Intelligent Tools for Policy Design / Concevoir les initiatives politiques à l’aide d’outils intelligents / Innovative IT-Lösung für Politik-Design
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Intelligent Tools for Policy Design
FP7 research project announced
(French and German versions below)
FUPOL (Future Policy Modeling) a project funded under the 7th framework program of the European Commission aims at a completely new approach to traditional politics. Major innovations like multichannel social computing and crowd sourcing will change the way politicians communicate with citizens and enterprises and take decisions. The system will be able to automatically collect, analyze and interpret opinions expressed on a large scale from the Internet.
“This will enable governments to gain a better understanding of the needs of citizens. Likewise the software will have the capabilities to simulate the effects of policies and laws and to assist governments in the whole policy design process” says Josef Janisch, CEO of Cellent AG, the company leading the FUPOL consortium.
Between 2011 and 2015 a team of political experts, simulation and computer scientists will develop advanced ICT tools to support policy design and implementation. It is undertaken by a consortium of 17 partners from Europe and China. Initially it is focused on local authorities and urban policy domains, but the technologies and innovations developed will be generic and could be used on any level and for any policy domain.
Project director Peter Sonntagbauer is convinced that governments can gain a lot from using advanced ICT in designing policies and communicating through social web with citizens and businesses. FUPOL will provide them with innovative tools to shape the wealth of information coming from the Internet and other sources into policies. Political organizations and politicians, which will use this new technology, will have better means to serve public interests.
The project already generated significant interest even beyond the European Union. One of the partners in the project is the City of Yantai in the Shandong province of the Peoples Republic of China. Like in most cities of China the economy drives a fast development of the city. The FUPOL project will provide the tools and methods for a sustainable development and a prosperous future. It could serve as a blueprint for other large fast developing urban areas in China.
Giorgio Prister, president of Major Cities of Europe (MCE) association concludes that an important motivation to participate in the project is to strengthen the participation of citizens and businesses in the political process by “Putting citizens first”. Some MCE member cities will be pilot sites for the project. FUPOL will contribute to the sustainable development of MCE member cities as well as to the overall digital agenda of the European Commission and will lower the barrier between citizens and politicians.
More information: www.fupol.eu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/fupol
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/FUPOL-4095009?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
Press contact international:
Alexander Krock (BIT, Bremerhaven): Tel +49-471 590-2035
e-mail: alexander.krock@bit.bremerhaven.de
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Concevoir les initiatives politiques à l’aide d’outils intelligents
Un projet de recherche développe une approche nouvelle à la politique traditionnelle
FUPOL (Future Policy Modeling = Modélisation des politiques futures), est un projet financé dans le cadre du 7e programme de la Commission Européenne. Il vise à une approche entièrement nouvelle à la politique traditionnelle. Des innovations majeures comme les réseaux sociaux et le « crowd sourcing » vont changer la façon dont les politiques vont communiquer avec les citoyens et les entreprises et vont prendre leur décisions. Le système sera capable de rassembler automatiquement, analyser et interpréter les opinions exprimées sur large échelle sur Internet.
"Cela permettra aux gouvernements d'acquérir une meilleure compréhension des besoins des citoyens. De même, le logiciel aura la capacité de simuler les conséquences des politiques et des lois et d’aider les gouvernements dans le processus de conception de l’ensemble des politiques » dit Josef Janisch, PDG de Cellent AG, l'entreprise leader du consortium FUPOL.
Entre 2011 et 2015 une équipe d'experts de politique et des scientifiques de simulation et d'informatique développeront des outils TIC avancés pour soutenir la conception et la mise en œuvre de politiques. Le projet est entrepris par un consortium de 17 partenaires d'Europe et de Chine. Initialement, il est axé sur les collectivités locales et les domaines de la politique urbaine, mais les technologies et les innovations développées seront d’utilisation générale et pourront être mises en oeuvre à n'importe quel niveau de tout le domaine de la politique.
Peter Sonntagbauer, le directeur du projet, est convaincu que les gouvernements peuvent avoir une aide considérable d’outils TIC à la pointe pour la conception de politiques et pour communiquer par le biais des réseaux sociaux avec les citoyens et les entreprises. FUPOL leur fournira des outils innovants pour modeler la grande richesse des informations venant d’Internet et d'autres sources pour mettre à point les politiques. Les organisations politiques et les politiques eux-mêmes, qui vont utiliser cette nouvelle technologie, pourront servir les intérêts publics d’une façon plus efficace.
