Major outcomes

In order to provide knowledge and technology the ICIS project is working in parallel on four major and complementary outcomes of the project:

  1. An excellent foundation of scientific assets.
  2. A Knowledge and Technology (K&T) suite that can used coherently in the foreseen application domains.
  3. A lively and well-connected community with relationships to many research and development networks, industries and end-users.
  4. An authoritative vision document on Actor-Agent Communities (AACs).
ICIS Platform

 The major outcomes are conceptually visualized in the diagram above. Together they define the ICIS Platform. Tangible results stemming from each of the four areas are captured in the red diamond. Below these results are briefly described.

Scientific Results
As a consequence of the strategy the results of the ICIS project come in several different forms. The scientific results of the ICIS project – its key assets – are the building blocks with which novel solutions can be made and further research projects can be conducted. While the clusters stress coherence in the scientific content, the illustrative applications exhibit the value of the assets from different clusters when they are combined to meet specific needs. By making use of concrete application scenarios in the domains of traffic, crisis management and healthcare the potential deployment of the assets is being clarified. The project has started to compile a book aimed at disseminating the ICIS vision in the scientific community.

Technological Results
Work in the clusters also leads to a suite of knowledge and technologies. Serving scientific as well as social and economic goals an important aim of the project is to create an open research and development platform. Hosted by D-CIS it will be maintained and further developed by the ICIS partners after completion of the formal ICIS project. During the project an additional fifth cluster, Integration and Demonstration, ensures that cross-cluster applications are implemented to demonstrate the value of project results. The resulting suite of documented models, algorithms and software implementations is an essential part of the ICIS legacy. It will be made accessible to ICIS partners and third parties by means of the ICIS portal. To stimulate further research and development a booklet is being made to explain the potential application of all ICIS assets to a large audience.

Valorization Projects
Because of its importance the ICIS project is specifically managing the transfer of knowledge by means of valorization projects. In our vision the combined effort of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs is necessary to create valuable results. The project has therefore expanded its industry base by including companies such as ARS, Almende, Technolution and LogicaCMG as partners. In cooperation with these partners several valorization projects are being conducted with end-user companies such as the Dutch Railways (NS-Binnenlands Reizigers Vervoer), the police (vts PN), environmental control agencies (DCMR), petrochemical industry (Shell) and forensic services (NFI).

Vision document an technology roadma
The interaction between the scientific and industrial ICIS/D-CIS community is resulting in an inspiring common vision on complex autonomous systems that involve both human and artificial participants. Making use of the current momentum a long term vision document and technology roadmap is taking shape. It describes the technical readiness level of our current assets and how they can be further developed to enhance decision making in complex dynamic situations. A broad multi-disciplinary team of leading scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs is involved in creating the vision. The roadmap will set the agenda for the R&D collaboration of representatives from the social, legal, technical and ICT disciplines. Research projects in the spirit of this vision are already being acquired within the context of Dutch and European subsidy frameworks (FP7 general, FP7 Future Emerging Technologies (FET), Marie Curie, Maatschappelijke Sectoren & ICT).

ICIS Community
The industry-led ICIS project is spawning a lively and well-connected community with researchers and developers from a wide variety of backgrounds. The multi-disciplinary nature of the ICIS project results in a highly synergistic and inspiring exchange of ideas, and a rapidly growing network of connected peers. ICIS will continue to encourage further development of her community by organizing interaction events and by developing a lasting information and collaboration portal. This (D-CIS Lab) portal will serve to disclose the work of the ICIS project for future use, and bring together ICIS researchers and interested parties. ICIS researchers are actively involved in many international conferences and networks, and thus continue to inspire other communities to follow up on our results. Also, by taking the lead in the organization of conferences and special sessions, ICIS has become well-embedded in relevant international networks. The recent organization of the 4th international conference on Information Systems for Crisis and Management (ISCRAM 2007) in Delft was an opportunity to attract broad international attention to the work of the ICIS community.