ICT-ENSURE A 7 th Framework Program Support Action for Building the European Research Area in the Field of ICT for Environmental Sustainability

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1 EnviroInfo 2008 (Lüneburg) Environmental Informatics and Industrial Ecology ICT-ENSURE A 7 th Framework Program Support Action for Building the European Research Area in the Field of ICT for Environmental Sustainability Klaus Tochtermann 1, Gisela Granitzer 2, Werner Pillmann 3 and Werner Geiger 4 Abstract ICT-ENSURE is the leading European project for establishing a coherent European Research Area in the context of ICT for environmental sustainability. As a Support Action funded within the 7 th Framework Program it aims at structuring a yet unstructured and distributed field. One central part in achieving this aim consists of extending existing networks to a far reaching central network including leading experts from EU27. Regular workshops in different member states and the annual conference EnviroInfo will nurture community building. The expert knowledge on development and trends, needs and demands will flow into a roadmap outlining the direction of future European research in the field. Moreover, the network will drive synergies and thus build the basis for new cooperation and research. From a technical perspective, a concept outline for a Single Information Space for the Environment in Europe, short SISE, will be developed, whereby conditions for a single point of access shall be created. 1. Introduction Recently, environmental disasters (e.g. earthquake in China, cyclone in Burma) have reanimated the discussion about the stability of our ecosystem. Global warming or depletion of natural resources and all the negative effects such as the loss of biodiversity which are salient require human-kind to think of solutions contributing to an increased engagement in environmental issues at all levels. Not only does the European Commission take up leadership in this discussion but also federal states, cities and municipalities start programs and actions [Geiger and Pillmann, 2008]. Also, research and industry are becoming active (e.g. increased promotion of hybrid driving technologies in car industry). Still, to leverage all these currently only loosely connected efforts concerted actions from all stakeholders are required. Within this context, the European Commission selected for funding the project European ICT Environmental Sustainability Research (ICT-ENSURE), a Support Action in the 7 th Framework Program. With the focus on information technologies for sustainability ICT-ENSURE aims at structuring a yet unstructured and distributed field and thus contributing to a coherent European Research Area. Such is not only required for giving the interested and engaged open and professional public an easier access and overview, but also for helping to find potential partners and interesting areas and for drawing a picture about the landscape which can more easily be monitored by the European Commission. Moreover, in EU27 there is a strong need to foster fundamental programs and their vision like the Lisbon Strategy, the renewed EU 1 University of Technology and Know-Center Graz, Inffeldgasse 21a, A-8010 Graz, ktochter@know-center.at, Internet: 2 Know-Center Graz, Inffeldgasse 21a, A-8010 Graz, ggrani@know-center.at, Internet: 3 International Society for Environmental Protection, Bechardgasse 24/12, A-1030 Wien, pillmann@isep.at, Internet: 4 Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institute for Applied Computer Science, P.O.B 3640, Karlsruhe, Germany, werner.geiger@iai.fzk.de, Internet: 456

