Third International Workshop on Semantic Web Information Management, Athens, Greece

Posted on June 13, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

The Third International Workshop on Semantic Web Information Management will be held from 12 to 16 June 2011 in Athens, Greece.

As the internet grows, it is becoming increasingly complex for humans to efficiently find and exploit the information. To help this situation, the idea of having a description of data organised in such a way as to be used by machines for automation, integration and reuse across various applications, has been promoted by a number of research fields.

The event will review the most recent data-centered solutions for the ‘semantic web’. The semantic web is a ‘web of data’ that enables machines to understand the semantics, or meaning, of information on the world wide web. This means extending the network of hyperlinked, human-readable web pages by inserting machine-readable metadata about pages and how they are related to each other.

The conference programme will particularly focus on the synergies between the logical basis of the semantic web and the logical foundations of conceptual modeling. Current research and projects in the field will also be a focal point of discussions.

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Emerging Technologies – Direct Borohydride Fuel Cells (DBFC) Technology

Posted on June 12, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

A fuel cell is a device that generates electricity by a chemical reaction. Every fuel cell has two electrodes, one positive and one negative, called, respectively, the anode and cathode. The reactions that produce electricity take place at the electrodes.

Every fuel cell also has an electrolyte, which carries electrically charged particles from one electrode to the other, and a catalyst, which speeds the reactions at the electrodes.

Hydrogen is the basic fuel, but fuel cells also require oxygen. One great appeal of fuel cells is that they generate electricity with very little pollution—much of the hydrogen and oxygen used in generating electricity ultimately combine to form a harmless byproduct, namely water.

One detail of terminology: a single fuel cell generates a tiny amount of direct current (DC) electricity. In practice, many fuel cells are usually assembled into a stack. Cell or stack, the principles are the same.

Direct borohydride fuel cells (DBFCs) are a subcategory of alkaline fuel cells which are directly fed by sodium borohydride or potassium borohydride as a fuel and either air/oxygen or hydrogen peroxide as the oxidant. DBFCs are emerging types of fuel cells which are currently in the developmental stage and are attractive due to their high operating potential in relation to other type of fuel cells.

Fuel Cell (DMFC)

DBFC has some attractive features such as high open circuit potential, ease of electro-oxidation of BH4− on non-precious metals such as nickel, low operational temperature and high power density. The DBFC is a promising power system for portable applications. One such example is MEDIS Extreme Fuel Cell Charger which is already available in the market. The Medis Xtreme offers 20 watt-hours of every single cartridge of sodium borohydride used. Each activated cell can be used for up to three months although it’s recommended that you change it every six weeks or so.

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What is SBRI funding and how it works?

Posted on June 11, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

SBRI is a programme that brings innovative solutions to specific public sector needs, by engaging a broad range of companies in competitions for ideas that result in short-term development contracts.

Key features:

  • SBRI is a programme for running an open competition for ideas and new technologies.
  • It results in a fully funded development contract between the company and the government department – it is not a government grant.
  • It generally has a two-phased development approach that starts with initial feasibility and then more detailed product development.
  • It is a fast track, simplified process that allows government departments to engage with business they would not normally work with.
  • It is particularly suitable for SME and early stage businesses and gives vital funding for the critical stage of product development.
  • The government department (or public sector body) acts as the lead customer and is instrumental in helping the business develop its product or technology.
  • It should result in a commercial product or service.
  • The intellectual property is retained by the company, with certain rights of use held by the department.

SBRI stands for Small Business Research Initiative and significantly reworks the previous scheme that was launched into the UK in 2001. The Technology Strategy Board champions SBRI which is now focused on technology development and specific competitions. This is similar to the SBIR scheme in the United States, which has been running successfully since 1982.

Benefits of SBRI

SBRI is a scheme that benefits both the government department that is running the competition and the businesses that have the opportunity of obtaining a development contract.

