In a few words

Important note: this web site introduces the activities developed through the PARADISO initiative over the period 2008-2009. A new version will be released before the end of June 2010, focusing on the activities planned over the period 2010-2011 (summarized here). Please stay tuned!

The PARADISO project has been selected at the first Call for proposals of the FP7 research funding programme of the European Commission and has developed its activities over the period March 2008 - February 2009. It was one of the FIRE projects supported by European Commission's Directorate General Information Society and Media.

FIRE stands for Future Internet Research and Experimentation: the FIRE projects aim at answering a need for advanced experimentally-driven research including large scale experimentation to discover the technical, societal, and economic implications of changes to the Internet.

The PARADISO project, elaborated during the first half of 2007 (well before the present worldwide financial and economic crisis started to develop), has focused on the identification of strategic research directions in the area of network and service ICT infrastructures, in the hypothesis of a disruptive paradigm concerning global societal developments.

ICT stands for Information and Communication Technologies. PARADISO is an acronym formed by the two words PARADIgm and SOcietal, and an obvious reference to a better world...

This possible paradigm shift, which more and more analysts are evoking (particularly when considering the impact of today's worldwide crisis), is based on the vision that, in order to avoid major future crises, all countries (developed, emerging, and developing ones) will need to agree, sooner or later, on an alternative way forward. The European Union is probably one of the best placed world powers to proactively promote such a new concept of progress, based on (significantly) revised social, environmental and economic objectives: a true sustainable development, a more sustainable economic growth, more equally shared resources, eventually the well-being of peoples around the world, measured through a 'beyond GDP' index.

The PARADISO project has explored this possible paradigm shift, investigated what such a future would precisely be, and evaluated the conditions for this vision to become reality.

Moreover, the project has specifically taken into consideration the role that ICT could and would play in this 'other future'. The rationale of this ICT focus is the fact that ICT can, whichever societal model is considered, fully contribute achieving sustainable development, prosperity, and economic growth. Therefore, ICT applications and services needed to support new social, environmental and economic objectives related to the envisioned disruptive paradigm have to be analyzed. More precisely the network and service infrastructures, enabling such ICT applications and services, have to be identified.

The project construction aimed at achieving results in the short term. The paradigm has been explored, and the innovative research topics identified, through a reference document, entitled 'ICT for a global sustainable future', prepared on the basis of:
   - the information available at the level of the partners of the PARADISO project,
   - the outputs of the two events that the project has organised,
   - the contributions received through an online consultation.

The second event, the 'ICT for a global sustainable future' conference took place in Brussels on January 22-23, 2009 under the aegis of the European Commission and with the support of many international organisations (OECD, UNESCO, ITU, etc.). While an attendance of 150 delegates was anticipated at the start of the project, the registration process had to be closed 15 days before the event when the level of...800 delegates (from 70 countries) was reached. The event can be considered as having reached its two main objectives: further developing and validating the PARADISO vision and bringing the message towards, if not having it endorsed by, the various political instances of the European Union.

The final version of the PARADISO reference document has been released in March 2009 and widely disseminated so that the key PARADISO messages (a foreseeable paradigm shift worldwide in the definition of societal progress, the proactive role Europe can play to show the way to this better future, the central contribution ICT can bring to achieving revised economic, environmental and social objectives) can be conveyed to the widest possible community and eventually have a true impact on the political agenda.

In order to support the organisation of these two events and to ensure the greatest project impact, a lot of dissemination activities have been conducted by the PARADISO partners all along the project period, among which their participation in various external events such as IST Africa 2008 (June 2008, Namibia), the 2008 Korea-EU Cooperation Forum on ICT (June 2008, South Korea), the Club of Rome 40th anniversary events (June 2008, Italy), the FIRE launch event (September 2008, France), the IST 2008 event (November 2008, France), the GNH4 Conference (November 2008, Bhutan), and the Future Internet Assembly meeting (December 2008, Spain).

PARADISO activities have been implemented by two organisations offering complementary expertise and experience related to project issues: Sigma Orionis (project coordinator) and the Club of Rome (through the Aurelio Peccei Foundation, its Italian chapter).

These two organisations are aware that if the achievements of the PARADISO project may constitute a milestone, a lot remains however to be done to influence the political agenda and identify more into details the ICT research areas likely to contribute building a true global sustainable future.

They are thus considering various options to further develop the activities of their cross-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder 'think and action tank' addressing sustainable future issues with a focus on ICT. All options logically include a close connection with organisations involved in similar activities in Europe and in other regions of the world, so that synergies can be exploited and that the impact of all initiatives can be even greater and best serve the building of a true sustainable future for all peoples around the world.

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