Work package 1 provides the ‘spearhead’ of the project, where taking the output (and input) from the other

work packages will form contacts and build relationships with a wide range of players to encourage the development of new opportunities and exchange of good practices. It will support knowledge diffusion, know-how transfer and experience sharing as well as focus on opportunities for involvement of new players in the IST programme. Knowledge dissemination activities will be primarily based on running a series of events such as workshops, seminars and conferences or participating in other fora and venues where the experiences and the results of the BReATH project will be presented, for instance IST Conferences and Events, the Broadband Summit, FITCE meetings, etc. We aspire that the launching of the ‘Step Forward’ will be the capping-stone of the WP’s (and certainly the project’s) efforts and activities.

WP1 will further develop contacts with national strategic planners: government departments, development

agencies, regional agencies, major industry players and service and network operators and maintain an active dialogue to support knowledge and expertise transfer activity.

The following tasks will also be performed:

Expected benefits include:

The formation of the various SIGs along with other liaison activities will create the necessary inter-disciplinary and

multi-disciplinary critical mass and basis for exploring future business opportunities and potential partnerships.

Due to the specific support nature and significance of this work, WP1 will run throughout the project’s

duration. The work package comprises three distinctive but closely interlined components or sub-work packages:
  1. Dissemination and Events
  2. Networking Support
  3. Liaise, coordinate and link to ICT Projects.

WP1.1 Dissemination and Events

This sub-work package will define and coordinate the events plan and initiate actions to form Special Interest Groups

(SIGs) described later in WP1.2. Knowledge and know-how dissemination is critical to the objectives and approach of the BReATH project. Hence a significant effort will be invested in running events and encouraging other players, actors and stakeholders from the industry, government, academia and other related projects to participate and present their own views and experiences. Running local events such as workshops will target not only participants at the local or national level (e.g., from within a state) but also participants from other states in the area as well (e.g., ACCs), as the project goals and results could benefit them equally, given the commonalities that often underline certain geographical regions. The BReATH project will seek to organize a Broadband Summit conference similar to the Broadband Europe or in conjunction with Broadband Europe.

For each event a communications plan will be prepared and the appropriate communication channels (e.g.,

local/national IRCs, National EU Contact Points, Local Chambers of Commerce, Regional Development Agencies) will be employed to inform project partners about the event objectives and their roles. The plan will describe the objectives of the event, the event organisation, the target participants and the means of advertising. It will also address how the participation of key organisations and people are to be secured. The objectives will be discussed and set through project Steering Board meetings, well ahead of the initial event preparations.

A technical programme will be drawn up for each event and key speakers will be identified for invitation. A variety of

advertising means will be used, including the project web page, with links from associated projects and organisations (such as BREAD and MUSE), personal contacts, newsletters and so on. Where possible web pages of existing networks will be used: for example in the UK this could include the Cambridge Network and IP-City. For partnering opportunities this would include making use of the IRC facilities. The UK is well advanced in its deployment of broadband as a result of government initiatives and their Regional Agencies, and implemented by major players such as BT and BTGlobal. GTel has good contacts in this area and will use these to encourage involvement in the BReATH project.

Poland values greatly and will support strongly the dissemination opportunities and activities offered within the

BReATH project framework. NIT is the coordinator and main partner of the long term national project: ‘Development of telecommunication and postal services in the era of Information society’. This project provides an excellent forum for disseminating the results of the BReATH project. NIT is also taking part in the development of the Scientific Park Poland-East in Suwalki. The participation in the Scientific Park Poland-East project is another valuable opportunity for disseminating BReATH and its results e.g. in Lithuania or other countries on the east border of Poland. We are also going to spread the results of the project during other organized by NIT conferences. NIT has good relationships with polish telecommunication industry, Ministry of Infrastructure and local government. All these contacts will help in involving external participant in the BReATH events.

In the Czech Republic there is an informal consortium of associations active in the communications sector that closely

co-operate in the effort to shape the telecommunication policy in the country. It collectively took part in negotiations with the Ministry of Informatics during preparation of the new Electronics communications law. The Czech participants in the BReATH project will continue using these channels to accelerate introduction of internet services to the homes. As part of this effort, they will help the Ministry to form a nation-wide Forum and provide input to the intended web portal. They will also co-operate with the Czech Scientific – Technical Society to organize joint events. One of them will be organized jointly with their Slovak partners.

