Communication from the Commission to theEuropean Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - A public-private partnership on the Future Internet
Date: 2009-10-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Internet, information network, information technology, innovation, public service, public-private partnership, trans-European network

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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 28.10.2009 
COM(2009)479 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

A public-private partnership on the Future Internet 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

A public-private partnership on the Future Internet 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

1. 

2. 

3. 

3.1. 

3.2. 

4. 

4.1. 

4.2. 

4.3. 

5. 

5.1. 

5.2. 

Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3 

Objectives of this Communication............................................................................... 4 

Future Internet – a tool for a smarter world ................................................................. 5 

Smart Infrastructure Trends ......................................................................................... 5 

Trends driving the Future Internet ............................................................................... 6 

The European footprint on the Future Internet ............................................................ 7 

Future Internet in FP7 .................................................................................................. 7 

Future Internet Initiatives by Member States............................................................... 8 

Industrial and innovation dimension............................................................................ 8 

Action lines on the Future Internet............................................................................... 9 

Strengthening investment in R&D on the Future Internet ........................................... 9 

Leveraging on Member States’ initiatives and promoting the international dimension 
of the Future Internet.................................................................................................... 9 

5.3. 

Building a public-private partnership on the Future Internet..................................... 10 

6. 

Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 12 

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1. 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Internet  has  become  one  of  the  most  critical  infrastructures  of  the  21st  century, 
supporting social and economic developments just as railways, roads and aeronautic transport 
networks have been doing over the past century. It is not only the vehicle of a new economy 
of  services  but  also  a  tool  supporting  the  emergence  of  the  ‘fifth  freedom’  and  a  truly 
knowledge-based society.1  

The changes the Internet has made to our economies and societies will be even more evident 
in the future, driven by the progress of Information and Communication Technologies and by 
the blossoming of novel business and societal applications. 

Public services such as health, mobility, environmental monitoring or energy management are 
currently  sustained  by  complex  infrastructures  traditionally  not  powered  by  the  internet. 
These infrastructures can be made ‘smart’, i.e. much more efficient and sustainable, as soon 
as the internet is fully integrated into their basic functions and processes. However, new levels 
of  efficiency  and  productivity  gains  will  only  be  possible  if  technological  roadblocks  are 
overcome with multi-disciplinary and open innovation approaches. 

The internet has enabled multiple waves of innovation: first with the introduction of the web, 
then with the integration of communication and audio visual services (e.g. VoIP and IPTV)2 
and  more  recently  with  multiple  online  services  and  applications.  However,  the  large-scale 
integration of multiple technologies, such as distributed computing platforms, web 2.0, peer-
to-peer  services,  diverse  broadband  access  networks,  mobile  devices  and  sensors  (‘things’), 
calls  for  a  rethink  of  the  internet  architecture,  which  was  conceived  more  than  thirty  years 
ago.  Trust  and  security  are  key  aspects  where  new  answers  are  needed.  New  functionalities 
with ever increasing performance levels are required to support the real-time requirements of 
novel applications.  

Beyond  technological  issues,  the  restructuring  of  business  and  social  interaction  processes 
unleashed  by  the  future  internet  infrastructure  could  provide  European  stakeholders  with  a 
golden opportunity to lead a new wave of innovation and to establish a position in the internet 
economy that is commensurate with their technological and scientific know-how. 

Elsewhere  in  the  world,  in  the  USA,  Japan,  Korea  and  China,  for  example,  the  ‘Future 
Internet’ has become a strategic priority. In the European Union, it is one of the priorities of 
the FP7 ICT research programme, with about 20 % of the ICT budget supporting R&D in this 
domain. Several Member States have also launched ambitious initiatives in this field. 

Making  Europe  a  leading  region  in  Future  Internet  technologies  and  applications  requires  a 
coherent  approach  to  leverage  the  multiple  ongoing  efforts  at  European  level  and  in  the 
Member States. The European Union has taken several steps within a wider policy approach 
on the internet, for example, to drive the deployment of innovative internet technologies such 
as IPv63 and to create a favourable environment for the emergence of the ‘Internet of Things’ 

1 
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3 

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/ueDocs/cms_Data/docs/pressData/en/ec/99410.pdf. 
Voice over IP, IP television services  
COM(2008)  313  final,  ‘Action  Plan  for  the  deployment  of  Internet  Protocol  version  6  (IPv6)  in 
Europe’. 

