OBJECTIVES

The main goal of the project is twofold.

• Establishing a cross-cultural community of developers and end-users of intelligent web-based knowledge dissemination tools among the institutions involved in the project and other Public Institutions, Research Centres, as well as Enterprises and Business Associations in Europe and India.
  
• Customizing, experimenting, and maintaining software and networking infrastructure (e.g. intelligent search engines, portals, knowledge management systems, etc.) for enhancing the dissemination, pooling and utilization of data, information, and knowledge, among academia, research centres and industry (especially SMEs), in view of:
• development of web-enabled services, such as knowledge centres and digital libraries, especially in the area of education, and courseware for the development, maintenance and user training of these very tools;
• technology transfer, especially in ICT;
• human resource mobility, especially internships and job placement of researcher and students.

Our broad objective is to use Computer Science, and more generally Informatics and Communication Technologies, as a medium for improving cross-cultural dialogue in a twofold way. On the one hand, we will use it as a tool for improving the accessibility of information, and hence ultimately to increase the potential for efficient exchange of knowledge, between Indian and European institutions and between them and their stakeholders. On the other hand, we will strengthen and broaden research collaboration in various areas of ICT, itself.

We expect that this multiple level of action will facilitate and streamline the cross-cultural connectivity and accessibility between India and EU. No other specific domain area could serve this purpose. India is well known for its emerging ICT, brain-power stemming from is unique cultural traditions, and is becoming a leading actor on the world stage in this area. Promoting application of intelligent software tools in knowledge management should allow a more rapid and precise matching between offer and demand across different cultural barriers between Europe and India, as well as within Europe and India.

As a more specific objective, this project should allow to capitalize and improve on the innovative software tools, recently developed by the Universities of Udine, Genoa, Valencia, and Hyderabad based on intelligent information filtering techniques, for improving the dialogue between Universities and their stakeholders and enterprises for the benefit of students current and future careers and the transfer of technological innovation and research-know-how to businesses.

The joint Research and Training Programmes between Udine and Valencia (PhD in Computer Science, “Programming environments for reactive systems” project), Udine and Hyderabad (PhD and University Master Degree in Computer Science) and Valencia and Genoa (“Ciao Senso” project), currently active, will be the preliminary test cases for the student oriented tools developed in the project. The joint actions between “Friuli Innovazione”, the Agency for Technology transfer of the Università di Udine and the B.M.Birla Science Centre, will be the first test cases for the business oriented tools.

Clearly this initiative has the potential to have an even broader impact. Tailoring innovative tools and protocols for Industry-Academia transfer of knowledge and human resources developed in the European milieu by Udine, Genoa and Valencia Universities, to the peculiarities of this broader scenario, will have a very significant demonstrative value. The results of the project could be easily replicated in other contexts by other Institutions.

Summing up, we expect to customize intelligent software platforms for assisting in the exchange of knowledge and human resources between Academia and Industry as well as to disseminate this technology and culture, between Southern Europe and Southern India. These new tools and actions should be highly beneficial in overcoming the difficulties and bottlenecks, experienced in past activities, deriving from cognitive disorientation, overloading, language problems.