in the relevant technologies, creating a dynamic European IoT ecosystem. Mr. Spyropoulos highlighted the key challenges for the development of Internet of Things, such as rapid technological development, user acceptance of IoT services, the need to develop relevant business models, the risk of fragmentation, and international competition.
Then, good practices from projects already selected for funding in the Internet of Things (ICT-30-2015) were presented.
Sergios Soursos (Intracom AE) referred to the SYMBIOTE project, which received the highest score in benchmarking and concerns the coexistence of intelligent objects in IOT environments. The project AGILE (Adoptive Gateways for dIverse MuLtiple Environments) was presented by Charis Doukas (Create-net), while Thanassis Triederidis (CERT) spoke about the VICINITY project, which offers new services through interoperability in Internet of Things environments.
In the second part of the event, there was a discussion on the initiative of companies and organizations active in the Internet of Things, aiming to create synergies and cooperation between the academic / research and business community, as well as the establishment of a Greek organization for the Internet of Things. In particular, the most active organizations of the Greek IoT ecosystem took place, while national initiatives taking place abroad were presented at the level of an overall strategy for IoT.
Technology) at the IoT event
Among them, the Companies Future Intelligence, Intracom SA, Athens Information Technology, EEL/LAK, PlegmaLabs, Warply, exm. In addition, specific good practices from our country were also presented, such as the mi-cluster (microelectronics corallia cluster), which has organized numerous business missions abroad, as well as the unofficial IoT meetup of the Greek user community.
As noted in the participants' positions, the need for synergy between businesses and organizations active in the IoT field can contribute to achieving competitive advantage and achieving economies of scale. At the same time, a national strategy framework for IoT is required with vision, stable leadership and concrete actions that will act as a catalyst and a multiplier of added value and productivity.
All speaker presentations and videos are available on the website http://www.ekt.gr/el/events/program/19318.
It is noted that the National Documentation Center acts as the National Contact Point for the EU's Horizon 2020 program for research and innovation (www.ekt.gr/horizon2020) and for a number of its individual programs (such as the Information and Communication Technologies program), supporting the Greek academic, research and business community for its participation. Covering all stages of research projects, from proposal preparation to implementation and exploitation of research results, the ECB's services include: Information and Advisory Services, Support Office Operation, Development andmovement informational material, Organizing events and seminars, Finding partners to form consortia and jointly submit proposals, Recording national participation and issuing statistics and performance indicators.
Addresses on the Internet
Event "AIOTI Open Day: Financing & Innovation through the Internet of Things (IoT) in Greece" - Presentations & Video
http://www.ekt.gr/el/events/19314
Alliance for Internet of Things Innovation (AIOTI)
http://www.aioti.eu/
EKT, National Contact Point for the 2020 Horizon
http://www.ekt.gr/horizon2020
