Creation of an NICT System Facilitating the Electronic Business of Virtual Organisations - SICOV

Coordinating Institution: CRP Gabriel Lippmann
From: 01/11/2001
To: 31/12/2007
Budget: 1,512,150.00€
Contact(s): Feltz Fernand , Simon Guy

Summary

The research project aims to facilitate the cooperative work of different economic entities by specifying, conceiving and testing an ICT-based platform. The platform will enable companies, administrations and other organization forms to better organize their collaborative activities in an increasingly networked environment. The ultimate aim is to see organizations active on the SICOV platform evolve to virtual organizations, solidifying the links between partners and thus increasing economical competitiveness. The platform is based on a common workspace for all organizations active on the platform. The CSCW (Computer Supported Cooperative Work) tools used previously mainly to support cooperation in an intra-organizational context are examined in order to enrich the collaboration platform. The CEPS/INSTEAD has accomplished surveys in order to determine the potential for the adoption of the collaborative platform in Luxembourgish companies. The results of this survey were encouraging, and the project team was able to contact interested companies and inform them about the advantages of using a collaborative platform. In 2007, the SICOV team has maintained its focus on the real-world use of the collaborative platform. The activities of the existing platform users have been extended by the implementation of additional specific functionalities based on user feedback. The Nanobeams Network of Excellence, which has been active as a virtual organization on the platform for several years, has maintained and extended its collaborative activities. A makeover of the Nanobeams platform instance has been accomplished in 2007. The ISC project Flash 2007, which is using the platform tools to collaborate towards its objective of establishing an audio/video documentation of the Cultural Year 2007, has amassed a sizeable community on the SICOV platform. The activities of this platform instance will continue after the Cultural Year 2007 and take a more general focus on cultural documentation using modern multimedia formats. Considerable progress has also been achieved concerning the Telepresence module which allows scientists to remotely collaborate on scientific analysis. The module has been perfected and is in the process of being deployed at several locations. Taking into account the multiple active users of the SICOV platform, one of the priorities for 2007 consisted in the elaboration of a concept for the continued operation of the platform following the end of the project in December 2007. As a result, the ISC department will keep operating the SICOV platform in 2008 and will decide on a yearly basis whether to maintain support based on the platform usage.