Benefits to business

It can be difficult and confusing for companies to access government departments and to obtain simple contracts with them. SBRI creates opportunities for businesses to engage with a specific department need and to prove their technology or idea. Successful companies will gain a lead customer for development and will receive a contract for the full cost of demonstrating the feasibility of their technology, leading to subsequent prototype development. This provides a route to market and establishes credibility for further investment. It is particularly suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises and early stage companies.

Benefits to government

SBRI supports the public sector to procure innovative solutions that address current significant department needs. It enables departments to appeal for a wide range of ideas and evaluate these through short-term simplified contracts and a two-stage development process. This allows government departments and public sector organisations to engage with a broad range of companies they would not otherwise work with. It results in bringing new technologies to market faster and with managed risk.

How SBRI works

The process starts with a government department or other public body identifying a specific challenge.

This is then turned into an open competition for new technologies and ideas that is open to the broad business community.

The Technology Strategy Board supports all competition and helps with the outreach to business.

Companies with potentially interesting technologies and ideas submit an application, either through the Technology Strategy Board or direct to the department, depending on the competition.

The ideas are all received and then subjected to an assessment process. The most successful applications will be awarded contracts to develop the product ideas.

This first feasibility phase is generally limited to 6 months and a maximum contract of £100k.

Following a second assessment stage, the most promising companies will be awarded a second phase contract for up to 2 years and £1m. This is for more detailed product development.

This leads to a commercial product or service which is taken to market and open to competitive procurement.

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Understanding FP7 Capacities Programme

Posted on June 10, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

Capacities is one of the four main support programmes of FP7. With a budget of €4.09 billion, it is intended to develop the research community throughout Europe by enhancing the overall capacity for research and innovation and ensuring their optimal use.

Capacities will provide support to strengthen and consolidate the research community throughout Europe and improve the relationship between SMEs and the research base.

The programme is divided into seven areas:

  • Research infrastructures – to optimise the use and development of the best research infrastructures existing in Europe.
  • Research for the benefit of SMEs – to strengthen the research and innovation capacity of SMEs.
  • Regions of knowledge – to strengthen the research potential of European regions through research-driven clusters.
  • Research potential of Convergence Regions – to stimulate the research potential of the Convergence and outermost regions of the EU.
  • Science in society – to stimulate the integration of scientific and technological endeavour and research policies into European society.
  • Support to the coherent development of research policies – to enhance the effectiveness and coherence of national and Community research policies and their articulation with other policies.
  • Specific activities of international cooperation – to improve the global role of the European Union in relation to science and technology.
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FP7 Funding – Objective ICT-2011 9.6: FET Proactive: Unconventional Computation (UCOMP)

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

 Open promotes the exploration of radically new ideas and trends for future research and innovation and provides sustained support to emerging areas that require long-term fundamental research. FET-Open welcomes submission of proposal ideas for long-term visionary research related to ICT, of the collaborative research project (STREPs) or coordination action (CAs) type.

Objective ICT-2011 9.6: FET Proactive: Unconventional Computation (UCOMP)

Nature   (e.g.   living   cells),   and   our   physical   environment   in   general,   show   many unconventional  ways  of  information  processing,  such  as  those  based  on  (bio-)chemical, natural,  wetware,  DNA,  molecular,  amorphous,  reversible,  analogue  computing,  etc.  These are  generally  very  sophisticated,  ingenious  and  highly  effective  for  specific  purposes,  but sufficient  knowledge  (either  from  a  theoretical  or  an  engineering  perspective)  to  properly exploit, mimic, or adapt these systems, is lacking.

The  objective  is  to  develop  alternative  approaches  for  situations  or  problems  that  are challenging or impossible to solve with conventional methods and models of computation (i.e. von  Neumann,  Turing).  Typical  examples  include  computing  in  vivo,  and  performing massively parallel computation. 
The  focus  of  this  objective  is  beyond  existing  initiatives  (e.g.  Quantum  ICT,  Neuro-IT  and Brain-Inspired ICT).