2 Sustainable Development Strategy, the thematic strategies on urban environment and on the sustainable use of natural resources. In addition ICT for sustainable growth, the EU framework i2010, the Environmental Technology Action Plan and legislative measures such as WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, DIRECTIVE 2002/95/EC), WFD (Water Framework Directive, DIRECTIVE 2000/60/EC) and IPPC (Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control, DIRECTIVE 2008/1/EC) or existing networks such as EIONET (European Environment Information and Observation Network, the EcoREsearch Network ( stimulate interdisciplinary international cooperation. Furthermore, several related virtual communities exist; e.g. the climate prediction network ( portalu [Vögele et al. 2006; or the sustainable communities initiative [von Beherens 2006]. Before describing the project in more detail some key data are provided: The project runs under the responsibility of three consortium partners: Graz University of Technology (Austria), International Society for Environmental Protection (Austria) and Karlsruhe Research Centre (Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Germany). The overall project volume is , starting date May 1, 2008, end date April 31, By mid of July 2008 further project information can be found at In the following sections we will outline the objectives of the project and the planned work. 2. Objectives The vision of the project is to establish a European research area including a network of experts in the field of ICT for Environmental Sustainability. The network will support a Single Information Space for the Environment in Europe (SISE) in continuous coordination with the DG INFSO services. For approaching this vision in the proposed project a concept for a SISE will be developed. In this unique point of access environmentally relevant information should converge including actors/experts and organizations, networks, projects, programs and publications, surveys and reports for a number of related and most promising domains with a special focus on ICT. The domains will be specified within the project and their realizations within the EU27 will be investigated and integrated in databases. Beyond and for establishing this virtual space it is intended to build up a real network of experts including representatives from as many as EU27. As a starting point the already existing EnviroInfo network and conferences will be used which have a high reputation and relevance within the community that is engaged in environmental issues [Pillmann et al., 2006]. Mainly, there are three key objectives.! Overview on the field. For a comprehensive overview on the situation of ICT for environmental sustainability research in Europe, in agreement with DG INFSO H4 at least six environmentally relevant domains will be selected and intensively investigated. Within this task especially the role of ICT in environmental sustainability research for the evolution of a Single Information Space for the Environment in Europe will be analyzed. Potential synergies among existing actors will be highlighted. As an operational, public available tool a literature database and a Web-based research programs information system will supplement this overview.! Establishment and extension of network. The previously described overview will be supplemented by a network of experts. A further starting point will be the communities which have been developed around the EnviroInfo conferences. In order to develop a far reaching, European wide network, special attention will be paid to including experts and communities from all or nearly all EU27 countries. At the EnviroInfo Conferences and further scientific meetings these experts will be brought together and offered a platform for networking and presenting their work.! Concept for SISE representing the European environmental landscape. Especially based on the overviews on the field, a concept for the creation and further development of an integrated SISE based on existing systems and ongoing national and FP6/FP7 research will be developed in close cooperation with DG INFSO Unit H4 ICT for Sustainable Growth. The development of a 457

3 prototype web-based information system on European research programs including meta-data in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability research will be the first step towards the SISE and will be realized within the project. 3. Work plan The project consists of 10 workpackages clustered in three concept parts. In the following we briefly describe the workpackages, except of work package 1 which refers to project management activities and work package 10 which refers to dissemination. The following figure shows the assignment of workpackages to concept parts. Fig. 1: Overall work package structure of ICT-ENSURE 458

4 3.1 Workpackage 2: System Model of ICT-Tools relevant for environmental sustainability As mentioned in the previous section, the field of ICT referring to environment and sustainability requires a better structuring to better foster concerted action. The European Research Agenda (ERA) includes various knowledge and research activities, and also beyond this area there are a lot of initiatives, most of them isolated and not connected to each other. In work package 2 ICT-ENSURE intends to develop a model designed to structure this field. A way commonly used to describe environmental stress and human responses is the Driving-Force- Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model. It is frequently used by the European Environment Agency (EEA) and by international organizations dealing with environmental information. This framework structure is more intuitive, and therefore satisfactory for presentations and publications. However, for our purposes we need a much more detailed model. We need to describe the systemic effects between environment, economy and society so as to identify areas relevant for ICT research. Figure 1 roughly shows which components have to be considered when developing a model. Environment Politosphere: governments Legislation standards Financial instruments Companies, agriculture, transport... Products, services Households Resources: energy... Pollutants, waste... Natural Environment Population Sustainability Indicators Health indicators Single Information Space for the Environment Environmental Informatics ICT for Environmental Sustainability Fig. 2: Model components and relationships 3.2 Workpackages 3-5: Expert Consultation Workshops and Conferences Workpackages 3 to 5 contribute to extending the Environmental Informatics Network. They deal with both, extending and strengthening the EnviroInfo communities and stetting up new networks by bringing together program managers and connecting not yet included researchers to regional communities with each other. Growing interest in informatics applications in all fields of environmental protection has made a successful series of annual symposia which started modestly in 1986 at the Karlsruhe Research Center (FZK) and had its last conferences in Graz [Tochtermann and Scharl, 2006] and Warsaw [Hryniewicz et al., 2007]. Concurrently, an interest group called Informatics for Environmental Protection was organized in the German Computer Science Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik e.v., GI), and evolved into a network of experts ( Today this network meets regularly 459