In Slovenia BReATH and its IJS partner plan to act in as much as possible and work with the appropriate

communications channels to disseminate the findings and results of BReATH and to open a dialogue and orchestrate discussions with all the relevant players in the Slovenian and regional market. The channels to be used are the following: journals and newspapers that address the IT policy and development such as the daily newspaper DELO with its special part on IT that is issued on Fridays as well as the daily business newspaper – FINANCE. The next channel to be used are the forums around governmental bodies such as Slovenian Society for Informatics, the Governmental Center for Informatics and the Internet Chapter of Slovenia. These dissemination channels will be used for opening discussions regarding future policy and strategy regarding the broadband access market in Slovenia. The Chamber of commerce with their division on IT and telecommunications will be also invited and contacted to take part in the dissemination activities of BReATH. Members of these division are all ISP providers and IT manufacturers in Slovenia. SIOL, the major ISP provider in Slovenia has already expressed interest and support to the BReATH activities. Other fora in Slovenia will be contacted and invited e.g. the Agency for Technology, the ICT part of the Ministry for economy and the Ministry for high educations, science and technology. These channels and contacts exist as Jo.ef Stefan Institute has long tradition in the area of transfer of knowledge and dissemination. Activities related to this part of the project will be available on the local WEB page of the project in Slovenian and will be advertised through the most known search engine in Slovenia (http://www.najdi.si). The Slovenian IRC is part of IJS, a participant in the BReATH project.

The broadband penetration rate in Greece is one of the lowest in Europe. Broadband services, principally DSL-based

offerings, and their take-up have started picking-up. However, the service is not considered as affordable as customers would desire hence there is strong encouragement by the government for further reduction in prices. Running local events such as seminars and workshops will have a multi-purpose goal: {i) raise the awareness about broadband residential access (ii) engage players from the industry and diffuse collected (most recent) experiences and lessons learned to other NMS and ACC that are also commencing similar efforts with respect to a wider deployment of broadband. One particular region that we will target is the Balkans region and particularly Turkey given its vast potential as a market. An effort will be made to run our events in conjunction with other significant events that attract participants from our region as to maximize our basis and the effect of the benefits presented. We plan to work closely with the local IRC with which we maintain a very close relationship and contact.

Moreover, the BReATH project will undertake a serious effort to organize, co-organize, co-sponsor events such as the

Broadband Europe, the European Conference in Networks and Optical Communications (NOC) or participate in other major events such as the European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) as to further promote the project’s objectives, increase its visibility and advance awareness for broadband services. Participation and presence in such events in the form of a project presentation, paper delivery, poster or other means is very significant.

WP1.2 Networking Support

Workshop events will be used not only to raise awareness of particular technical and social opportunities, but also to

promote networking and partnering between different players. Special Interest Groups will be formed to meet, discuss, learn and benefit from each others experience and provide opportunities for open dialogue on a specific subject or issue that may be associated for example with one of the workshop topics, or to express views about particular broadband strategies. We anticipate a SIG will be lead by an organization with a particular skill or interest in the subject but would be developed through the interests of its members. SIGs would normally meet at an event but if they choose to meet away from events the project will provide assistance to help them locate a suitable venue (termed a Regional Interest Group). The project would also aim to provide partnering opportunities at its events for interested parties by working with the IRCs. The event would provide the facilities for them to meet face to face and discuss their business. Where requested, the project would provide help and advice at the events within the scope of its expertise.

SIGs will be used to transfer information about relevant technology experience and to facilitate the building of

partnerships between different players and actors. SMEs and other small research groups can participate here and benefit from the results. Workshops and special interest groups will be formed with actors to promote dialogue on best practice. The SIGs activities will bring actors together initially to understand their strategic objectives and to define requirements for the project studies in WP3 and WP4 and later to disseminate project results and information and promote knowledge transfer. Opportunities for participating in the various SIGs and project events as to foster and forge synergies and alliances will be promptly advertised by the project’s web portal. Summary reports of SIG activities will be prepared and the number of Partnering meetings recorded. Where partnering meetings have been held, the project will follow through at a later date to monitor the outcome so that it is able to assess the benefits of its actions.