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(IoT),4 while at the same time supporting the founding governance principles of the internet: 
the end-to-end principle, openness and interoperability. It is essential to reap the early benefits 
of long-term research investments, with short to medium-term innovation initiatives that can 
make for the emergence of novel industrial and service providers in Europe.  

A  comprehensive  approach  to  digital  society  and  economy  is  now  needed,  that  will 
encompass the Future Internet - one of its building blocks. This approach and the measures 
announced in this Communication will be integrated into a comprehensive European Digital 
Agenda,  which  the  Commission  will  present  in  the  course  of  next  year,  to  tackle  the  main 
obstacles  to  a  genuine  digital  single  market,  promote  investment  in  high-speed  Internet  and 
avert an unacceptable digital divide5. 

2. 

OBJECTIVES OF THIS COMMUNICATION 

The  anticipated  technological  developments  of  the  Future  Internet  and  the  trends  towards 
smart  infrastructures  (in  energy,  mobility,  health,  work,  environment,  etc.)  provide  Europe 
with an opportunity to progress towards a sustainable economy, in line with the Commission 
recovery package adopted on 26 November 2008.6 

Leveraging  Future  Internet  technologies  through  their  use  in  smart  infrastructures  offer  the 
opportunity to boost European competitiveness in nascent technologies and systems such as 
sensor  networks7  or  ‘cloud  computing’,  and  will  make  it  possible  to  measure,  monitor  and 
process huge volumes of information.8 

This  Communication  seeks  to  provide  a  framework  to  make  the  most  of  these  trends, 
underpinning  the  emergence  of  a  ‘smart’  society  while  at  the  same  time  increasing  the 
competitiveness of the European ICT industry, in particular by:  

•  capitalising  on  the  steps  taken  at  EU  level  to  push  the  frontiers  of  internet  technology 

forward; 

•  consolidating  the  short  to  medium-term  approach,  re-emphasising  key  aspects  and 

encouraging new initiatives to help give Europe a leading edge in the Future Internet; 

•  preparing for the launch of a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) initiative on the Future 

Internet, as also encouraged by Member States9 and industry.10 

Taking advantage of this opportunity means: 

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COM(2009) 278 final; ‘Internet of Things – An action plan for Europe’. 
http://ec.europa.eu/commission_barroso/president/pdf/press_20090903_EN.pdf 
COM(2008) 800 final; ‘A European Economic Recovery Plan’. 
76 million sensors for energy grids have been installed world-wide. This will double in the next 4 years 
or so. 
See  e.g.  item  44,  COM(2009)  279/4;  ‘A  sustainable  future  for  transport:  Towards  an  integrated, 
technology-led and user friendly system’. 
http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/08/st16/st16616.en08.pdf. 
http://www.future-internet.eu/fileadmin/documents/reports/Cross-
ETPs_FI_Vision_Document_v1_0.pdf. 

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•  establishing  close  partnerships  between  stakeholders  in  the  different  domains,  ICT  and 

smart infrastructures, 

•  overcoming fragmentation and building critical mass at EU level,  

•  fostering competition, openness and standardisation, involving consumer/citizen, ensuring 
trust, security and data protection with transparent and democratic governance and control 
of offered services as guiding principles. 

An  industry-driven  PPP  implemented  with  existing  Framework  Programme  mechanisms  in 
the coming ICT Work Programmes for 2011-2013 will ensure a quick start of these activities. 
The PPP will capitalise on the work of five European Technology Platforms11 (ETPs), with 
cross-fertilisation of the internet-related issues of their respective Strategic Research Agendas.  

3. 

