Download European Information Technology Prize

European Commission
DG III – DG XIII – SCIC
Austrian Ministry of
Science & Transport
Living & Working in the Information Society
Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima announces
200 000 ECU European IT Prize Winners
Vienna, 1 December, 1998 Speaking today at the Information Society Technologies
Conference & Exhibition (IST 98 Vienna), the Chancellor of Austria, Viktor Klima,
announced the names of the three Grand Prize winners of the European Information
Technology Prize (EITP):
 iD2 Technologies (S) for iD2 Certificate Manager. iD2 Certificate Manager is a
comprehensive system for large-scale production of RSA-keys and certificates for
secure identification. See www.iD2tech.com

MLS LaserLock International Inc. (GR) for LaserLock. The first copy protection
system specifically designed for CD-ROMs that prevents illegal and unauthorised
copying and use of software applications. See www.laserlock.com

Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya & Sistemas Radiantes F. Moyano S.A. (E)
for Fractus™ Antennas. An antenna based on fractal shape technology for
European cellular phone systems. See www-tsc.upc.es/fractal_antennas
Detailed information on each of these Grand Prize Winners is attached (see also the IT
Prize Web-site at www.it-prize.org)
In a spectacular award ceremony at the Austria Center Vienna, introduced by Hannelore
Veit of Austrian Television (ORF), Chancellor Klima presented each Grand Prize winner
with a trophy and an award of 200 000 ECU. Congratulating the Grand Prize winners,
Chancellor Klima said: ”Today, job-creation is one of the most important challenges
facing Europe. In an ever-changing world, the importance of high-quality Research and
Development for job creation cannot be over-emphasised. It is one of the most efficient
means of contributing to social welfare and individual wellbeing. Europe has a huge
potential for innovation. These prizes recognise the companies who will help realise it”.
The Grand Prize winners were selected from a shortlist of 25 by an independent
executive jury appointed by Euro-CASE and chaired by Dr Björn Svedberg. Each
shortlisted company received a prize of 5 000 ECU.
Organised jointly by Euro-CASE (European Council of Applied Sciences and
Engineering) and the Esprit programme, the EITP is now in its fourth year. It is intended
to provide recognition to innovative IT products with excellent market potential. Winners
must demonstrate creativity and good business sense in using information technology to
generate growth and employment. This year, the competition attracted more than 250
entries from companies in 27 European countries as well as from Israel. Next year’s Prize
will be organised by Euro-CASE and the new Information Society Technologies (IST)
Programme and be renamed The European IST Prize.
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The prize-giving ceremony was just one of the highlights of this year’s three-day
Information Society Technologies (IST) Conference & Exhibition (IST 98 Vienna).
The event, organised by the European Commission and the Austrian Ministry of Science
and Transport, is one of the year's largest gatherings of information and communications
technologies (ICT) experts, attracting over 3 000 delegates and exhibitors from around
the world.
Living and Working in the Information Society
The theme of the conference was Living and Working in the Information Society. It
focused on the technologies underpinning the development of the Information Society
and the regulatory and socio-economic issues arising from their use.
Three hundred invited speakers in a range of sessions, workshops and lively debates
covered a range of hot topics including: third-generation mobile systems, new ways of
working, harnessing creativity, computer games and interactive toys, breakthrough
technologies, ICT in sport, health and the living-room, electronic commerce, raising
finance for emerging ICT companies, the economics of information exchange, intelligent
agents, interactive satellite communications systems, learning technologies, new
industrial paradigms, gender and cyberspace, language technologies, consumer product
design, digital libraries, standardisation, cybercommunities, and IPR management.
The Employment Debate: New Jobs for Old?
The Employment Debate, moderated by the Dutch TV news anchorman Victor
Deconinck, brought together workers, employers and commentators to discuss the
impact of information and communication technologies (ICT) on their life and business.
www.cordis.lu/ist98/employ.htm
Business Opportunities
The one-day IST 98 Investment Conference (30 November), open to all IST 98
participants, focused on raising finance for emerging European companies in the early
stages of their development.
In the by-invitation IST 98 Investment Forum, 45 handpicked companies seeking
investment or equity finance presented their business plans and described their products
to interested investors and business advisors. Over 100 representatives of leading
financial and industrial investment groups from across Europe and the USA attended,
including venture capital and private equity investors, business angels, commercial and
investment banks, and institutional and industrial investors.
www.cordis.lu/ist98/invopen.htm — www.cordis.lu/ist98/iforum.htm
The Networked Society: debate chaired by Ilya Prigogine
The Networked Society debate, chaired by Ilya Prigogine, involved the American
futurologist Alvin Toffler, François Colling of the European Court of Auditors, the Belgian
healthcare expert Jan Peers, and Michèle Genderau-Massaloux, a French Conseiller
d’Etat. The panellists examined whether the perspectives of complexity theory can help
identify trends in the evolution of the Information Society.
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Exhibition
Over 135 stands incorporated demonstrations by the European IT Prize and EuroPrix
MultiMediaArt Prize finalists and covered topics including medical applications, satellite
applications, new interfaces, wearable computers, simulation in engineering, Internet
security, education and culture, interactive multimedia systems, management and control
systems, speech and sound systems, virtual reality, and entertainment and broadcasting
applications. Featured were leading-edge technologies and products stemming from
work in the ACTS, Esprit, INFO2000/MLIS and Telematics Applications programmes,
together with the ISPO initiative. The Exhibition included a Meeting Austria Zone
(www.ist98.at) and a Central and Eastern European Pavilion, and featured a cybercafé
in the style of a Viennese coffee-house designed by the Linz-based Ars Electronica
Center. More information on these projects is available via the exhibition home page:
www.cordis.lu/ist98/exhibits.htm
Final day of IST 98 (2 December)