Target outcomes
Foundations  for  a  radically  new  kind  of  information  processing  technology  based  on unconventional paradigms. The proposed concept should be developed within the framework of a broader, long-term vision on its potential implementation and impact.
Projects should:
– pursue information processing, respecting the link between computation and the physico-chemical properties of its embodiment.
– strengthen the theoretical foundations in the area, keeping a strong focus on their potential application in (future) systems and devices.
– demonstrate  key  steps  towards  physical  information  processing  systems,  including
appropriate construction, organisation, adaptation and operation methodologies.
– develop  an  appropriate  interface  to  conventional  IT  systems  and  devices,  wherever
relevant
Expected impact
•   Foundations, approaches and proofs of concept for radically new kinds of computation.

•   Possible contributions beyond the area of ICT (e.g. health, environment or security).
•   Global international research cooperation in this area, in particular with participants from  the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Japan.

 Call
FP7-ICT-2011-8

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FP7 Funding – New ERC Initiative

Posted on June 8, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

Innovation is high on the EU agenda, and the European Research Council (ERC) is helping secure this target by introducing a new funding initiative called ‘Proof of Concept’. Under this new initiative, funded under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), researchers who have already secured ERC grants could receive up to EUR 150,000 each to bring their research much closer to market.

The ERC, Europe’s funding body designed to support investigator-driven frontier research, is fuelling scientific excellence by encouraging researchers to think outside the box and take their projects to levels they would not have considered before.

Thanks to the support provided to researchers, which include scientists, scholars and engineers, the ERC and its latest initiative will help extend the objective of the EU’s Innovation Union, one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy for a sustainable, smart and inclusive economy. The Innovation Union will not only strengthen Europe’s foothold on the global science stage, but will break down walls that currently hinder innovation and bridge any gaps that impact the public and private sectors.

From a market perspective, the ERC is central for fostering commercial and societal application opportunities, ensuring the full exploitation of the fresh and pioneering research it funds.

With its latest initiative, the ERC is giving grant holders the chance to apply for more funding in order to turn their frontier research ideas into a reality. Under the Proof of Concept initiative, the researchers could use the extra funding for activities such as market research, technical validation, and commercial and business opportunity analysis.

Proof of Concept will help the ERC grant holders prepare and present a ‘package’ to venture capitalists or enterprises that could potentially invest in the innovative technology and take it through the early commercialisation phase.

Valued at EUR 10 million, the first Proof of Concept call was published on 29 March; deadlines are in June and November 2011. The EU expects to continue funding in 2012. Principal investigators that are current ERC grant holders or whose grants ended less than 12 months before the publication data of this call can submit proposals. The funding is for up to one year per grant.

For more information, please visit:

European Research Council:
http://erc.europa.eu

To review some ERC-funded projects from previous calls, click:
here

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Europe 2020 Strategy – Smart, inclusive, sustainable growth

Posted on June 7, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

Europe 2020 is the EU’s growth strategy for the coming decade.
In a changing world, we want the EU to become a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. These three mutually reinforcing priorities should help the EU and the Member States deliver high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion.

Concretely, the Union has set five ambitious objectives – on employment, innovation, education, social inclusion and climate/energy – to be reached by 2020. Each Member State will adopt its own national targets in each of these areas. Concrete actions at EU and national levels will underpin the strategy.

The 5 targets for the EU in 2020

  1. Employment
    • 75% of the 20-64 year-olds to be employed
  2. R&D / innovation
    • 3% of the EU’s GDP (public and private combined) to be invested in R&D/innovation
  3. Climate change / energy
    • greenhouse gas emissions 20% (or even 30%, if the conditions are right) lower than 1990
    • 20% of energy from renewables
    • 20% increase in energy efficiency
  4. Education
    • Reducing school drop-out rates below 10%
    • at least 40% of 30-34–year-olds completing third level education
  5. Poverty / social exclusion
    • at least 20 million fewer people in or at risk of poverty and social exclusion
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Applying New Thinking to Counter Terrorism – A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

Counter-Terrorism (CT) and Counter-Insurgency (COIN) are challenging complex adaptive systems in that they are non-linear, dynamic and rich in emergent properties.

