Preparing for eContentplus I
Geographic Information Systems
Prague, February 9-10, 2006

The opening event on February 9^th -10^th, 2006 in Prague (CZ) targeted on the GIS and offered an overview on the use of this public information in transport, environmental protection, tourism, agriculture etc.

More than 120 participants from 10 countries, including USA and China, had been heartily invited by Mr. Vladimír Hořejší , Deputy Information Minister of the Czech Republic, who has reported on the utmost importance of the cooperation beyond borders for entering the CEE markets and the following-up use of geographic information.

Mr. Krister Olson , European Commission, DG Information Society & Media, who had specially stressed the unique character of this Initiative in Europe first, has informed the participants on the results of the 1^st Call (November 2005) with total 238 eContentPlus project proposals submitted – 34 of them targeted on GIS. The Commission generally expects for the 2^nd Call (June – October 2006) the project proposals of a larger scale as well as of more active partner participation.

Ms. Eva Pauknerova , European Commission, DG Joint Research Center, has spoken on INSPIRE in the context of joint development of GIS in CEE as well as on the proven models, potentials and challenges concerned. She has described the focal points of funded projects, the experiences gained and the next steps.

The GIS experts from 4 CEE countries taken part in a panel have described their national content markets, the approaches to the digital content and talked on the Key Players. This podium discussion has contributed the most to the fact that both the experts invited and the qualified audience could report on their views on and future trends of GIS. The matching activities run in parallel have logically completed these two successful days.

Ms. Agnes Bereczki , MATISZ, NCP, Hungary has concluded the meeting with the invitation to the 2^nd event of this Initiative – Orientation- and Matching Day on Scientific and Scholarly Content to take place on April 7^th, 2006 in Budapest, Hungary.

>> more info on the event in Budapest

PRESENTATIONS in Prague:

• Agnes Bereczki (MATISZ, HU): Next Orientation- and Matching-Day in Hungary
• Mr. Hans-Peter Ritt (Project Management): The Central European Initiative “Preparing for eContentplus”
• Mr. Josef Havas (Intergraph, CZ): GIS Business Models: Threats and Opportunities
• Mr. Krister Olson (European Commission, DG Information Society and Media): eContentplus Programme
• Mr. Martin HirÅ¡al (MICR & NCP, CZ ): EU Financial Contribution
• Mr. Peter Kruzliak (Geomatika, SK): GIS-scene in the Slovak Republic
• Mr. Stepan Zezula (MICR, CZ): Future of GIS in the Czech Republic
• Mr. Szabolcs Mihály (Institute of Geodesy, Cartography and Remote Sensing, HU): National Developments and Chances for Cross Boarder Actions in Geoinformation
• Mr. Václav Slaboch (VUGTK, CZ): Present developments of GIS in the Czech Republic
• Mr. Walter Mayer (Progis, AT): eContent@work - working group
• Ms. Eva Pauknerova (DG Joint Research Centrum, IT): INSPIRE in the Context of Middle Europe
• Ms. Valentína Michálková (Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications, SK): eContentplus Experiences
• Programme Prague Feb 9-10, 2006 (final)