Ambient intelligence visions and achievements: linking abstract ideas to real-world concepts

The ambient intelligence vision is abstract and as such not useful for funding decisions, research project definition, and business plan development. This is in particular the case for the electronic design community. The European Commission intends for the EU to achieve world leadership in Information Societies technologies within ten years. To that end, it has incorporated the ambient intelligence vision in its Sixth Framework. Microelectronics and nano- and optical devices are seen as key technologies. Interesting chip-level challenges are found in, amongst others, explicit modeling of mobility and self-management, and novel computing substrates, based on electronic textiles or organic electronics.