EU-Pacific Partnerships for ICT RDI

Project Information

EPIC

Grant agreement ID: 687794

DOI

10.3030/687794

Project closed

EC signature date 19 December 2016

Start date 1 February 2017

End date 31 July 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)

Total cost

€ 1 256 500,00

EU contribution

€ 716 500,00

Coordinated by

EUTEMA GMBH
Austria

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EPIC (EU-Pacific Partnerships for ICT RDI)

Reporting period: 2018-05-01 to 2019-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The EPIC initiative was created in response to an EU call for projects to support dialogues between the EU/EC and its strategic partner countries to foster cooperation in ICT R&D. The aim of the call was to organise events, support policy dialogue meetings, strengthen cooperative research links and reinforce industrial collaboration as well as coordination with other EU level initiatives.

EPIC, therefore, aimed to improve the research and innovation collaboration between the EU and its strategic partner countries Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore in the area of information and communication technologies. It targeted both the strategic, more policy-oriented level and the direct cooperation of researchers/innovators in academia and industry. The aim was to exploit mutually beneficial opportunities and to prepare new grounds for future collaborations.

EPIC aimed to help overcome the current lack of dedicated cooperation support actions and improve the low visibility of Europe’s ICT RDI capabilities in the target countries. The project followed a topical methodology: the focus was on specific areas of ICT research of high strategic importance. Topics included artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) including wearables, cybersecurity, ICT in transport, digital economy, next generation internet and spatial intelligence.

The specific objectives of the project were to:
• Identify priority research topics for collaboration and identify synergies between the Digital Single Market and 3rd countries/regions' ICT strategies
• Organise and support events targeting research, industry, and policy makers and an event demonstrating impact and highlighting recommendations for future cooperation
• Identify common policy opportunities and the potential for joint activities
• Create a series of policy briefs to foster stronger cooperation building on researcher exchanges and joint projects for lasting cooperation
• Deliver a handbook for EU researchers on opportunities in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore and information material to disseminate the objectives and results of the project among relevant stakeholders

EPIC was able to create and maintain a sustained dialogue between EU researchers and their peers in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. These conversations focused on priority topics which EPIC had identified at project onset and refined during project lifetime. EPIC contributed to these topics with expert discussions about novel research directions (e.g. privacy preserving technologies, AI for security). Often, these research topics and novel directions were closely linked with the needs of research and other policy makers who are facing similar challenges in all participating regions. EPIC also supported a series of expert trips to identify the concrete collaboration potential in narrower fields of research. From a more practical output and impact perspective, EPIC provided information and links about research programmes, high-quality groups and policy directions relevant for Europeans wishing to collaborate with the target countries. Such information was provided in the EPIC handbook, in online articles, personal communication and in response to requests for information. Finally, EPIC created networks of ICT researchers and research policy makers using the webpage and social media such as Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. EPIC event videos, articles, newsletters and short updates created a densely knit information network that was frequently assessed and referenced by the new EPIC community.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first reporting period, there has been very good progress towards reaching these objectives as follows:
1. An analysis of potential priority topics was performed based on relevant technologies of the EU Digital Single Market policies on the one hand and on strategies and policies in Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. For each country, priority topics have been defined. EPIC events were organized to address the selected priority topics, cf. EPIC Deliverable D2.2.
2. EPIC organized 20 event sessions in the target countries. The events ranged from targeted H2020 training workshops to large-scale industry events in the EPIC focus areas. Large numbers of experts were reached in communications leading up to those events and participation in the events was generally very good and far above the targets set for the events, cf. EPIC Deliverable D2.1.
3. Several policy opportunities have been identified in the EPIC policy meetings, but also at the industry and research events. There is a huge visibility and potential of the EU DSM for alignment and collaboration, e.g. in e-Government, with Australia and New Zealand in particular. GDPR stands out as a clear point of interest for all target countries – from an industry perspective to new research areas. For details on the policy events, cf. Deliverable D3.1.
4. EPIC identified the ICT Event in December 2018 as an important event opportunity. Although it is too early for a ‘final’ event it could be very useful in attracting large audiences, advertising upcoming events, discussing collaboration roadmaps, and targeting networking between EU and AU/SG/NZ researchers from academia and industry, cf. Annex I
5. Components of such a roadmap have been collected and will be further investigated during the second project period.
6. The handbook was delivered to the EC, uploaded on the website, and advertised in newsletters, social media and through partner networks, cf. Deliverable D1.3.
7. PR material has been created and used for the events including website, factsheets, and roll-up displays.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The expected impacts are as follows:
1. Identifying and strengthening already existing and new synergies in R&D between the three target countries and EU countries
2. Identifying new cooperation priorities and opportunities
3. Updating priority areas for future R&D collaboration with the 3rd countries
4. Promoting the benefits of international ICT R&D cooperation of these key countries to the EU member states and vice versa;
5. Improving mutual understanding, and hence fostering and strengthening trade relations
6. Facilitating access to 3rd country programs for EU organizations and individuals
7. Pushing forward and facilitating cooperation and research in other related areas of science
8. For Singapore we expect to put Europe back on the map of Singapore research, but also R&D policy makers. We expect to improve the currently somewhat stalled policy dialogues and help researchers on both side to establish more durable partnerships.
9. For Australia we expect impact on both the policy side and the research level. On the policy side, we expect strong impact at the state level in Australia where there is huge potential for systematic cooperation.
10. For New Zealand it is now time to impact on the industry landscape after having a fairly good level of cooperation between academic researchers.