ISTAG

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ISTAG is an advisory body to the European Commission in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT or IST).

ISTAG or, in full, the Information Society Technologies Advisory Group has been set up to advise the European Commission, specifically DG Information Society and the Media, on the overall strategy to be followed in carrying out the IST thematic priority under the Framework Programmes for Research and Technological Development. It reflects and advises on the definition and implementation of a coherent policy for research in and on ICT in Europe.

ISTAG members are appointed as individuals rather than to explicitly represent the interests of a single group. The group has a Chairman (Jo Cornu) and about 30 members, covering both the EU member states and accession countries. Although its membership has been changed for 2005 it could still be argued that its members largely represent big companies and research institutions with little participation by civil society organisations (NGOs and the like).

[edit] ISTAG activities

In 2004, ISTAG set up working groups which focussed on the following themes:

EU-wide initiatives (promoting and advancing European research and technology).
Experience and Application Research
Grand challenges for IST
Grid, distributed systems and service architectures.

ISTAG has also produced a consolidated report providing the main orientations for ICT Research in Europe. Furthermore, it developed the Ambient intelligence concept.