This competition seeks innovative approaches that strengthen the ability of decision-makers to:

  • detect, recognise and predict strategic shocks and other extreme events;
  • deliver viable CT/COIN interventions that are affordable and sustainable in a rapidly changing and uncertain environment; and,
  • quantify the impact of uncertainty on decisions and choices.

As the world is composed of many complex adaptive systems, it is anticipated that approaches and methods developed for other problem areas (e.g. ecosystem resilience, climate change, financial markets etc) may lend themselves to this problem space.

The competition launched at a seminar event on 23rd March where a set of case studies will be provided as an illustration of the types of complex problems that the call aims to address. Registration is via the website www.science.mod.uk.

It is expected that effective solutions will require the combination of methods and ideas drawn from a broad spectrum of science. Proposals that offer a multi-disciplinary, or team, approach are likely to have a greater chance of success in the assessment process.

Open date: 23 March 2011

Close date: 21 June 2011

Website: www.science.mod.uk

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Can US companies apply for European Commission Funding (FP7)?

Posted on June 5, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

What types of projects receive funding?

The European Union provides substantial funds to help EU Member States comply with strict EU environmental regulations, improve communications and transportation, Information Communication Technologies (ICT), improve public administration, and promote economic convergence. If your idea is innovative and serves an established NEED then you might be eligible for EU funding.

How much funding is available?

FP7 has a total budget of €53.6 Billion which needs to be distributed to SMEs and Large Enterprises between 2007-2013.

Who can apply?

U.S. companies are eligible to apply for EU funds in most cases, though they may need an EU partner or an EU subsidiary for certain projects.

Which funding calls and what’s next?

Please see the current open funding calls on this blog and also other blog entries to find the best funding call for your concept. Alternatively, please do not hesitate to contact me using the feedback form below and I can help you to identify the best funding call for your potential project.

 

 

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Who can apply to Framework Programme 7 (FP7) Funding?

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Cagri Yilmaz

The types of participants

Participation in FP7 is open to a wide range of organisations and individuals:

  • research groups at universities or research institutes
  • companies intending to innovate
  • small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
  • SME associations or groupings
  • public or governmental administration (local, regional or national)
  • early-stage researchers (postgraduate students)
  • experienced researchers
  • institutions running research infrastructures of trans-national interest
  • organisations and researchers from third countries
  • international organisations
  • civil society organisations.

The above list is only indicative, not exhaustive.

Different participation rules apply, depending on the research initiative in question.

From which countries?

As a general principle, FP7 is open to participation from any country in the world. The procedures for participation and funding possibilities vary for different groups of countries.

Quite naturally, the EU Member States enjoy the broadest rights and access to funding. The same conditions apply to Member States and to countries associated to FP7 (countries paying a share to the overall budget of FP7). In FP 6 these countries included EEA countries ( Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein), candidate countries (e.g. Turkey, Crotia), as well as Israel and Switzerland.

Another important group are the International Cooperation Partner Countries (e.g. Russia and other Eastern European and Central Asian states, developing countries, Mediterranean partner countries, Western Balkans countries). Participants from these countries are entitled to funding under the same conditions as EU Member States. The only restriction for them is that consortia must first have the required minimum number of participants from Member States or associated countries.

Participation from industrialised high-income countries is also possible on a self-financing basis, with EU funding granted only in exceptional cases.

Cooperation with “third countries” is explicitly encouraged in FP7.

Two key objectives apply here:

  • to support European competitiveness in selected fields through strategic partnerships with third countries, and initiatives that encourage the best third-country scientists to work in and with Europe;
  • to address specific problems that either have a global character or are commonly faced by third countries, on the basis of mutual interest and mutual benefit.

Finally, with respect to third countries, FP7 also provides for international outgoing and incoming fellowships to foster collaboration with research groups outside Europe.

If you would like to apply to FP7 funding, please get in touch using the feedback form below.

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