TSSG a the Year in Review

By: Margaret Grene

2003 was a good year for the TSSG.

Some projects were successfully completed such as the Flexwork project, aimed at promoting the use of flexible working (teleworking) across Europe and the eFactors project, which we talked about a few weeks ago. The eFactors project was set up to determine the factors behind the successful adoption of e-Business.

Other projects were given the green flag. For example the OPIUM project team has just returned from a very successful review in Brussels. Reviewed by industry experts, this project was audited on its first phase of work in the project, with the second phase due for audit at the end of its 22-month duration.

This EU funded project has an overall budget of EUR7.823 million. The goal of Opium is to support the accelerated rollout of commercial third generation (3G) mobile services within Europe.
As well as the successful projects Friday, November 28th was a milestone in the history of the TSSG. This was the day that three TSSG students graduated with Waterford Institute of Technology Masters degrees by research: Shane McCormack, Mary Christine Nolan, and Chamil Kulatunga (in absentia). Chamil was unable to attend as he is now taking a well-deserved break in his native Sri Lanka.
This was not only a happy occasion for the usual reasons, but it was the first time that Waterford Institute of Technology students received an M Sc from the Institute directly rather than from the Higher Education and Training Awards Council (HETAC).

But significantly for the future of the TSSG there have been many successful funding proposals also. Monday, Berlin, 10th November last was the day of the kick-off meeting for a project titled Designing Advanced Interfaces for the Delivery and Administration of Location-independent Optimised personal Services, or to use its acronym DAIDALOS. This was the first of three new projects awarded to the TSSG under the European Commissions current round of funding known as the Sixth Framework.

And the other two new projects?

"As well as our ongoing projects and programmes, we've also got two more confirmed new oneS, says Dr. Willie Donnelly, Director of the TSSG. One of them, the Digital Business Ecosystems (DBE) project is aimed at providing Europe with a recognised advantage in innovative software application development by its SME industry; and the second one, the Security Expert Initiative (SEINIT) will focus on the important issue of Internet security. We've also had confirmation of European Regional Development Funding under the INTERREG IIIB North West Europe Community Initiative on Territorial Planning for a project on eProcurement, says Donnelly. And we've got several more projects in the pipeline.

So it looks like 2004 will be a busy year for the TSSG.
Happy New Year to Munster Express readers from all the staff at the TSSG.