The CATER Project, a European initiative in which Sigma Orionis is a partner, aiming at networked business and mass customization in the automotive industry, is pleased to announce that the project was among the exhibitors at this week ICT 2008 event, which took place in Lyon, France from Nov. 25 to 27. This conference-exhibition, organized by the European Commission's DG Information Society and Media, is the Europe's biggest research event devoted to Information and Communication Technologies. The 2008 edition, entitled "Is to the future - Invention, Innovation, Impact", provided over 4000 delegates from all over the world (researchers, innovators, engineers, policy and business decision-makers, etc.) with a key opportunity to access and exchange information, and network. During the event, Fraunhofer IAO, coordinator of the CATER project, presented an immersive vehicle configurator based on the work carried out within the CATER project. In future such a system will help customers to "design" their own cars in virtual reality. In the showroom of one's car dealer, the customer will be able to experience his dream car's exterior and interior with a stereo protection wall in full scale - before signing the final order. The configurator is only one of the results of the CATER project, which deals with Mass Customization of vehicles, trying to satisfy both the requirements of mass production and those of the customer. A video of the CATER VR configuration system for the product planners was also displayed, while the event was also the opportunity to announce the upcoming CATER workshop on mass customization of vehicles, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 25-28, 2009. Contact