The role of ICIS and other Bsik projects in the chain of innovation is to provide scientific knowledge and transfer this to partners and organizations that are positioned to create innovative solutions, products and services. This collaborative process takes place in three stages. First, ICIS develops scientific knowledge and technology that is foreseen to be required by our industrial partners. In the second stage, the demand for knowledge and technology is articulated by interaction with industries and end users. The outcomes of the ICIS project are actually transferred in a third stage by means of valorization projects when they have reached a sufficient readiness level. The cooperation of research and industrial communities throughout these stages increases the likelihood that ICIS assets will be used by industries in response to the needs they perceive in their respective markets. Within the lifetime of the project several valorization projects with external partners demonstrate the value of our assets.

In our vision the investments that are being made with the current ICIS project are part of a research and innovation roadmap spanning 5 to 10 years. The current ICIS project focuses on knowledge provision and transfer of assets to technology and solution providers. To achieve the envisioned social and economic impact, follow-up projects should shift attention towards solution provision and research that is specifically focused on a number of key applications. International trends suggest that support for distributed decision making will play a key role in crisis incident management, urban traffic regulation and telemedicine. For now the ICIS project provides the crucial anchoring in the scientific community on which all further development will depend.