eChallenges Conference and Exhibition 2003

Announcement and Call for Papers

October 2002

e2003, which takes place in irresistible Italy, is the thirteenth in a series of Annual conferences, which regularly attract over 500 delegates from commercial, government and research organisations. Focusing on e-business, e-government, e-learning, applications for SMEs and Internet related technologies, the goal of e2003 is to stimulate rapid take-up of Research and Technology Development (RTD) results by European industry.

Over the years, this conference series has become recognized as an important event in the international research calendar, attracting delegates and speakers from around the world. Formerly known as the eBusiness and eWork Conference and supported by the European Commission under the Information Society Technologies (IST) programme, the scope of eChallenges has evolved with the transition from the Fifth Framework Programme (FP5) to FP6.

Event Profile

e2003 is a prestigious forum which aims to increase awareness of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) related research results and applications emerging not just from European funded RTD, but also Regional and National funded research. Each conference will place a special focus on activities, sectoral and national initiatives and success stories in the host country. The programme will combine case studies, demonstrations, technical, legal and policy papers. It provides an excellent networking environment to discuss problems and new ideas, share knowledge and experience and obtain feedback from potential partners and users. This will help increase Return On Investment (ROI) through better exploitation of results and better coordination of research activities in Europe.

Plenary and parallel sessions

The conference will open and close with keynote presentations on strategic topics, featuring speakers from leading commercial, government and research organisations including the European Commission. These presentations will be complemented by parallel sessions focused on commercial, educational and government applications and requirements, as well as business, legal and security issues. Session chairs will ensure there is active delegate participation.

Thematic Priorities

The thematic priorities of the conference include but are not restricted to:

Broadband, interoperability and standards

e-business, demanding applications and m-commerce

e-government, eEurope 2005 and ICT take-up by SMEs

Knowledge technologies and interfaces, e-learning

Smart & virtual organisations: policy, regulation; technology

Trust, Confidence & Security: policy; regulation; technology

Exhibition

The exhibition will consist of demonstrations and posters covering national, regional and European funded project results, including software applications, services and related research results. The exhibition call will appear with the Advance Programme and on the conference web site.

Social activities

The Social Programme has long been an integral part of this conference series. It includes a daily partners programme during the conference, an evening cocktail reception and Gala Reception, and a weekend programme following the conference. The conference organisers take great care to ensure that partners accompanying delegates feel part of the community and have fun.

Sponsors

The Advance Programme will include a call for sponsors, with prominent notice in publicity and at the conference. Major e-2002 sponsors included The European Commission, Technology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Canon and Internet Online, with Czech Airlines as Official Carrier.

Submission of Abstracts

Abstracts are invited for e2003. Papers are welcome from all sources and not just European Commission Programmes. The conference language is English and abstracts should be for case studies, technical, legal or policy papers or for arranging complete sessions.

Abstracts (800 - 1,000 words) must be submitted via the conference portal by 28 February 2003. Each author will use a form-based interface to register their contact details, provide the title of their proposed paper and upload their abstract. In the case of joint authors, Adera Service (who are responsible for interfacing with authors and delegates) will only communicate with the person who uploads the abstract, who is assumed to be the presenter unless we are informed otherwise. Several abstracts may be submitted but normally an author will not be invited to present more than one paper.

Twenty minutes will be allowed for presentations, including questions. Papers cannot be presented or published in the proceedings unless presenters have registered and paid the early-bird conference fee by mid-July. It is a condition of submitting an abstract that all authors accept this ruling.

Publishing schedule for e2003

The publishing schedule for e2003 is as follows:

Abstracts submitted before end February 2003

Abstracts accepted by end March

Draft papers submitted by end April

The Programme Committee's comments returned by end May

Final papers to be delivered electronically and in hardcopy in camera-ready format by end June

eChallenges Proceedings

Technical and plenary papers from e2003 will be published on CD ROM, and issued to delegates on the opening day. A delegate showcase will be launched on the conference portal with the publication of the Advance Programme in March 2003. This electronic showcase will allow delegates, speakers, session chairs, workshop moderators and exhibitors to register their interests, provide a personal and organisational profile and identify other attendees with common interests.

The e2003 International Programme Committee

A distinguished international programme committee is being formed to judge the abstracts, compile the programme, provide feedback on draft papers and chair sessions. The e-2003 Programme Committee will be announced in the Call for Papers published in December on the conference portal.

The e2003 Organising Committee

The eChallenges organising committee is responsible for conference secretariat (Adera Service), conference content, policy and scope (IIMC), and financial, site and project management (METAWARE).

Mireille Edin, Adera Service, France

Paul Cunningham, IIMC International Information Management Corporation Ltd, Ireland

Silvana Muscella, METAWARE S.p.A, Italy