WP1.3 Liaise, coordinate and link to other European ICT projects and programmes

Given that the proposed project will be carried out as support action it will be quite vital that the project’s activities are

closely interlinked with other relevant EU initiatives and programmes. This sub-workpackage will also monitor and report on the progress and developments in the area of broadband networks and services. Information and knowledge assembled will be disseminated to and exchanged between the project.s participants and actors.

Information dissemination is a two way process that is fundamental not only to this workpackage but for the entire

project. In order to maximize the benefits from any knowledge transfer it will therefore run throughout the project life. By ensuring partners are better informed this workpackage will help to prepare them to participate in, or even co- ordinate, other relevant projects. Liaising activities will further promote the project.s visibility and help to attract potential actors to participate in the project.s various events. The web of players that will be created is critical for the project’s short-term and long-term goals.

An area which is very important in implementing an .Information Society for All. and most definitely we need to

follow, is Wireless and Mobile Communications (WLAN, FWA, 3G). Growth in this space has been phenomenal over the past few years and it is expected that the sector will dominate the electronic communication market although it can be seen as rather more sensitive to regulatory requirements and changes. Special emphasis will be given to monitoring issues related to network and information security and its policies and on any upcoming initiatives and projects. Assessing the progress on the adoption of e-services by the member states, in particular by the new member states (in conjunction with WP3) will be essential. Furthermore, any developments with respect to applications such as digital and internet television, IP telephony communication are quite significant, since multimedia content improves the attractiveness of broadband. Triple-play applications (IP-based voice, on-demand video, video gaming and high-speed data service to residential and small-business customers) are seen as an imperative for DSL and Broadband in general, offering great capabilities to the users and tremendous business opportunities for the telecommunication operators, service providers and equipment vendors. Triple-play is also seen as a platform for delivering next-generation services such as IP TV (an area where companies like Alcatel and Siemens are already gearing up, Belgacom is in trials for Interactive TV, while Fastweb has been successful in offering high-speed triple-play services including broadcast TV).

Information and data collected as a result of the above activities, will be stored in a repository for subsequent analysis,

evaluation and use. This will be made available for exchange, diffusion, evaluation and strategic planning (framework model, pilot initiatives) and for benchmarking (i.e., in WP4 and WP5). Strategic planning, is of particular importance as it not only contributes directly to the strategic objectives regarding the European Research Area (ERA) but it can also help the project partner.s and participants to better prepare for future community RTD efforts. Another important task will be to identify and publicise the needs for strengthening and enhancing pertinent (to broadband roll-out) activities in the involved partners. countries. An essential and critical part of this workpackage, and of the BReATH project overall, is the broad development of human networking and the stimulation of interaction between enterprise sector (particularly SMEs), universities, associations and public authorities. The instrumentation of this networking is based on the participation in seminars, workshops, conferences, Commission events and training sessions that stimulate and facilitate the knowledge exchange.

The BReATH project will interface with the various IST (Communication and Network Technologies) concentration

and clusters meetings in an effort to promote the project.s visibility. Fora such as the .Broadband Europe. summit (organized in the Framework of BREAD) that aims at bringing together all the Broadband players, present an excellent opportunity for BReATH and its consortium to present the project.s results, discuss related issues and learn about the most recent developments.

Another forum where the BReATH project will present its objectives and results is the FITCE (Federation of

Telecommunications Engineers of the European Community) organization and its congress events. The FITCE Association performs as an international network of telecommunication experts and as a forum and advocate to influence telecommunication legislation and regulation. The FITCE congress attracts ICT professionals and has members mainly from the telecommunication industry: telecom operators, service providers, equipment manufacturers, application developers. The FITCE organisation maintains a resource base for information, services and data as a global link to telecommunication opportunities and contacts.

Additionally BReATH will liaise and cooperate with other EU and IST projects, especially under the “Broadband For

All” objective, which we plan to liaise, coordinate and interact with and how their can be mutual benefits from sharing experiences and resources. We herewith provide an indicative list of the other relevant projects: