Launch event of European Mobile and Mobility Industries Alliance 08 March 2012 Brussels
Mobilise Europe!
The European Mobile and Mobility Industries Alliance will officially kick-off at a Launch Event in Brussels on Thursday, 8 March 2012
This new Alliance follows the innovation policy frame set by the European Commission’s Innovation Union flagship and is a strategic initiative bringing together policy makers and industry representatives as announced in An Integrated Industrial Policy for the Globalisation Era flagship. Galileo and EGNOS, Europe’s own Global Navigation Satellite Systems, which are currently Europe’s biggest joint technology projects - one is planned to be operable in 2014 and the other is already operable and certified - will help to support the accuracy, the reliability and variety of location-based services offered worldwide, services that are at the centre of the European Mobile and Mobility Industries Alliance.
The European Mobile and Mobility Industries Alliance (EMMIA) brings together regional and national policy makers and practitioners at European level with the aim of developing more sustainable solutions in the field of mobility supported by mobile services, through better use of current and planned initiatives and enhancing transnational cooperation in this field. The Alliance comprises a Policy Learning Platform and five pilot actions in the areas of large-scale demonstrators in support of sustainable tourism in rural areas and access to finance as well as an action to improve the interoperability of mobile services. It is expected to mobilise additional public and private funding of € 30 Mio in support of mobile and mobility industries. Altogether, 31 organisations from 14 European countries and 4 European organisations form the core actors of this initiative.
The EMMIA Policy Learning Platform that will guide the Alliance builds on six of Europe’s strongest IT and space application clusters. It will be composed of policy makers and practitioners from more than twenty European regions that share the ambition to develop and deliver mobile and mobility services. For this purpose, an open “Call for Expression of Interest” will be published in connection with the launch event. The call will not only look for regional representatives, but also ask for suggestions for outstanding “ambassadors” (advisory board members) to support and promote the Alliance. The Policy Learning Platform will be a regular meeting place where in addition expert workshops on better support for innovation, on access to finance and on more and better interoperability and strategic standards for mobile services will be established. Roadmaps, masterplans and policy recommendations will be formulated to support policy makers across Europe to better take advantage of the opportunities mobile services offer to improve and make mobility more sustainable.
Three large-scale demonstrators in support of sustainable tourism in rural areas address information, location, access and safety needs for tourists in Europe, who wish to visit cultural heritage sites and routes that are off the beaten tourist track.
The three demonstrators will develop and test scalable and transferable concepts for providing mobile services for tourists in close collaboration with local tourism agencies, authorities and businesses in rural areas with valuable but under-exploited cultural heritage. To ensure user-friendliness, plugtests and interoperability workshops for the developers and users of the mobile services will be organised with support from ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, to help guarantee interoperability across national borders and, possibly, contribute to the development of new standards.
Two actions address the needs for better access to finance for the development and roll-out of mobile services which frequently takes place in small or micro enterprises. Both will build seed funds for mobile and mobility services where the European venture capital community as well as institutional financiers will work hand in hand to better match private and public funds such as the Structural Funds. The two actions will also provide investment readiness and investor awareness training delivered by experienced coaches and consultant networks.
All three action lines - the Policy Learning Platform, the large-scale demonstrators and the access to finance actions - will work closely together exchanging and sharing information, as well as communicating their progress and findings in workshops and conferences via the Alliance web portal www.mobilise-europe.eu. The web portal will also provide general information on the initiative, news from the actions taken, an events calendar and information and guidance service on funding and support measures for mobile and mobility industries in Europe. Profiles of participating regions and organisations will complete the picture.
Help to mobilise Europe, make the transformative power of mobile services a reality in your region, learn how to profit from the experience and expertise gathered under the European Mobile and Mobility Industries Alliance by taking part in the Launch Event at the “Bavarian Castle” in Brussels on March 8, 2012.
For a link to the draft programme and free registration at our partner’s Oresund Cluster 55° web tool, click above.
