Developing intelligent artificial hands for hand amputees, neural devices to help people suffering from vertigo, dizziness and other disorders and the possibility to see how your brain responds while learning are a few examples of European research carried out in the area of future and emerging information and communication technologies (FET) that were presented at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Twelve outstanding science projects funded under the European Commission's Future and Emerging Technologies programme were showcased at the exhibition Science Beyond Fiction: An Excursion Into Future And Emerging Technologies.
The European Commission said Europe is taking the lead in FET by proposing to invest around €500 million in exploratory research into high risk future Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
EU Digital Agenda Commissioner Neelie Kroes said: "In these days of economic uncertainty, Europe must boldly invest in its future. The European Commission wants to double the budget for FET research by 2015 and I urge member states to match this effort with their own investments."
FET is part of the ICT programme of the European Commission and aims to promote long-term research, laying the scientific foundations of radically new next generation technologies. FET helps identify and develop future research in ICT and into uncharted areas such as the interdisciplinary field of quantum information science (quantum physics and computer science combined), often inspired by and in close collaboration with other scientific disciplines.
FET receives research funding under the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The European Commission is increasing the FP7 budget for FET research by 20 per cent per year up from €100 million today, and member states are invited to match this effort with similar increases. The Commission intends to fund FET research with a total budget of around €500 million for 2010-2013.
Biologists, neuroscientists, specialists in nanotechnologies and computer scientists are all paving the way to the most advanced research in FET. CyberHand and SmartHand have developed an artificial hand that is capable of behaving and feeling like a real hand. It can be used for hand amputees. eMorph and Brain-i-Nets explore the way in which a brain processes information by recording the changes that take place during the learning process. The goal is to gain new understanding of how the brain works. Megaframe has developed a high-speed digital camera which is fast enough to capture impulses travelling between brain cells and broadcast them in high resolution video.
Other FET projects can pioneer solutions for global challenges such as climate change, social problems, energy consumption and spread of diseases (GSD) and design of epidemic forecast infrastructures (EPIWORK).
The European Commission said it will continue to support ambitious, science-driven flagship initiatives to tackle the scientific challenges of the 21st century. These projects will reduce fragmentation and increase the effectiveness of the European research efforts. They also have the potential to meet some of society's big needs if they receive political support and backing from the stakeholders involved.
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/fet_en.html