5 at the EnviroInfo conferences. Also, networking within this community has successfully been taken place, e.g. the network on hypermedia for environmental protection [Riekert et al. 2002]. The achievements of this network are impressive: peer-reviewed papers in 21 EnviroInfo conferences and 98 TC workshops, documented on a total of pages. It can be argued that the networking amongst scientists, persons from government administrations, business, industry and NGOs, engineers and politicians, is helping to pave the way to sustainable development in Europe. Some authors have been involved in this EnviroInfo network. They have multiple professional contacts in their respective departments, and network with project groups, other scientific bodies, contractors, students and environment offices and politicians. Not taking into account the web-marketing effect. We estimate that some persons have been exposed to the application of ICT for environmental sustainability in this way. This scientific community now displays essential attributes of a modern virtual research community including specialization in interdisciplinary areas as is envisioned in The European Research Area: a new perspective. The same practice of encouraging specialists to publish their knowledge and make it publicly available in papers, posters, presentations and on the Web will be exploited to expand the EnviroInfo network throughout Europe. We propose using a two step strategy for this: the organisation of four workshops and the co-organization of two EnviroInfo conferences. In four workshops experts in the focus area of this action will be invited to present an overview of their respective national research programs emphasizing the economic and ecological relevance of the programs. The workshops will be held in Southern Europe and thereafter in France (during its EU presidency), the Czech Republic and finally in Sweden. For the EnviroInfo conferences 2008 and 2009 ICT-ENSURE will contribute to further extend the community and let it become part of the EU27 network of experts, program managers etc. to be established and maintained by ICT-ENSURE. 3.3 Workpackage 6: Online Literature Database Several working groups such as Environmental Databases and Modelling and Simulation of Ecological Systems also organize their workshops (often at EnviroInfo) and sometimes even their own conferences. Each conference publishes a limited number of proceedings, which are difficult to access for those who could not participate the event. Only some of the later published proceedings are available digitally on CD-ROM or the web. Currently, there is no centralized online access to this valuable information produced over the last 20 years. For example, the community lacks a central database containing the full text papers of all its events. Therefore ICT-ENSURE is aiming at a single system offering a common access point as one part of a SISE in the future. 3.4 Workpackage 7: SISE Structure Development Support The model developed in work package 2 should serve as a basis for the Single Information Space in Europe for the Environment. Of course, the conceptual detailing will not start from scratch. In compliance with currently developed EU working documents and new research programs, this concept will continuously be adapted, also according to the feedback received from the participants of the four ICT-ENSURE workshops. In the second half of 2009 several solutions can be expected to emerge from eenvironment, field reports from PortalU and the expert knowledge from ICT-ENSURE collected by then. These recommendations will also include possible implementing technologies, Service Oriented Architectures and eservices in general. 460

6 3.5 Workpackage 8: Survey of European ICT environmental sustainability research Workpackage 8 together with work package 2 comprises the basis for network building, content finding for the main EnviroInfo conferences, meta-information on research and conceptual detailing for building the envisaged Single Information Space in Europe for the Environment. After the analysis carried out in work package 2, domains of scientific interest, of economic importance as well as of societal and political relevance will be selected. The table below is a first draft example for the matrix of application areas vs. ICT methods and tools. Application Areas " ICT methods/tools Energy efficiency/consumption, sustainable use of natural resources and climate change Industry, sustainable logistics and production Agriculture, landscape and biodiversity Public sector, e-government Learning (lifelong / mobile / ubiquitous / pervasive learning; change of mentality) Urban sustainability, smart buildings Mobility and environmental sustainability Environmental health, risk and disaster management Environmental protection and nature conservation Environmental Information systems and metadata catalogues Knowledge management Technologies Telecommunication (including Internet, wireless telecom etc.) Interoperability of ICT tools Personalized wireless information services Sensor Web for monitoring and control Modeling and simulation Geographical Information Systems Tab. 1: Relevant areas for sustainable development and ICT methods and tools In work package 8 at least 6 main domains out of work package 2 results will be selected for a further detailed exploration of research programs and efforts. For other domains a less complete outline will be provided, depending on the type of consultants available in the member states. In work package 8 the consortium will try to link other networks closer to the EnviroInfo presentation platform. Workpackage 8 also will gather information especially from national research programs, accessing programs that have been completed, others that are going on and still others planned for the future. 3.6 Workpackage 9: Web-based research programs information system The main objective of work package 9 is to capture the meta-information on national and European research programs in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability gained in work package 8 in a Webbased information system and to enable search queries in this web-based information system. With the research programs information system and the literature database, the EC and other institutions that intend to call for tenders for research projects in the field of ICT for environmental sustainability, can inform each other about current and past research programs in the EU member states and EU institutions. 461