Speech by Caspar Einem, current President of the EU Research Council and
Federal Minister of Science & Transport, on “Information Society Technologies for the
Citizen”.

Presentation of the Information Society Technologies (IST) Programme, one of
the major components of the European Commission’s proposed Fifth Framework
Programme. The IST Programme will bring together and extend the current ACTS,
Esprit and Telematics Applications programmes to provide a single, integrated
programme that reflects the convergence of information processing, communications
and media.
 www.cordis.lu/ist

Press conference with Caspar Einem (see above), Robert Verrue (Director-General,
DG XIII) and George Metakides (Director, DG XIII) on “Creating the Information
Society”.

Workshops focused on a selection of the topics to be covered by the IST
Programme.
-EndsNotes for Editors
IST 98 Vienna is the first in a series of annual, comprehensive events covering the IST
Programme. IST 99, "Exploring the Information Society: Business, People,
Technology” (www.ist99.fi), will take place from 22-24 November 1999 in the Helsinki
Fair Centre.
The IST Programme is one of the major components of the European Commission's
proposed Fifth Framework Programme. The IST Programme will bring together and
extend the current ACTS, Esprit and Telematics Applications programmes to provide a
single and integrated programme that reflects the convergence of information
processing, communications and media. The new Programme was presented at IST 98
on 2 December (www.cordis.lu/ist).
The European IST Prize, formerly the European IT Prize, is organised by the new IST
Programme and Euro-CASE (European Council of Applied Sciences and Engineering).
The aim of the Prize is to reward excellence and stimulate innovation (www.it-prize.org).
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Euro-CASE is a European non-profit organisation based in Paris consisting of
academies of applied sciences and engineering from fourteen European countries.
Euro-CASE has access to the most distinguished experts in Europe. Through its
academies, Euro-CASE acts as a permanent forum for exchange and consultation
between European institutions and industry and research bodies. The main objectives of
Euro-CASE are to provide impartial, independent and balanced advice on research,
development and the resultant technology, and to attend to its appropriate diffusion.
Further details are available from: Helle Bonnet, Euro-CASE Secretariat, 28 rue Saint
Dominique, 75007 Paris, France (tel +33-1-5359-5340 – fax +33-1-5359-5341,
[email protected] - www.it-prize.org).
Note to TV editors: Video clips from the winning companies are available. For details
contact Peter Vekinis, fax + 32 (2) 296 92 29, e-mail [email protected].
Note to Web editors: Please link to www.cordis.lu/ist98/home.html
For further information, please contact:
IST 98 Press Room: tel +32-2-296-8016 — fax +32-2-296-6613
Visit the PRESS ROOM on the World-Wide Web: www.cordis.lu/ist98/press.htm
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Annex:
EUROPEAN IT PRIZE WINNERS
iD2 CERTIFICATE MANAGER – enabling secure identification
in the digital society
iD2 Certificate Manager is a comprehensive system for large-scale production of
RSA-keys and digital certificates for secure identification. iD2 Certificate Manager
provides Certification Authorities with means for issuing and verifying digital certificates
for public use in, e.g. electronic ID cards, and also enables enterprises to create and
implement services requiring secure personal identification and digital signatures.
The product is targeted at high-end customers such as banks, postal and
telecommunication companies and medium to large enterprises, requiring high volumes
and maximum standards of security. iD2 Certificate Manager provides unique
comprehensive support for all major RSA-based Smart Cards in order to supply users
with the highest level of security. It is also equipped with standard interfaces for
integration with high volume smart card production lines.
iD2 Technologies offers a comprehensive range of software products required for
conducting electronic transactions over the Internet using Public Key Infrastructure. The
company has clients in banking, telecommunications and postal services throughout
Europe and Asia. Established in 1996, iD2 Technologies takes advantage of more than
1500 man-years of experience gained in developing IT-solutions and products in
combination with PKI and Smart Card technologies. iD2 is based in Stockholm and has
offices in London and Munich.
See www.id2tech.com
LaserLock – Copy Protection System developed especially for
CD-ROM
LaserLock is the First Complete Software Copy Protection System developed especially