Le projet a déjà suscité beaucoup d'intérêt au-delà même de l'Union européenne. Un des partenaires du projet est la ville de Yantai dans la province du Shandong de la République Populaire de Chine. Comme dans la plupart des villes de Chine l'économie entraîne un développement rapide de la ville. Le projet FUPOL fournira les outils et des méthodologies pour un développement durable et un avenir prospère. Il pourra servir de modèle pour d'autres zones urbaines de Chine à développement rapide..
Giorgio Prister, président de l’association Major Cities of Europe (MCE) conclut qu’une motivation importante pour participer à ce projet est de renforcer la participation des citoyens et des entreprises dans le processus politique et de positionner «Les citoyens en première ligne». Certaines des villes membres de MCE seront les sites pilotes pour le projet. FUPOL contribuera au développement durable des villes membres de MCE ainsi qu’à la réalisation de la stratégie numérique de la Commission européenne et abaissera la barrière entre les citoyens et les politiques.
Plus d'informations dans: www.fupol.eu
Facebook: www.facebook.com / fupol
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/FUPOL-4095009?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
Contact de la presse internationale:
Alexander Krock (BIT, Bremerhaven): Tél 49-471 590-2035
e-mail: alexander.krock@bit.bremerhaven.de
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Innovative IT-Lösung für Politik-Design
EU-Forschungsprojekt FUPOL entwickelt Software-Lösung für politische Gestaltung
FUPOL (Future Policy Modeling) ein Projekt, das im Rahmen des 7. Rahmenprogramms der Europäischen Kommission finanziert wird, zielt auf einen völlig neuen Ansatz zur traditionellen Politik. Wesentliche Neuerungen wie Multichannel Social Computing und Crowd Sourcing werden die Art und Weise, wie Politiker mit den Bürgern und Unternehmen kommunizieren und Entscheidungen treffen, verändern. Das System wird es ermöglichen, politische Meinungen, die im Internet geäußert werden, automatisch zu sammeln, zu analysieren und zu interpretieren..
„In Zeiten steigender Politikverdrossenheit soll FUPOL dazu beitragen, die Bürger näher an die Politik zu bringen. Im Internet wird täglich eine Vielzahl an politischen Meinungen geäußert, die größtenteils ungenutzt bleiben. Mit unserer Software-Lösung wird es möglich sein, die Informationsflut im Internet zu analysieren und effektiv für die Gestaltung der Politik zu nutzen“, sagt Josef Janisch, Vorstand der cellent AG in Österreich als FUPOL-Konsortialführer.
Zwischen 2011 und 2015 wird ein Team aus Wissenschaftlern aus den Bereichen Politik, Simulation und IT zusammen fortschrittliche IT-Werkzeuge zur Politikgestaltung und-umsetzung entwickeln. Das Projekt wird von einem Konsortium aus 17 Partnern aus Europa und China durchgeführt. Der Fokus des Projektes liegt zunächst auf der Stadtpolitik, die Lösung wird aber auf allen politischen Ebenen einsetzbar sein, da die entwickelten Technologien und Neuerungen generisch sind und für jeden Bereich der Politik nutzbar sind.
Projektleiter Peter Sonntagbauer ist überzeugt, dass Regierungen mit Hilfe modernster Informationstechnologie viel in der Gestaltung von Maßnahmen und in der Kommunikation über Soziale Netzwerke mit den Bürgern und Unternehmen gewinnen können. FUPOL wird sie mit innovativen Werkzeugen ausstatten, um die Fülle von Informationen aus dem Internet und anderen Quellen zu analysieren in den politischen Gestaltungsprozess zu integrieren. Politische Organisationen und Politiker, die diese neue Technologie nutzen, werden besseren Mittel und Wege besitzen, um dem öffentlichen Interesse zu dienen.
Das Projekt hat bereits großes Interesse auch außerhalb der Europäischen Union erzeugt. Einer der Partner im Projekt ist die Stadt Yantai in der Provinz Shandong der Volksrepublik China. Wie in den meisten Städten Chinas treibt die Wirtschaft eine schnelle Entwicklung der Stadt an. FUPOL soll dort die nachhaltige Entwicklung unterstützen und könnte in weiterer Folge auch in anderen Ballungsräumen Chinas zum Einsatz kommen.