FUTURE INTERNET – A TOOL FOR A SMARTER WORLD 

Multiple  initiatives  have  been  initiated  world-wide  to  make  infrastructure  supporting 
applications  of  social  value  ‘smarter’.  They  respond  to  the  need  to  move  towards  a  more 
sustainable and efficient economy, to ensure harmonised use of natural resources, to mitigate 
the  effects  of  climate  change  and  to  preserve  our  environment.  These  endeavours  are  very 
much in the public eye. In Europe, the ‘Climate and Energy Package’12 provides an ambitious 
policy framework for the reappraisal of infrastructure serving public needs.  

3.1. 

Smart Infrastructure Trends 

Many of these initiatives will make extensive use of connectivity and distributed information 
processing to redesign their business and operational processes and make them ‘smart’.  

Examples of smart infrastructure include:  

•  Smart  energy  grids:  electricity  generation  around  the  world  will  nearly  double,  from 
about 17.3 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) in 2005 to 33.3 trillion kWh in 2030. Energy grids 
will  increasingly  face  risks  of  congestion  and  blackout.  Internet  connectivity,  computing 
power, digital sensors and remote control of the transmission and distribution system will 
help to make grids smarter, greener and more efficient.13 ‘Smart grids’ or ‘energy internet’ 
can be more responsive, interactive and transparent than today’s grid. It can cope with new 
sources  of  renewable  power,  make  for  coordinated  charging  of  devices  and  provide 
information  to  consumers  about  their  levels  of  use;  it  will  allow  utilities  to  control  their 
networks  more  effectively,  and  help  to  reduce  greenhouse  gas  emissions.  In  some  pilot 
projects, using today’s internet technologies has made it possible to reduce peak loads by 
more than 15 %.  

•  Smart environmental information systems: the use of sensor networks for collecting real 
or near real time environmental data is a growing field of application. It requires Internet 
connectivity  for  data  management,  dissemination  and  integration  in  complex  information 
systems.  These  environmental  information  services  are  also  expected  to  support  a 

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ETP’s eMobility, NEM, EPoSS, ISI, NESSI. 
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/climat/climate_action.htm. 
Up to 40 % of the energy produced may be lost on its way to the consumer. 

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multiplicity  of  sectors,  such  as  location  and  operation  of  various  renewable  energy 
production  centres,  efficient  management  of  intelligent  buildings,  safer  road  transport 
systems or general public information on environmental risks and hazards14  

•  Smart  systems  for  transport  and  mobility:  traffic  jams  are  thought  to  cost  Europe 
€135bn a year. In Germany alone, it is estimated th at traffic jams cost 33 million litres of 
fuel and 13 million idle hours every day, an economic loss of €250m per day. 15 Building 
new roads is often not a viable option. Putting ‘intelligence’ into the roads and cars with 
Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS)16– with e.g sensor networks, radio frequency tags, and 
positioning  systems17  –  offer  a  promising  alternative.  The  internet  provide  a  solution  to 
interconnect these diverse technologies and bring more efficiency to mobility through real-
time  management  of  public  and  private  transport  resources,  traveller  information  and 
decision-making tools, way beyond the capability of current solutions.18 

•  Smart healthcare systems: to reduce medical costs and improve patient comfort, medical 
treatment  is  increasingly  provided  in  the  domestic  environment  rather  than  in  hospitals. 
Current  research  experiments  aim  to  develop  technologies  for  ‘ambient’  environments 
capable  of  assisting  patients  and  satisfying  their  information  and  communication  needs. 
These technologies combine devices (sensors, actuators, special hardware and equipment), 
networks  and  service  platforms  to  harness  information  about  medical  conditions,  patient 
records,  allergies  and  illnesses.  These  huge  databases  can  be  used  either  for  medical 
assistance or for research and statistical purposes. 

These networked infrastructures provide typical examples of internet technologies supporting 
both  the  economic  and  social  efficiency  of  vital  day-to-day  processes.  In  Europe,  several 
cities  have  started  pilot  projects  in  these  domains,  albeit  on  a  small  scale:  Stockholm 
(transport  system),  Amsterdam  (mobility  and  work),  Malta  (energy  grid),  Paris  (healthcare) 
and many more throughout the world.  

This  move  is  already  being  embraced  by  prominent  internet  companies.  It  will  continue  to 
expand  in  the  future,  opening  up  tremendous  opportunities  for  public  and  private  players 
alike. It is time for Europe to seize this opportunity and to develop an ambitious approach 
towards internet-enhanced infrastructures. 

3.2. 

Trends driving the Future Internet 

The scope and scale of new application scenarios also raise concerns as to the capability of 
the current internet infrastructure:  

•  Access rates are exploding. A number of EU Member States are planning at least 100 Mb/s 
access  by  2015.  Other  countries  in  the  world  (e.g.  Korea)  have  set  the  objective  of 

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the  European  Environment  Agency  Bathing  water  quality 

See  e.g. 
http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/status-and-monitoring/state-of-bathing-water-1/bathing-water-
data-viewer 
http://www.bundesregierung.de/nn_6562/Content/EN/Artikel/2008/01/2008-01-01-hightech-verkehr-
innovationsstrategie-januar-2008__en.html. 
COM(2008) 886 final/2 « Action Plan for the deployment of Intelligent Transport Systems in Europe » 
These may be based on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) or on other location technologies. 
Recent city pilot projects have already shown that gridlock cuttings of 20 % and gas emission reduction 
of 12 % are within reach of today’s technology. 

-  viewer 

initiative. 

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nationwide  access  rates  of  1Gb/s  by  2012,  a  250-fold  increase  compared  on  the  average 
broadband access on offer today.  

•  Internet  data  traffic  is  growing  by  60 %  every  year.  Trends  such  as  peer-to-peer,  video 
sharing and high-definition online TV will continue to drive traffic growth at exponential 
rates.  Bottlenecks  are  being  exacerbated  by  the  current  low  incentive  to  invest  in 
infrastructure.  

•  By 2012 the number of internet users will grow by an additional 1 billion with the global 
take-up  of  broadband  mobile,  although  the  internet  is  not  designed  to  support  mobile 
usage. 

•  Viruses and attacks on the internet and the web are proliferating. Electronic identification 
theft and privacy breaches through inappropriate use of personal and critical business data 
are also on the increase. With the massive deployment of sensor-based infrastructure, the 
soaring of devices accessing the Internet, security concerns and vulnerabilities are bound to 
increase  and  possibilities  for  cybercrime  to  rise  dramatically.  The  lack  of  ‘trusted 
environments’ further compounds the issue. 

•  Internet  services19  are  mushrooming.  This  is  also  fuelled  by  the  emergence  of  what  is 
known as the open innovation model and ‘cloud computing’.20 Cloud computing radically 
reduces market entry barriers for service providers, especially SMEs.  

•  Prospects are for trillions of different devices, sensors, services and ‘things’ getting online. 
This  will  make  existing  infrastructure  ‘smarter’,  and  allow  these  services  to  be  used  by 
citizens,  businesses  and  public  administrations  alike.  Our  capacity 
to  employ 
comprehensive approaches in support of societal applications needs to be enhanced. 

A  mere  technological  response  is  not  enough  to  rise  to  the  challenge  of  these  trends.  A 
stronger  link  is  required  between  the  development  of  technologies  and  user  and  application 
requirements. 

4. 

THE EUROPEAN FOOTPRINT ON THE FUTURE INTERNET 

4.1. 

Future Internet in FP7 

The Commission has already recognised the importance of the Future Internet.21  

Steps have been taken through FP7 to position Europe as a leading region in the technological 
arena.  

Europe’s  current  research  efforts  on  the  Future  Internet  account  for  about  90  projects, 
involving more than 500 European entities with total EU funding of around €400m over two-
year  periods  on  average.  This  work  includes  the  ‘FIRE’  initiative,  which  supports 
experimental  large-scale  test-beds  to  assess  Future  Internet  technologies,  envisage  future 

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21 

Typical examples: Gmail, Facebook, Amazon ,e-Bay…. 
Cloud computing is a model of computing where resources are provided as a service over the internet 
instead of being owned and managed by the service providers. 
COM(2008) 594; ‘Communication on future networks and the internet’. 

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requirements,  and  anticipate  the  social  and  economic  implications.  The  research  network 
GÉANT  also  supports  the  early  deployment,  testing  and  experimentation  of  the  Future 
Internet.22 

This investment has had a significant federating effect on the research community in Europe, 
namely through the creation of the Future Internet Assembly (FIA).23 

The research undertaken so far needs to be further consolidated by: 

–  extending  interrelations  between  the  various  technological  domains  contributing  to  the 

emergence of the Future Internet;  

–  developing a comprehensive understanding of the socio-economic  requirements and their 

technological implications;  

–  leveraging the use of high-speed research networks, such as GÉANT, to support the early 

deployment, testing and experimentation of the Future Internet. 

4.2. 

Future Internet Initiatives by Member States 

A significant number of Member States have launched national initiatives. In 2008, a Member 
States working group looked at the possibility of building common approaches in this field,24 
given the diversity of topics, strategies and industrial policies. In their report, Member States 
identified the benefit of ‘fostering the emergence of applications of EU wide dimension and 
putting in place experimental facilities and testbeds’. 

A ‘Future Internet Forum’ (FIF)25 was set up to coordinate national initiatives, reflecting the 
commitment of Member  States  to address  the  development of the Future  Internet jointly by 
sharing  information,  best  practices  and  benchmark  technologies  and  applications.  It  also 
encourages  the  deployment  of  innovative  solutions  addressing  common  requirements, 
possibly through public procurement. 

4.3. 

Industrial and innovation dimension 

From an industrial policy perspective, the European Commission encourages the creation of 
industry-academia  partnerships  sharing  coherent  research  roadmaps.  Five  European 
Technology Platforms (ETP’s) are currently active in Future Internet-related technologies and 
systems: eMobility, NEM, NESSI, ISI and EPoSS. 

These ETP’s have helped to establish research priorities at European level.  

The  time  is  now  ripe  for  a  more  focused  and  integrated  partnership  between  stakeholders, 
targeting common industrial goals. To that end, a group of leading ICT companies in Europe 
has taken the initiative of defining the content and structure of a public-private partnership. 

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See Communication ‘e-Infrastructures for e-Science:  
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0108:FIN:EN:PDF. 
http://www.future-internet.eu/home/future-internet-assembly.html. 
Report from the National ICT Research Directors Working Group on Future Internet: 
http://www.future-internet.eu/fileadmin/documents/reports/FI_Rep_final__281108_.pdf. 
http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/activities/foi/lead/fif/index_en.htm. 

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5. 

ACTION LINES ON THE FUTURE INTERNET 

The  Future  Internet  will  not  be  ‘more  of  the  same’,  but  rather  an  infrastructure  that 
incorporates new technologies on a large scale that can unleash novel classes of applications 
and business models. 

Europe needs to tackle the attendant challenges and priorities in the context of its forthcoming 
Digital Agenda. Three interrelated vectors have been identified:  

•  strengthening investment in R&D with high leveraging effect on private investments 

•  leveraging on Member States’ initiatives, and  

•  building a public-private partnership with industrial stakeholders. 

Openness,  democratic  control  of  critical  resources,  transparent  governance  models,  user 
involvement  through  open  innovation  schemes,  trust  data  protection  and  security  will  be 
reflected in the proposed action lines as appropriate, as guiding principles of the Internet of 
the Future. 

5.1. 

Strengthening investment in R&D on the Future Internet 

The Future Internet requires a long-term approach, which necessitates sustained investment in 
research while avoiding distortion of competition. 

Line of action: 

–  The Commission intends to allocate a minimum of €200m per year in the FP7 ICT work 
programme covering the period 2011-2013, in support of the medium to long term research 
issues of the Future Internet outside of the proposed PPP. 

–  In  its  regulatory  and  research  policies,  the  Commission  will  adopt  a  comprehensive 
approach  to  R&D  to  address  the  Future  Internet,  with  the  objectives  of  overcoming  the 
technological roadblocks, while addressing user involvement, governance, standardisation 
and IPR. 

