This publication produced by NUTEK, the Swedish National Board for Industrial and Technical Development, provides an analysis of Swedish organisation participation in the EU Framework programmes during 1994, under the EEA Agreement, but before Sweden became a member of the European Union. Although most co-operation tends to take place on a commercial basis, usually between two companies, it recognises that the importance of international co-operation in research and development has increased. This can also include several partners of which the most comprehensive co-operation of this type is that organised under the EU Framework Programme.
However, the report highlights that Swedish participation across all the Third Framework R&D activities is lower than other EU countries of comparable size.
Contact for the Report:
Mr Hans Ahrens, Project Manager, NUTEK, Liljeholmsvagen 32, Stockholm, 117 86
Sweden
Tel: +46 8 681 94 08
Fax: +46 8 681 9118
Email: hans.ahrens@nutek.se
This publication provides comprehensive coverage of most of the activities involving the use of telematics in Finland. It was aimed to promote Finland's involvement in the EU Telematics Application Programme and it certainly does provide a good overview for any organisation looking for a Finnish partner for a EU funded project. Other countries ought to consider producing such a publication in order to "spread the word" about their own activities. It contains over three pages of contact points for organisations involved in the education and training sector alone. There is also a section on Finnish attitudes and beliefs towards flexible and distance learning - claimed to be the most positive in Europe. This is based on a BEACON Survey conducted under the Third Framework Telematics for Flexible and Distance Learning Programme.
Contact for this Publication:
Finnish Value Relay Centre, P.O. Box 69, FIN-00101 Helsinki, Finland
Tel: +358 0 693 691
Fax: +358 0 6936 7796
According to a new report most of Europe's business and residential customers continue to benefit each year from real cuts in what they pay for their telephone services, but there still is a wide range between the cheapest and the most expensive countries.
The 1995 edition of the report "Cutting the Cost" produced by Analysys, the UK based telecommunications consultants, has looked at a range of typical European customers from average residential users to 100 line businesses. According to Dr Graham Louth the competitive markets in Finland and the UK produced another steep reduction in price over the last year, but bills in other countries such as Germany and the Netherlands stayed the same in real terms. Business customers in certain countries, like Italy and Ireland, are now clearly paying more than their competitors elsewhere in Europe. For residential customers, Finland, France, the Netherlands and the UK are delivering the best deals, with Ireland and Italy again lagging behind.
The report also provides evidence of the continuing sharp falls in the cost of international calls. Although the number of calls made continues to grow strongly, bills for calls abroad have fallen by at least half in all countries over the last decade.
For further information contact:
Nick Gray, Principal Consultant, Analysys, St Giles House, 24 Castle Street,
Cambridge CB3 0AJ UK
Tel +44 1223 460
Fax +44 1223 460866
Email nick.gray@analysys.co.uk
Finland is the first country in Europe to launch a nationwide pilot digital media network that will offer fullscale multimedia services such as video and music on-demand, live TV and radio programming, and full internet access. It is estimated that several thousands of users will pilot the service. The media pilot network is targeted to business desktops as well as to Internet users. Besides customized news services the pilot is a base for business-to-business marketing and training. For Telecom Finland's Internet customers it adds audio and video as a seamless part of the World Wide Web applications. The media network also provides a testbed for a digital entertainment service development.
Telecom Finland's concept for distributed digital media adds new services on top of the existing data networks and Internet. The pilot network supports user access from low speed modems to high-speed ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode). The data transfer speed defines the quality of live and on-demand audio and video.
For further information point your browser to: http://www.ml.tele.fi/
or contact Mika Uusitalo, Head of Medialab, Telecom Finland
Tel: +358-20-407 2274
Fax: +358-20-407 2669
E-mail: Mika.Uusitalo@tele.fi
WebCaucus is a new host system (server) software program that brings a new level of interactivity to a World Wide Web site. It was developed jointly by Camber-Roth and Metasystems Design Group, Inc., and is based on the Caucus conferencing program developed during the past ten years. Now, with the WebCaucus extension, the full benefits of true conferencing can be gained by anyone with any standards-based WWW browser.
The WebCaucus host system can offer a mix of open and private electronic conferences. The postings in a WebCaucus conference are called "discussion items" or "discussion topics." Comments made to a "discussion item" are called "responses." WebCaucus keeps track of which items and responses have been seen by each individual and when the user asks to see the "new" items and responses they are displayed in the sequence in which they were entered. The user therefore feels like they are particpating in multiple conversations even though these conversations are happening in virtual time and space.
For further information contact:
Metasystems Design Group, Inc
Tel +1 703-243-6622
Fax +1703-841-9798
Email: info@tmn.com
or point your browser to: http://www.tmn.com