About

Why the Future Internet is so important
The Future Internet will drive innovation in almost all industries and will shape the future of the service-based economy in Europe. One way of supporting this goal is to create mechanisms that help translate outstanding research results into innovation. Internet policy is therefore also economic policy helping to drive the innovation needed to create jobs and boost growth through new services and products.

What we are trying to achieve
CI-FIRE is part of the European Union's programme for experimental platforms (FIRE). This programme has brought Europe large-scale test beds and platforms covering a wide range of applications, services and technologies for the Future Internet. These ICT test facilities have already supported advanced experiments, proving that experimentally-driven research and innovation are key mechanisms for shaping the Future Internet.
The ultimate goal of CI-FIRE is to help establish mechanisms to translate outstanding research results into innovation to boost European competitiveness. Our overriding objective is to foster new multidisciplinary experimental research and the implementation of sustainable business models for FIRE facilities.

How are we going to do it
CI-FIRE is supporting the sustainable use of FIRE facilities in several different ways. We are analysing the sustainability potential of these test facilities. We are developing an experimentation-driven innovation business framework template. We are implementing an exemplary collaboration with EIT ICT Labs (European Institute of Innovation and Technology). We are promoting the integration of the business framework into EIT ICT Labs, specifically the Testbed-as-a-Service spearheaded by its FanTaaStic project. We are also integrating our web platform into FIRE, which aggregates activities and outcomes of the programme for experimental platforms. Finally, we are pursuing engagement with the European business and higher education community to promote new opportunities for using the test facilities through open calls, open access and other mechanisms.

Who is going to benefit

Research community: research labs and institutions, universities, and the higher education sector. Benefits: improve R&D portfolio; ensure R&D agendas are focused on the development of innovative products and services, demand-driven and market-facing, promoting the benefits of multi-stakholder partnerships by leveraging current success stories. Young researchers can also use the test facilities and benefit from opportunities for successful Future Internet R&D.

Businesses: commercial companies testing systems and products for specific operational scenarios or compliance. Testing is usually funded by the company or by government agencies for economic development.

SMEs: receive pan-European recognition, working on a level playing field with large enterprises and learning from their R&D experiences, defining a business roadmap that integrates R&D in line with the company's business direction. Small businesses can also benefit from opportunities to develop new applications and services enabled by Future Internet technologies, facilitating participation in European R&D initiatives.

Large corporations: drive industrial leadership in the European R&D landscape, playing a central role in setting the agenda, working closely with buzzy SMEs and supporting them in increasing their brand recognition, helping to make Europe a more attractive location to invest in research and innovation.

Partnership: CI-FIRE is a Consortium led by Eurescom, Germany with partners Martel Consulting, Switzerland; Trust-IT Services Ltd, UK; TU Berlin, Germany and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), France.

CI-FIRE is part of a shared vision to strengthen collaboration and community empowerment through the best possible use of test facilities, be it for research, education, or innovation purposes.