–  The  Commission  will  actively  promote  the  FIA  as  a  tool  for  consolidating  R&D, 
disseminating  results,  exploring  further  research/deployment  priorities  and  scenarios, 
reducing fragmentation of efforts, and promoting applications for the FI by capitalising on 
the momentum towards ‘smart infrastructure’. 

5.2. 

Leveraging  on  Member  States’  initiatives  and  promoting  the  international 
dimension of the Future Internet 

Although  significant,  Member  States’  initiatives  will  benefit  from  cross-visibility  and 
common  strategies  where  useful.  The  complexity  of  the  Future  Internet,  bringing  together 
large  communities  of  stakeholders  and  expertise,  requires  a  structured  mechanism  to  avoid 
fragmentation  of  efforts  and  to  identify  goals  of  common  interest.  Joint  action  is  therefore 
invaluable to pull together the different initiatives to make Europe a more influential player 
on the international scene. 

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Line of action: 

–  The Commission will actively contribute to an ambitious work programme for the Future 
Internet Forum of Member States, with the objective of reducing fragmentation of efforts, 
identifying best practices and maximising the take-up of Future Internet applications of a 
social dimension, possibly through public procurement.  

–  The Commission will regularly inform the Future Internet Forum of progress achieved by 
the PPP in support of the objectives of reducing fragmentation of efforts and sharing best 
practices.  

–  The  Commission  will  step  up  its  efforts  to  enhance  the  EU’s  bilateral  and  multilateral 
international cooperation with other leading Future Internet initiatives, with the objective 
of encouraging global standards and interoperability of the Future Internet, in line with the 
policy adopted by the Commission in this field.26 

5.3. 

Building a public-private partnership on the Future Internet  

The  Future  Internet  will  accelerate  a  new  industrial  revolution  where  internet  operators, 
service  developers  and  equipment  manufacturers  will  be  called  upon  to  work  in  partnership 
with  public  stakeholders.  This  trend  can  be  driven  through  leveraging  on  the  intermediate 
results of long-term research to address the demand for more intelligent services. 

In this respect, industry has recently initiated27 and proposed28 a Future Internet Public Private 
Partnership (PPP) on the basis of collaborative work that has been ongoing since mid-2008. 
An  essential  characteristic  of  such  a  PPP  should  be  to  develop  open,  standardised,  cross-
sector service platforms. 

From  a  European  policy  perspective,  sectors  such  as  healthcare,  mobility,  environment  and 
energy management are prime candidates to benefit from novel ‘smart’ – internet-empowered 
– infrastructures, which will facilitate the rapid take-up and adoption of services by millions 
of users and consumers. 

5.3.1.  PPP content and focus 

The goals of the proposed PPP should be to:  

(a) 

(b) 

increase  the  effectiveness  of  business  processes  and  the  operation  of 
infrastructures and applications of high societal value. This should make use of 
reappraised  internet  architectures,  services  and  technologies  in  large-scale 
application contexts;  

address  service  architectures  and  platforms,  building  on  the  longer-term 
requirements of the internet and encouraging European industry to address the 
challenges of smart infrastructures, whilst contributing to EU policies in terms 
of innovation, sustainable growth, energy and environmental targets; 

26 

27 
28 

COM(2008)588;  ‘A  strategic  European  Framework  for  international  science  and  technology 
cooperation’. 
On the basis of European Technology Platforms (eMobility, NEM, NESSI, ISI and EPOSS). 
http://www.fi-prague.eu/program/p/kennedy.pdf. 

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(c) 

(d) 

(e) 

foster  cross-sector  industrial  partnerships  built  around  Future  Internet  value 
chains,  and  involving  users  and  public  authorities  at  local,  regional  and 
national levels;  

leverage the internet infrastructure as an open, secure and trusted platform for 
building  networked  applications  on  the  basis  of  user-centred  open  innovation 
schemes; 

address  regulatory  and  policy  issues  such  as  interoperability,  openness, 
standards,  data  security  and  privacy  within  the  context  of  the  Future  Internet 
complex  and  ‘smart’  usage  scenarios.  This  may  also  address  the  required 
methodologies,  procedures  and  best  practice  needed  to  address  transnational 
aspects  such  as  cybercrime  prevention  where  a  high  degree  of  public-private 
co-operation is needed. Participation of the public sector in the PPP will be a 
key asset to progress in these non-technological issues.  

(f)  Maximise  the  societal  benefit  through  involvement  of  civil  society/consumer 

organisations where needed. 

5.3.2.  PPP implementation 

Rapid implementation of the PPP calls for the use of FP7 instruments first and foremost, with 
the objective of producing early results with a medium-term outlook before 2015. 

Under  the  last  implementation  period  of  the  FP7  ICT  Theme  (2011-2013),  the  Commission 
intends  to  allocate  €300m  to  kick-start  this  initiative   with  a  critical  mass  of  stakeholders, 
internet  technologies  and  application  scenarios.  This  amount  will  be  earmarked  within  the 
existing  ICT  work  programme  budget  and  complement  the  work  addressing  longer-term 
research challenges.  

The research community and the Member States will play a major part in PPP developments.  

The  Commission  has  launched  work  to  review  the  legal  and  governance  structures  of  Joint 
Technology  Initiatives  (JTIs)  to  implement  lessons  learned  regarding  the  set-up  of  existing 
JTIs  and  ensure  that  they  fully  reach  their  objectives.  In  light  of  progress  made,  the 
Commission  –  working  with  the  private  sector  –  will  explore  the  possibility  of  creating  a 
future JTI in this area. This could offer the advantage of a more structured underpinning of the 
PPP on the basis of an agreed strategic research agenda, substantive resources from both the 
public and private sector, and a strong and shared commitment to achieving results.  

Line of action: 

–  The Commission will develop the work programme and the specific evaluation and modus 
operandi  of  a  Future  Internet  PPP  in  cooperation  with  industrial  stakeholders,  using  the 
mechanisms  of  the  current  Framework  Programme.  The  Commission  intends  to  allocate 
€300m under the upcoming ICT work progra mmes covering the period 2011-2013, with a 
first call for proposals to be issued in 2010. 

–  The  Commission  expects  the  industry  to  define  a  focused  PPP  content  by  mid-2010  to 
meet the dual objective of: i) advancing Europe’s industrial know-how in Future Internet 
technologies  and  systems;  and  ii)  supporting  the  emergence  of  Future  Internet-enhanced 

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applications of public relevance. 

–  The Commission calls on the Member States, primarily through the Future Internet Forum, 

to support the Future Internet PPP and to help refine policy/usage requirements. 

–  As  soon  as  the  legal  and  governance  structures  of  JTIs  have  been  reviewed,  the 
Commission will examine the possibility of setting a JTI in the area of Future Internet.  

6. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Incremental  change  and  isolated  business  innovations  alone  are  no  longer  sufficient  to  reap 
the  expected  benefits  of  the  future  internet.  Collaborative,  cross-cutting responses  involving 
research  entities,  ICT  industries,  stakeholders  from  numerous  public  service  domains  and 
application developers are essential to bring about the changes and to usher in the new service 
models required. Flexible and open innovation approaches favouring new entrants and ideas 
depend  on  the  power  of  networks  and  on  tapping  the  full  potential  of  internet-enabled 
services. 

This Communication proposes a way forward to develop the future internet and seeks to place 
Europe  at  the  forefront  of  the  development  of  smart  Europe-wide  internet-powered 
infrastructures, in support of EU policy goals.  

In this context, the rapid set-up of an industry-driven Public Private Partnership is needed to 
complement  the  ongoing  longer-term  research  supported  by  the  FP7  ICT  work  programme. 
The  PPP  will  help  to  mobilise  the  industrial  forces  and  entrepreneurs  behind  an  ambitious 
innovation-driven agenda. 

By launching this PPP, the Commission is committing itself to being the driving force behind 
this  effort  and  calls  on  the  European  Parliament,  the  Council  and  all  stakeholders  to  work 
together towards achieving these promising objectives. 

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