Giorgio Prister, Präsident des Major Cities of Europe (MCE) e.V. kommt zu dem Schluss, dass eine wichtige Motivation, sich an dem Projekt beteiligen, ist, die Beteiligung von Bürgern und Unternehmen am politischen Prozess zu stärken, indem man „den Bürger an erste Stelle stellt“. Einige MCE Mitgliederstädte sind Pilotstandorte für das Projekt. FUPOL wird zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung der MCE Mitgliederstädte sowie der gesamten digitalen Agenda der Europäischen Kommission beitragen und die Barriere zwischen Bürgern und Politikern senken.
Mehr Informationen unter: www.fupol.eu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/fupol
Linkedin http://www.linkedin.com/groups/FUPOL-4095009?trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
Presse KontaKt International:
Alexander Krock (BIT, Bremerhaven): Tel +49-471 590-2035
e-mail: alexander.krock@bit.bremerhaven.de
FUPOL - FUture POLicy Modeling
Intelligent Tools for Policy Design
A. Background information
About the 7th Framework Research program (FP7) of the European Union
The complete name of FP7 is 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development. It will last for seven years from 2007 until 2013. The programme has a total budget of over € 50 billion.
FP7 is a key tool to respond to Europe's needs in terms of jobs and competitiveness, and to maintain leadership in the global knowledge economy.
The project is funded under objective 5.6 of the FP7 work program aiming at ICT solutions for governance and policy modeling. The objective targets research focusing on development of advanced ICT tools for policy modeling, prediction of policy impacts, development of a new governance models and collaborative solving of complex societal problems.
FUPOL at a glance
Budget: 9,1 Mio Euro
Duration: October 2011 – October 2015
The starting point of point was an analysis ICT for state-of-the-art policy making, which showed that many well established methodologies exist, but IT has not played a significant role in most of these efforts until now. This is especially true for urban policies, which are important on a worldwide scale since the majority of the world´s population is living in urban areas.
Based on the above the FUPOL consortium has elaborated a comprehensive approach to further advance the research and development in simulation, policy process modeling, semantic analysis and visualization. The scientific approach is based on complexity science. It aims at reducing the complexity through a comprehensive policy spiral design lifecycle approach deemed appropriate for complex societal problems.
Building on the current political environment and the public sector collective data, it will enable all stakeholders to better forecast and understand future trends. While the approach and the technologies itself are generic and can be used in any policy domain, the project will focus on urban policy challenges since the majority of the world´s population is living in urban areas
FUPOL Benefits
The FUPOL project will generate a lot of benefits for governments, citizens and businesses alike:
• Politicians can get a better understanding of the needs of citizen and businesses
• Direct, better feedback from all political stakeholders through multichannel social network based communication between politicians and citizens
• Improved prediction of impacts of policy measures leading to more efficient implementation of government policies
• Better decisions through forecasting of the potential impact of political decisions
• Increased engagement of citizens and wider use of ICT tools resulting in higher potential of innovation concerning interaction of citizens with the government.
FUPOL Objectives
Objective-1: Preparation of a new Governance Model
A new governance model to engage all stakeholders in the whole policy design lifecycle starting from the early automatic detection of citizens needs. The new governance model builds on Web 2.0 as well as existing know-how and government data available to create better policies and decisions based on the citizens’ expectations.
Objective-2: Preparation of a comprehensive Urban Policy Knowledge Database
The implementation of the governance model will be facilitated by an Urban Policy Knowledge Database based on scientific research of best practices recommendations, generic models and selected simulations. This urban policy knowledge is a conceptual framework and methodology for defining and modeling policies in ICT tools with specific recommendations and generic causal models. It will also include the relevant laws to policy domains.
Objective 3: Preparation of an innovative cloud computing based ICT Framework
The FUPOL solution will be based on cloud computing. This is a key success factor for large scale take-up and acceptance. During the pilot phase II and after the solution it will be accessible to all interested parties in Europe as a web service.
Objective 4: Prepare Multilingual Training and accompanying material
In order to explain the practical application of ICT tools and policy modeling in cities, municipalities and urban regions multilingual multimedia training material will be developed. This is considered crucial for the overall success of the project. The training material will also include Mandarin (Chinese).
