Emerging possibilities of participation in the European programme of research and development for the information society technologies

The up-take of information society technologies (IST) products and services in Europe for private or professional use is growing, while technology and commercial leadership is constantly confirmed in several areas such as mobile communications and digital TV. However, IST have still to be more widely deployed in homes, businesses, government and general interest services. To facilitate this, the European Community provides opportunities like the 5/sup th/ Framework Programme of EU RTD (5FP). At the same time, European IST industry is striving better to better master technology and business chains that are critical for its competitiveness and growth. However in some countries, notably in Poland, the possibilities created by the European Community are not used as widely as they should be. To counteract this and to promote the take-up of IST technologies a series of dedicated projects has been launched. EMERGE is one of these special projects.