The main aim of this study was to provide key research policy recommendations for the application of robotics in healthcare in the research programmes of the EC. The study also aimed at raising awareness about important new developments in this field among a wider audience. To this extent, a roadmap of promising applications of robotics in healthcare and associated R&D was developed, taking into account the state of the art as well as short and long-term future possibilities with a time horizon ending in 2025.
Posts Tagged ‘media’
EFP Brief No. 157: Roadmap Robotics for Healthcare
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011EFP Brief No. 154: Looking Forward in the ICT and Media Industry – Technological and Market Developments
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011The project was an activity within the framework contract between the European Parliament and ETAG, the European Technology Assessment Group, to carry out TA studies on behalf of the Parliament’s STOA Panel in view of the growing importance of a European science and technology policy. The purpose of this particular project was to identify current and expected technological and market developments in the field of ICT with an impact on the media industry and to indicate regulatory challenges and requirements stemming from the anticipated changes. The main target group are the Members of the European Parliament; the wider addressee is the interested public.
EFP Brief No. 145: Constructing Dark Scenarios for Privacy Policy Formulation
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011In the last few decades, scenarios have provided a way of analysing the implications of alternative futures, especially as they might be impacted by new technologies. This has been no less true of ambient intelligence (AmI), which may be embedded everywhere in the not so distant future. Most of the scenarios developed by AmI enthusiasts have been rather “sunny”, showing how new technologies promise to make our lives more productive and enriching. A European project called SWAMI (Safeguards in a World of Ambient Intelligence) deliberately developed “dark scenarios” to highlight the threats to privacy, identity, trust and security and inclusiveness posed by new technologies. This brief describes the SWAMI scenarios and the methodology used to construct and analyse them.
EFP Brief No. 135: Globalisation in the 21st Century: Where Optimism and Fear Collide
Saturday, May 21st, 2011Globalisation has become a keyword of the 21st century. Who are the winners and who are the losers in a globalised world? The term globalisation triggers extremely contradictory emotions among the people of Europe. One third of Europeans (33%) regard themselves as winners of this development and see globalisation as a kind of liberation from overly constrictive and outdated boundaries. In contrast, one in five citizens feels to have lost out in this process (21%). Europeans only agree on one issue: the process of globalisation can neither be halted nor reversed. These are the results of the first European representative study that asked 11,000 citizens aged 14 and above in Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Italy, Russia and Switzerland about their hopes and fears for the future. The study was part of a research project by the Stiftung für Zukunftsfragen (Foundation for Research on the Future) of British American Tobacco.
EFP Brief No. 131: Banks & Future Preparing for the Scenario 2015
Saturday, May 21st, 2011In the Innovation Forum “Banks & Future” (Innovationsforum “Bank & Zukunft”) under the academic direction of Fraunhofer IAO (Germany), numerous banks and IT service companies have pooled their competences with regard to future trends in the banking sector. Their aim is to identify market-oriented opportunities for development and structural and technical optimisation potential, to bring together users and producers of technologies in the banking sector, and to initiate the necessary innovation processes. Ever since this research initiative was started in July 2004, a yearly trend survey has been part of the research work.
EFP Brief No. 130: Migration: One of the Most Important Challenges for Europe
Saturday, May 21st, 2011This brief presents major social, technological, economic, environmental and political trends and rationales for migration, followed by a number of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of migratory processes. In the last section, the brief concludes with a set of general policy options and some final remarks about the sources and data analysed.
EFP Brief No. 123: Scenarios 2026 for the South West of England
Saturday, May 21st, 2011This study (which took place in 2004) presents four ‘socio-economic-political scenarios’ designed to stimulate, guide and inform strategic thinking about the future of one of nine English regions, namely the South West. The scenarios portray distinct pictures of the social, political and economic background against which the strategies for the South West can be reviewed and developed. They provide a consistent approach and serve as practical thinking tools. The scenarios are also intended to help organisations in the South West to assess their vulnerability to forces of change and to plan appropriate adaptation strategies.
EFP Brief No. 121: National Foresight Programme “Poland 2020”
Saturday, May 21st, 2011The National Foresight Programme “Poland 2020” is the first national foresight exercise being carried out in Poland. It is being con-ducted in three research areas: sustainable development of Poland, information and telecommunication technologies, and security. Its main aim is to set up paths of scientific research and development capable of accelerating long-term social and economic growth. An-other equally important goal is to trigger public debate on visions of Poland’s future. The realization of the programme has been pre-ceded by a pilot foresight project in the area of “Health and Life” research.
EFP Brief No. 118: Austria’s Futures: Past Perspectives and Present Expectations
Friday, May 20th, 2011The Brief covers a foresight exercise that is unique in so far as it revisits the projections and scenarios of a historical foresight undertaken in Austria in 1983 for the challenges and changes that Austria would have to meet up to the year 2005. Not only are these sce-narios revisited but also compared to the reality of 2005. In a further step, a second foresight activity of this kind was started to build scenarios for Austria’s future in 2025. The experts of 1983 saw the microelectronic revolution as the technological pacemaker of the future and 20 years later tried to assess the actual impact of this technological progress on various parts of Austrian life.