for CD-ROM. It is intelligently designed to prevent software piracy, provide ease of use,
flexibility to developers and transparency to legitimate end-users.
The existence of a pirated-CD industry and the increasing availability of CD-Recorders,
have led to an out of control CD-ROM software piracy operation. LaserLock is a
revolutionary low-cost, high-reliability product that provides the most efficient CD-ROM
anti-copy security, integrating many protection modules under a variety of operating
platforms. It consists of: Sophisticated Code Encryption sotfware; Physical Signature on
CD, made during a unique and special glass mastering process; and State-of-the-art
Debug Prevention engineering embedded in the s/w code.
Every LaserLocked application has a unique locking parameter that provides complete
protection agains illegal re-mastering and reproduction. Improved and updated editions of
LaserLock offer a unique perspective on dealing with piracy, as software hacking
becomes more difficult by the day. LaserLocked applications can be played normally,
cannot be copied, re-mastered or reproduced and have a longer life in the market due to
the elimination of software piracy. Under LaserLock protection, intellectual and industrial
property rights are fully protected and secured, thus applications are near immune to
piracy and sales increase is immediate without any additional marketing planning.
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LaserLock has gained worldwide acceptance since its successful emergence on the
market almost 4 years ago. MLS co-operates with many of the leading CD-ROM
manufacturing and fulfillment companies worldwide. Moreover, many of the world’s major
s/w developers and publishers are using LaserLock as their ultimate weapon against
piracy.
MLS LaserLock International, Inc, was founded in 1989 and it is an innovative company
specialising in the field of Research and Development work on software protection
products and services. The company has been highly successful since in developing a
series of high technology hardware and software products. The LaserLock team is part of
the R&D Department of MLS and it consists of highly trained and educated personnel
with remarkable expertise in software and hardware engineering. As of late, MLS has a
significant presence internationally, either directly or via its licensees’ operation, thus
becoming the worldwide leader in the s/w protection market.
See www.laserlock.com
Fractus Antennas - A new generation of multiband antennas
for the base stations of European cellular phone systems
Based on a new design concept, the fractal technology, the antennas operate
simultaneously on the GSM and DCS bands. By using a single Fractus antenna for both
bands, the telecom operators reduce costs and minimise environmental impact.
The Fractus antennas operate simultaneously on the GSM 890-960 MHz and 1710-1880
MHz (DCS) bands in a micro-cell environment. Their unique design principle, the fractal
technology, allows them to exhibit the same behaviour on both bands. By using a single
antenna, the cellular system operators reduce the network cost, they simpligy the
logistics of introducing the new DCS band and minimise the visual environmental impact
as well.\
The design of multiband (multisystem) antennas is a highly challenging engineering
problem due to a classic constraint: the behaviour of an antenna is highly dependent on
its size relative to the operating wavelength. Featuring the same shape at several sizes,
fractal-shaped antennas are able to exhibit the same behaviour at several frequency
bands. The unique geometric properties of fractals point to a broad range of new
applications within the Information Technology framework wherever a multisystem
(multiservice) or small antenna is required.
Fractus antennas were created by a joint scientific/industrial partnership between the
Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC, Barcelone, Spain) and a leading Spanish
TV/Radio Broadcasting manufacturer, Sistemas Radiantes F. Moyano S.A. (SRFM). The
Electromagnetics and Photonics Engineering group from UPC first demonstrated in 1994
that a fractal –shaped antenna is able to keep the same behaviour at several bands. The
UPC applied for the first patent on fractal and multifractal antennas in 1995.
Sistemas Radiantes F. Moyano S.A. has been designing, manufacturing and installing
Radiating Systems and communications towers for over 36 years, mainly for the
professional electronics market (TV/Radio Broadcasting as well as cellular networks).
The R&D project has been partially supported by the European Commission.
See www-tsc.upc.es/fractal_antennas
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