Brussels, 01 Jun 2005

The continued and growing investment in Grid research under the Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes (FP5 and FP6) is clear evidence of the enormous potential that many in Europe believe this new area of technology holds.

Indeed, the first Grid technologies have started to move outside their origins within the research community to open up new possibilities within industrial sectors in areas such as multimedia production and car manufacturing, as well as services such as emergency response and disaster mitigation.

Despite these early successes, Grid technologies are at a similar stage of development as the Internet was in the early 1990s, and have yet to demonstrate conclusively that they can move beyond the research community to offer benefits to business and society at large.

Given Europe's current leadership in this area, however, EU policy makers are keen to transform promising research into business opportunities as quickly as possible. As Information Society and Media Commissioner Viviane Reding told delegates at a European Grid technology day in Brussels on 31 May: 'Grid technologies are at a turning point in their evolution for industry to step in and transform the world class research results into key services to drive European growth in the 21st century.'

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Ms Reding continued: 'The challenge now facing Grids at this stage of their innovation cycle is to ensure that compelling and imaginative business cases are developed. This is the path that needs to be followed if Grids are to fulfil their potential for improving EU competitiveness.'

To realise this vision, Ms Reding spoke of the need to build a European Research Area (ERA) for Grid technologies, with public-private partnerships established to help accelerate the deployment of Grid based services. 'For this to become a reality, it requires joining forces by European research and industry leaders to develop a common vision and strategy,' she said. 'In line with this, the proposed technology platform on service oriented architecture (software services and Grids) that is currently being discussed seems to be an appropriate response.'

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In conclusion, Ms Reding reiterated that: 'Europe is in an excellent position to shape and steer a technological revolution via Grid technologies. In order to achieve this, a number of steps must be taken in terms of harmonising and coordinating Grid research efforts across Europe and also aligning business and research agendas. [...] You can count on my support to help us achieve this challenging goal.' To read the full text of Ms Reding's speech (in PDF format), please click here

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