NESSI ETP, BCI2007, Sofia, 29 October 20071 Bulgarian Technology Platform NESSI – Mission, Goals and Perspective Roumen Nikolov, Assoc. Prof., Faculty

NESSI ETP, BCI2007, Sofia, 29 October 2007

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Bulgarian Technology Platform NESSI –

Mission, Goals and Perspective

Roumen Nikolov, Assoc. Prof.,Faculty of Mathematics and

Informatics


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Contentso Background

o The Bulgarian NTP NESSI main goals

o Activities so far

o Perspectives

o The role of Sofia University as a NTP NESSI catalyst


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BackgroundSee presentation of Mr. Josema Cavanillas, Director Atos Research – Atos Origin, Vice-Chairman - NESSI Steering Committee;See presentation of Ms. Totka Chernaeva, SAITS;“Expanding NESSI Across Europe” decision of NESSI General Assembly – 08/06/2006Mechanisms for expanding NESSI:

MSC : Member State CommitteeNTPs : National Technology PlatformsONESSI: channel towards Open Source Communityother


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NTP NESSI – main goalsOpening wide channels for cooperation with the EC, ETP NESSI and its membersBuilding a large network of prospective stakeholders in Bulgaria and SEESupporting R&D activities in cooperation with knowledge intensive SMEsBuilding links and joint investment between public research and industry Building a knowledge hub in the area of software and services; Exchange and dissemination of information related to NESSI;Training and competence building;Establishing of working groups on different NESSI topics Defining a national roadmap and Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), based on the NESSI SRA, for the future evolution of the national R&D and innovation program related to S&SImplementing the NESSI principles at a national level;Coordination of existing research activities in S&S and promote their deployment to i2010


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NTP NESSI Goals (2)Supporting the implementation of the national ICT strategy in the area of S&S and providing valuable feedback for improvements;Developing S&S related strategies for Bulgaria and SEE and bridging them with the EC strategies and policies;Opening new channels for participation in EC projects;Exchange R&D results in S&S with other member statesNominating national projects to the NESSI Steering Committee for a NESSI labelSearching for new opportunities and capacity for development of a competitive Bulgarian and SEE ICT and service industry;Working for improving ICT infrastructure and for providing global access to S&S;Identifying and promoting best practices;Promoting new service oriented business models;Making the NTP NESSI a reference point for end-users (national, regional, global);Creating a common virtual workplace on the internet for supporting the above mentioned goals and activities.


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Activities so far – Awarness phase +Established cooperation under the ETP NESSI (3-4 years ago); Contribution to the ETP NESSI strategic development and documents preparation, development of EC FP7 proposals, organising conferences and workshops, etc.The State Agency for Information Technology and Communication (SAITC) nominated Bulgarian representatives for a “MSC enabler” – member of the NESSI Member State Committee; A network of National Agents to support the Bulgarian “MSC enabler” under preparationIdentification of the NTP NESSI stakeholders:

Large ICT companies and SMEs;State institutions - State Agency of IT and Communications, Ministry of Economy and Energy, Ministry of Education and Science, Council of Ministers, etc.;Universities and research organisations;


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Activities (2)Identification of a network of networks as mediators for NTP NESSI:

ICT Cluster, Bulgarian Association of Software Companies - BASSCOM, European Software Institute - ESI Center Eastern Europe , Bulgarian Association of Information Technology - BAIT, Confederation of Empoyers and Idustrialists in Bulgaria – CEIBG; Association Telecommunications - ASTEL, Open Source related associations, etc.National Academic Network (link to GEANT); Bulgarian Virtual ICT Department (a network all ICT departments in the Bulgarian Universities and Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)

Initial meetings, awareness rising events, nominations of NTP NESSI members:


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Activities (3)Identification of a regional for South-Eastern Europe network of perspective stakeholders:

BCI2007 conference and workshops, e.g: ETP NESSI workshop; “Bridging the Digital Divide in South-Eastern Europe” workshop, Network and GRID Infrastructure workshop, Multicore computing workshop, etc.SEE IT - South-Eastern Europe: MoU for Regional cooperation for ICT industry excellence, promotion and branding, signed on September 27th, 2007 in Skopje. Endorsement and accession letters are to be added to the mentioned Memorandum as new organizations or groups of organizations from the different pillars (ICT industry, Investment promotion institutions, Governmental and executive bodies, Universities, academies and technology training centers, Business support organizations and donor programs).


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PerspectivesContinue the intensive discussions and meetings with prospective stakeholders;Active participation in ETP NESSI related initiatives and projects;Official establishment of the Bulgarian NTP NESSI and Core Management Board; Development of a common virtual working place;Establishment of the NTP NESSI stakeholder network;Establishment of the NTP NESSI Working Groups;


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Sofia University Over 35,000 students 80 Bachelor’s and over 200 Master’s

degree programmes Over 3000 teachers and researchers 17 Departments (Faculties). A new

department – Faculty of Medicine (July 2006)

Very important role for the development of the country

Challenges: economic and social changes, new models of education, new role of universities, brain drain

European Higher Education Area A Challenge - Sofia University to

become a National and Regional Centre of High-Technologies, Innovations and Entrepreneurship


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Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics

Established in 1889BSc Programs: Mathematics, Applied Mathematics, Mathematics and Informatics, Informatics, Computer Science (2004), Information Systems (2006), Software Engineering (2006), Statistics (2007)More than 25 MSc programsPhD ProgramsOver 2500 students;Over 180 instructorsGradual increase of number of students and instructors


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Basic changesOpen to the needs of the countryStronger links between education, training, R&D and innovations – towards a research university modelStronger links with industry – students’ internships, training, cross-sector mobility, innovations, technology transfer, entrepreneurship, start-ups, joint projects, etc. Cooperation with Industry Associations, SMEs, Atos Origin; Intel, Cisco, HP, Oracle, Microsoft, SAP, Siemens, Software AG, etc.Active international cooperation - more than 60 projects related to the European Higher Education Area, FP4, FP5, FP6, FP7, Tempus, Leonardo, Phare, etcBuilding a Knowledge Triangle model (education, research, innovation);


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The need of new ICT programs


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E-Skills Summit, Kopenhagen, 17-18.10.2003


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E-Skills Summit Industry Consortium


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E-Skills Summit: Documents & Guidelines

Curriculum Development Guidelines New ICT curricula for the 21st century: designing tomorrow’s educationDetermining the future demand for ICT skills in EuropeICT Job ProfilesEtc.


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The importance of ICT for Europe


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USA – Report of the 21st Century Workforce Commission


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ACM/IEEE Computing Curricula

Vice-President, IEEE-CS Education Activities Board Carl ChangChair, ACM Education Board Peter J. DenningIEEE-CS delegation James H. Cross II (co-chair) Gerald Engel (co-chair and editor) Robert Sloan (secretary) Doris Carver Richard Eckhouse Willis King Francis Lau Susan Mengel Pradip Srimani

ACM delegation Eric Roberts (co-chair & editor) Russell Shackelford (co-chair) Richard Austing C. Fay Cover Gordon Davies Andrew McGettrick G. Michael Schneider Ursula Wolz

http://www.computer.org/education/cc2001


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ICT Standards – ACM/IEEE Computing Curricula 2005 (CC2005)


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Implementing ACM/IEEE CC2001/CC2005 at

Sofia University Adapted to European contextAdapted to Sofia University specificsTop-down processBSc, MSc & PhD Programs in:

Computer Science Software Engineering Information Systems


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• Designing and reasoning about algorithms• Development of new software technologies•Design of programming languages

• Business value of information technology• Strategic use of information technology• Business processes• Evaluation of emerging information technologies

• Hardware-software interfaces• Software methodologies, standards and metrics•Software performance, security and safety

• Database design• Info storage and retrieval•Artificial intelligence• Intelligent decision systems

• Programming environments and tools• Operating system design

• Software specifications and design• Project management•Documentation•Human-computer interaction

• Programming• Databases• Networks• Hardware concepts• Legal and ethical issues


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Some new topics, e.g. Social and Professional Issues (SP)

Professionalism, ethics, and law courses. These courses are one semester long and expose students to issues of professional practice, ethical behavior, and computer law. Topics could included also history of computing, impact of computers on society, computing careers, legal and ethical responsibilities, and the computing profession.

SP1. History of computing [core]SP2. Social context of computing [core]SP3. Methods and tools of analysis [core]SP4. Professional and ethical responsibilities [core]SP5. Risks and liabilities of computer-based systems [core]SP6. Intellectual property [core]SP7. Privacy and civil liberties [core]SP8. Computer crime [elective]SP9. Economic issues in computing [elective]SP10. Philosophical frameworks [elective]


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MSc Programs at FMIArtificial IntelligenceBio-Medical InformaticsComputer GraphicsComputational Science and EngineeringeBusiness and eGovernanceeLearningInformation SystemsMathematical Logic (and Applications) Mobile Technologies and Distributed SystemsSoftware EngineeringInformation SecurityMechatronics and RoboticsMathematical ModellingMathematical Modelling in EconomicsProbability & StatisticsTechnology Entrepreneurship and Innovation in ICTNano & Information TechnologyEtc.


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PhD Program

MathematicsApplied MathematicsInformatics and Computer Science


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ICT Curricula DynamicsComputational Science and Engineering (towards interdisciplinary education)Intel Multicore Curricula (following recent advancements in technology)CISCO Academic Initiative (up-to-date technology knowledge and skills)


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Science and Industry Advance with Mathematics (SIAM) Working Group on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) Education


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Intel Multi-core Curriculum Program Sofia University joins the Top Tier University Club


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Regional Cisco Academy


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Education and Research as a ‘Meta-Industry’ ICT is the main instrument for turning education and research in an industry (eLearning, eResearch, eWork, eInfrastructure);this industry could be considered a ‘meta-industry’ since it could positively influence all other industry sectors; It could become the most important asset of Bulgaria on their way to the Knowledge Economy; Bulgaria is an attractive destination for foreign direct investments (FDI), that have radically changed many industry sectors, e.g. the food and beverages sector, cement industry, non-ferrous metallurgy, wholesale trade and banking in Bulgaria; Need of large investments in Higher Education: FDI could radically change the ’knowledge sector‘ of the industry which should be built around the real knowledge producers – universities and research institutions; We might expect a radical change in building sustainable ‘university-industry-government’ partnerships in Bulgaria; This is a real chance for Bulgaria to leap forward into the ‘Knowledge Economy’, and Sofia University is prepared to take a leading role.


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Thank you for your attention!