7 By this, intersections can be determined, synergy effects can be achieved and duplication of research and developments can be avoided. Besides, scientists can look for current and past research programs and literature in the field in order to submit a proposal to a research program or to learn from other projects. 4. Conclusion Even though the project has just started, we consider it important to make the community aware of the planned activities. The developed structure will help to organize activities, institutions, communities and experts in a purposeful way. Not only will it be easier for the directly involved parties to find potential partners and resources, but also the European Commission and national agencies will benefit. They will be provided with an extended overview on the field helping them to identify areas which are not yet covered but should be developed. To conclude, we would like to highlight the areas to which the project will contribute.! Building of new and increased use of existing European and international computer-based information and communication networks! Networking for new proposals to be submitted to the 7 th Framework Programme of the European Commission! Information on latest technologies in the area of ICT applications relevant for environmental sustainability on a European level! Special integration of the new member states into existing Networking and Information Management! Information dissemination on European environmental research results to experts and the interested general public not yet involved in the community! Providing practical recommendations and good practice examples for selected domains on ICT for environmental sustainability! Creating a roadmap visualizing how the opportunities of ICT for environmental sustainability could be exploited while also recognizing its risks! Condensing insights and knowledge for selected domains on ICT for environmental sustainability! Assessing how the opportunities of ICT for environmental sustainability could be exploited while also recognizing its risks! Extended list of scientists/scientific communities in EU27 5. Acknowledgements The project results have been developed by the ICT-ENSURE project (EUROPEAN ICT- ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH, ICT-ENSURE is financed under the grant agreement number of the European Commission s seventh framework programme, Theme 3, Information and Communication Technologies. The Know-Center is funded within the Austrian COMET Program - Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies - under the auspices of the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, the Austrian Ministry of Economics and Labor and by the State of Styria. COMET is managed by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency FFG. 462

8 References Geiger, W., and Pillmann, W., Environmental Information Systems of Public Administration Status and Trends. iemss International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, Barcelona, Spain., July 7-10, 2008, accepted for publication. Hryniewicz, O., Studzinski, J., and Romaniuk, M. (Eds.), EnviroInfo Environmental Informatics and Systems Research; Proc. of the 21st Internat. Conf. Informatics for Environmental Protection, Warsaw, Poland, September 12-14, Aachen: Shaker Verlag, ISBN , Pillmann, W., Geiger, W., and Voigt, K., Survey of environmental informatics in Europe. Environmental Modelling & Software, 21, , Riekert, W.-F., Tochtermann, K. Hypermedia im Umweltschutz: Ein Thema kommt an im Fachausschuss Informatik im Umweltschutz Proceedings of the International Symposium on Environmental Informatics, Vienna Austria, 2002 Tochtermann, K., and Scharl, A. (Eds.), EnviroInfo 2006 Managing Environmental Knowledge; Proceedings of the 20th International Conference Informatics for Environmental Protection, Graz, Austria, September 6-8, Aachen: Shaker Verlag, ISBN-13: , Vögele T., Klenke M., Kruse F., Lehmann H., Riegel T. Easy Access to Environmental Information with PortalU; Proceedings of the 20th International Conference Informatics for Environmental Protection, Graz, Austria, September 6-8, 2006, pp von Behrens R. Sustainable Communities: A Strategic Framework for the Digital Age; Proceedings of the 20th International Conference Informatics for Environmental Protection, Graz, Austria, September 6-8, 2006, pp