The PICTURE project has been launched

The FP7-ICT support action PICTURE "Policy dialogue in ICT to an Upper level for Reinforced EU-EECA Cooperation" has been launched on 01/12/2011. The PICTURE project aims to foster collaboration opportunities and support policy dialogue on the ground, prepared by the EECA Clustering projects.

Indeed, PICTURE is a logical continuation of the successful activities carried out under the EECA ICT cluster. The EECA cluster was a joint effort of three FP-7 support actions, ISTOK-SOYUZ, SCUBE-ICT and EXTEND that were running from January 2009 until June 2011 with the common mandate of strengthening the cooperation between EU and EECA countries in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

The cluster experience clearly has shown the need to continue the efforts of the three clustering projects in the EECA countries, further amplifying their impact.

Therefore, the main objective of the PICTURE project is to exploit collaboration frameworks build on the foundations and achievements of three successful clustering projects to enrich and support the research dimension of the EU-EECA ICT Policy Dialogue. The PICTURE Consortium, with complementary skills and experiences in international cooperation and bilateral cooperation with EECA countries, engages the EU and EECA stakeholders from the government and academia, research institutions and enterprises, to bring the present collaboration in ICT research to a higher level.