Philip Hunter reports from the "International Conference on Activities in Science and Technology in CEEC towards European Integration" held in Warsaw in December, organised by the OPI (Information Processing Centre), Warsaw. This article appears in the web version of Ariadne only.
UKOLN was invited to send a representative to this conference, organised by the Information Processing Centre (OPI), Warsaw, and held at the Warsaw Novotel Hotel, 4 - 6 December 1997. [1] "CEEC" refers to the Central East European Countries, and principally those who anticipate joining the EU at various times in the future. Acronyms and jargon proliferate: as is often the case, these terms can be useful once inside the structures they label, but the initial effect is to make it difficult to understand what is going on. Some of this report on the conference involves explanation of structures and terms for the benefit of those who, like myself, knew little about them beforehand.
The sub-title of the conference was: "the Sharing of experience and planning for the future in science, technology and the global information society, with special reference to the role of FEMIRC's". This, as it turns out, accurately summarizes the focus of the FEMIRC's, without giving much of a clue to the nature of these organizations. FEMIRC's are associate organizations of the IRC's - the "Innovation Relay Centres" set up in the European Union. There are 53 IRC'S, plus 10 Fellow Members (hence FEMIRC) in associated states of central and eastern Europe. The stated goal of the IRC network is to improve the competitiveness of European industry through innovation. The FEMIRC's currently receive funding from the EU, ca 300 KECU per FEMIRC, covering "twinning" with IRCs. The Polish FEMIRC is associated with the IRC in France which is affiliated to the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BRIST). BRIST provides training and assistance during the start phase of projects. In Bulgaria the FEMIRC is twinned with the IRC "Help-Forward" which is based in Greece. In both cases the FEMIRC's are the initiative of local institutions.
In Poland as elsewhere, the FEMIRC is an EU Commission initiative supported by a number of organizations on a regional basis - the CTT (Center of Technology Transfer), Gdansk; INKUBATOR, Lodz; PSTP (Poznan Science and Technology Park); UTA (University of Technology and Agriculture), Bydgoszcz; WCTT (Wroclaw Center for Technology Transfer); CUT (Cracow University of Technology); plus three organizations in the Warsaw Area: IFTR (Institute of Fundamental Technological Research), Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw; IMIK (Warsaw University of Technology, Institute of Mechanics and Design); and the company HI-TECH. The initiative is co-ordinated by the Information Processing Centre (OPI) which is in turn supervised by the State Committee for Scientific Research. [2]
In Bulgaria the local FEMIRC is a partnership between the Ministry of Industry, the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, the Bulgarian Industrial Association, the Agency for Economic Analysis and Forecasting, and is hosted and co-ordinated by the Applied Research and Communications Fund.
In both the Polish and Bulgarian examples the main role of the FEMIRC is to contribute to the opening of the country to wider co-operation in research and development and technology transfer, and to create an information infrastructure for co-operation and technology. In addition the FEMIRC's serve as a channel for increasing the information available on EU support mechanisms for research and development.
The Warsaw meeting was an opportunity for the various FEMIRC's to strengthen personal contacts with their equivalents in other countries developed at earlier meetings and to discuss issues of common interest.
The first session was on "Pro-accession strategies in research policy", and concerned mainly Polish issues relating to the proposal for Polish entry to the EU. The opening remarks were by Radoslaw Czapski from the Delegation of the European Commission in Warsaw. There was also a presentation from Marek Kepka of the Polish State Committee for Scientific Research, who argued that Poland was keen to be associated with the European Commissions new 5th Framework Programme, but that Polish Science is short of funds and that that there is concern that the Programme might prove expensive for Poland and the other countries who wish to be associated with it.
The second session of the conference concerned the Telematics for Libraries Programme, and focussed on the programme as an important initiative towards the "global information society".[3] The presentations included two by members of the British Council in Warsaw - Andrew Murray, who described British Council support for innovation and research in Poland and Central Europe, and by David Skinner on the role of the British Council in the EXPLOIT Accompanying Measure. [4] Christoph Albers of the Deutshces Bibliotheksinstitut, Berlin, discussed the EXPLOIT project as a case study of the Telematics for Libraries programme. The author of this article also gave a presentation during this session, on the relationship between Ariadne, and a proposed European analogue, intended to provide web review for European Library Telematics, in a manner similar to the web review of UK eLib projects provided by Ariadne. The session was closed by Mrs Bogumila Rykaczewska of the Warsaw University Computer Centre who spoke on telematics for libraries and education at the University.
The third session, like the first, focussed on issues of adaptation of CEE countries to EU administrative processes ("Technology and management activities stimulating integration processes"). The most significant contribution to this session was by Yannis Tsilibaris from the European Commission. He supplied an up-to-the-minute account of the Commission's ideas about the Fifth Framework Programme (1998-2002) - the printed version of which was supplied with the conference pack, but is already quite out of date. 
For example, the document - (EUR17651) - hardly mentions library telematics, subsuming everything relevant under the thematic heading "information society".[5] This deficiency is now being remedied.
A number of areas of confusion surfaced during the conference, mostly arising from a lack of clarity in definitions used in setting the parameters by which project managers will be expected to work. There was an interesting exchange, for example, between conference attendees connected with Poznan and Gdansk over whether or not Gdansk had a "Science Park", which hinged entirely on the difficulty of determining clearly the distinction between research in a university context, and in a commercial company.
As well as the formal sessions, and a internal meeting for FEMIRC members, there were other events. Guests were treated to lunch on both days of the conference, a cocktail party, and a dinner on the second day of the conference. There was also a demonstration of teleworking at the Warsaw University Computer Centre, on the Saturday morning, moderated by Bogumila Rykaczewska. A number of informal meetings were held by the participants. There was also a little time for some social events, including an opportunity for a group of us to see some of Warsaw, with Helena Korolewska-Mróz leading the tour.
[1] The Information Processing Centre (OPI), Warsaw, is at: http://ciuw.warman.net.pl/alf/opi/
[2] Information about the Polish Femirc can be found at: http://ciuw.warman.net.pl/alf/femirc/
Information about the activities of the partner organizations can be found at: http://ciuw.warman.net.pl/alf/femirc/dok5eng.htm
A new FEMIRC server is available at: http://www.femirc.org.pl This service will eventually replace the services mentioned above.
The final programme for the conference, issued shortly before it began, is available at: http://www.femirc.org.pl/wiadomosci/n/n07.html. The actual running order of the presentations was slightly different.
[3] Available at http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/libraries.html
[4] The EXPLOIT Accompanying Measure is listed among related accompanying measures at: http://www2.echo.lu/libraries/en/newproj.html
[5] , "Creating a user-friendly Information Society"; [Document EUR17651], p5, and Annex II of the same document, section II. The document is available on the web at: http://www.cordis.lu/esprit/src/istwork.htm
Material on this page is copyright Ariadne/original authors. This article last updated/links checked on 16-Jan-1998