Objective 5: Piloting and evaluation of the FUPOL approach in Europe and China
The work plan includes five demonstrators. They are in China, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy and the UK. The pilots already reflect the interest beyond the European Union. The pilots have well defined policy areas, namely urban planning, land use and sustainable development, migration and urban segregation.
Objective 6: Large scale dissemination of the result
Special attention will be given to large scale dissemination of the project results through the clusters of European cities.
The dissemination will be implemented in two major campaigns:
1. Create Awareness - The objective is to make the project well known to governments across Europe and encourage political entities. The objective will be met through conferences and workshops across Europe, articles and publications.
2. Disseminate project results – The objective builds on experiences of the awareness phase I (e.g. classification of events, identified channels and personal contacts). The main difference is that in phase 2 there is marketable result.
Objective 7: Design and initiation of a sustainable exploitation
The objective refers to the elaboration of a sustainability strategy and initiation of steps to ensure further exploit the results (4th project year). As one principle FUPOL will follow open source license principles as much as possible to ensure broad based exploitation, adoption and use of results. Since the project has a strong ICT industry involvement it will encourage the FUPOL best practice exchange between ICT Industry and the EU Public Sector.
B. FUPOL Partners
The FUPOL consortium comprises innovative multinational companies, leading research institutes, high-level political organizations and strong pilot partners.
CELLENT AG (AUSTRIA) – COORDINATOR
Cellent AG (AT) is the Austrian subsidiary of a large scale IT corporation with its headquarters in Germany. Cellent AG was founded in Germany by merging four IT-companies in 2002 and operates offices and subsidiaries at ten locations in Germany, Austria and in Switzerland. Cellent AG has an industry-leading innovation, research and development policy aiming at developing IT-solutions, which will shape the world of tomorrow. Following an initiative of the "Institute for the Future" Cellent AG and Bley and Schwarzmann AG formed a think-tank to was formed with the participation of the Cellent AG. It published a forward-looking magazine called "Der Vordenker" ("Thinking ahead").
XEROX RESEARCH CENTER EUROPE (FRANCE)
Xerox Corporation is a world-wide player in the market for document systems and services. Xerox is positioning itself to become a leader in the market for Internet document services and knowledge management solutions. Xerox Research Centre Europe is committed to inventing and designing document technologies that enhance productivity and creativity in the workplace. It pursues a vision of document technology where language, physical location and media impose no barrier to effective use.
FRAUNHOFER-IGD (GERMANY)
Fraunhofer is with 57 institutes, more than 6.000 employees and 900 million € revenues the biggest applied R&D society in Germany. The Fraunhofer Institute of Computer Graphics (Fh-IGD) belongs to the IuK-cluster and is active in different fields of Computer Graphics. The research of IGD is organized in three main areas: semantics in modelling, confluence of graphics and vision, and generalized digital documents.
CITY OF ZAGREB (CROATIA)
The city of Zagreb is the capital of the Republic of Croatia, a unit of local administration and at the same time of regional administration at county level. The City of Zagreb is active on the international plan through its membership in international and intercity organizations and associations and by participating in numerous international issues on the development and advancing local self-administration.
YANTAI ZONGHE XINXI ZHONG XIN (CHINA)
Yantai Integrated Information Centre is a government agency, which belongs to the government of the Yantai City in China. Yantai is currently the second largest industrial city in Shandong, next only to Qingdao. The aim of the Yantai Integrated Information Centre is provide IT services to all departments and counties concerning their e-government activities.
BIT STADT BREMERHAVEN(GERMANY) ) / MAJOR CITIES OF EUROPE (MCE)
Betrieb für Informationstechnologie (BIT) GmbH is a company, owned to a 100% by the City of Bremerhaven. It acts as secretary for Major Cities of Europe and has therefore access to a wide network of IT users in major cities such Berlin, Dublin, Hamburg, Paris, Rome, Vienna and Zagreb.
ZAVOD ZA INFORMATICKU DJELATNOST (ZIH)
ZIH is a leading enterprise for more than 30 years in the area of management and ICT consulting, especially quality management assurance and control. ZIH is providing training services, management and ICT consulting and quality control services in Croatia and in countries of South East Europe.
