Posts by David Ringrose

In case anyone is less than impressed by blithe assertions about the usefulness of DG CONNECT, you can check out what we actually do here http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/connect/en/what-we-do

Needless to say that the Digital Agenda ( http://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda ) pre-dates the BBC's "Make it Digital" initiative by about 5 years, so comparisons are not exactly germane.

eCall doesn't track

Don't worry that eCall will be tracking you. The system does not send out any signal before it is actually activated as a result of a serious crash.

What we're really about

Glad to see that you are interested in how the European Commission is aiming to support future & emerging technologies in Europe.

Unfortunately, your article is shot through with misconceptions, which explains perhaps your overall conclusions regarding the recent announcement of a competition for EU funding in this area.

As an avid watcher of European research, you will know yourself that the Commission would never fund such a project unless it had been submitted to the full glare of scientific peer review. The process which we put in place, in which a panel of senior figures from academia, leaders of national research programmes and managers from Europe and the rest of the world assessed the applications, is designed to ensure that this is not, as you claim, "lacking in scientific rigour, intellectual coherence or even basic engineering principles". Indeed, the preparatory research which got the projects this far has already been funded in universities and research centres, all of which have their own peer review mechanisms.

Nor does your selective use of quotes from one out of date consultation support the idea that these are designed to be "whimsical technology projects". We are aiming, using the collaborative, long-term nature of the programme, to build up Europe's expertise in key future information technologies and improve its competitiveness by accelerating the time to market of some breakthrough science.

You can follow the development of this exciting programme here http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/fet/flagship/home_en.html

David RINGROSE

Head of Communication Unit, European Commission, Directorate General for Information Society & Media