Last update : August 9, 2013
In 2009, the European Commission presented the strategy for research on future and emerging technologies in Europe : Moving the ICT frontiers. One action point was the identification and launch of FET flagship initiatives.
“A FET flagship initiative could model and run large-scale simulations in order to understand the way nature processes information and to apply this knowledge to develop future biocomputers. Such a unique endeavour would attract the best computer scientists, biologists and physicists from Europe and beyond.”
The official launch of the FET Flagship Pilots took place at The European Future Technologies Conference and Exhibition (FET11) in May 2011 under the auspices of the Hungarian presidency in Budapest.
Six FET Flagship pilots have been funded to create a design and description of consolidated candidate FET Flagship Initiatives, including assessment of feasibility in scientific, technical and financial terms. These six pilots are listed below :
- FuturICT (University College London, UK : www.futurict.eu)
- Graphene-CA (Chalmers University of Technology, SE : www.graphene-flagship.eu ; translational nanotechnology)
- Guardian Angels (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH : www.ga-project.eu ; smart, electronic personal companions)
- Human Brain Project (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH : www.humanbrainproject.eu)
- ITFoM : IT Future of Medicine (Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, DE : www.itfom.eu)
- CA-RoboCom (Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, IT : www.robotcompanions.eu ; Robot Companions for Citizens)
On January 29, 2013, Vice-President Neelie Kroes from the European Commission announced the two research projects chosen as winners of the FET Flagships initiative: Graphene and Human Brain Project.