SOCIOTEHNISKO SISTEMU INZENIERIJASINSTITUTS VIDZEMES AUGSTSKOLAS AGENTURA (LATVIA)
Socio-technical Systems Engineering Institute (SSEI) (see: http://www.socsimnet.com) of Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences is public funded legal entity and scientific institution registered in Register of Scientific institutions of the Latvia. It was found in 2006. Research directions involve: Logistics information systems and RFID technologies; Hybrid and distributed simulation systems; E-Democracy processes modelling; Socio-technical evaluation of technologies; Use of virtual and augmented reality in the training process and visualisation.
UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA (SPAIN)
The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (www.uab.es) plays a leading role in scientific research. The UAB coordinates a high-profile scientific and technological centre (the Esfera UAB), promotes new business projects, directs and projects its productive activity towards its socio-economic surroundings, and disseminates its newly acquired knowledge. The University is therefore a breeding ground for quality researchers and a centre for the dissemination of knowledge and technologies.
COMUNE DI PRATO (ITALY)
Prato is an urban community in Tuscany with 250,000 inhabitants. Prato has been very active in Information Technology since many years. Since 1989, it has been providing certification and information services to text-based kiosks. Since 1996, the City of Prato started to provide information to the public through the Internet, involving other municipalities and other parts of the public sector. It is considered as one of the leaders in the application of ICT-based innovations.
e@SY Connects/Lead Authority BARNSLEY METROPOLITAN BOROUGH COUNCIL (UK)
e@SY Connects acts a representative for the four public administrations of Sheffield City Council, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley Metropolitan Borough councils as well as the Health Authorities, Police Authority, Passenger Transport Authority, Fire and other public agencies across the South Yorkshire region. Together they form the partnership called e@SY Connects. Whilst its component membership have extensive EU experience, e@SY Connects also engages in projects on behalf of the full partnership and has been involved in a variety of e-Participation projects examining the use of a wide range of access devices such as mobile phones in the consultation process and Interreg Projects dealing with e-Petitioning.
ACTIVE SOLUTION INGENIEURBURO AG (AUSTRIA)
ACTIVE SOLUTION Ingenieurbüro AG is specialized in technical IT, CAD and GIS and provides high quality IT and engineering services. It has sales of € 3.75 million and 70 highly specialized employees. www.dasingenieurbuero.at
INTERFUSION SERVICES LIMITED (CYPRUS)
InterFusion Services Ltd is an innovative R&D SME based in Cyprus. InterFusion employs experts with vast experience in the management and coordination of research funded projects in both national and European level projects in various domains like e-learning, e-government and e-inclusion.
THE MUNICIPALITY OF PEGEIA (CYPRUS)
Pegeia Municipality is a public local government body in the district of Paphos. Pegeia Municipal Council is the policy-making body in its area of jurisdiction for a number of issues and policy areas defined by national law. The Municipal Council has the authority to promote, depending on its finances, a vast range of activities and events including the arts, education, sport and social services.
QUALYSOFT GMBH (AUSTRIA)
The Qualysoft Group is a multinational provider of IT Solutions and Project Management expertise, with important references in the public sector. The Qualysoft Group has affiliated companies in Austria, Hungary, Germany, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine. The number of employees has been rising continuously, at the present moment there are more than 250 experts available.
PIN SOC.CONS. A R.L. (ITALY)
PIN is a not profit research entity with public (70,79% capital share) and private (29,21% capital share) stakeholders, providing services for the activities in the Prato area of the University of Florence, a public academic institution, the main stakeholder. PIN was founded in 1992 in Prato, to provide local higher education services (12 graduate and post graduate university degrees) and promote and develop research activities through the action of its 16 laboratories, operating in very different scientific fields.
UNIVERSITATEA ROMANO-AMERICANA ASOCIATIE (ROMANIA)
Founded in 1991, the Romanian American University – RAU is one of the private Universities in Romania, and it offers training for about 15,000 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs. As one of the major institutions of higher education in Romania, the University is committed to provide a wide spectrum of disciplines in teaching and research, to generate outstanding achievements, and to break new ground through the targeted utilization of the advantages and synergies of interdisciplinary work in research and teaching. The R&D activity is a basic part of the University, and it is focused on eLearning, eHealth, eGovernment, eBusiness, eWorking.