1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,000 Software errors have been implicated in several plane accidents in the last 20 years. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 There have also been a number of high-tech space projects lost due to malfunctioning programs. 3 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,000 And consumers are often frustrated by glitches on their personal computers, 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,000 along with other problems when the external electronic infrastructure fails. 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:29,000 Berlin's shiny new central station, a symbol of confidence in railway technology. 6 00:00:29,000 --> 00:00:32,000 Germany's rail network, like those of other European countries, 7 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:37,000 is constantly being challenged by rising passenger numbers and the need to update it. 8 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:41,000 Leon Benjamins is working on creating software that will help. 9 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,000 Take a middle-of-life situation where you're able to monitor the strength of a well. 10 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:52,000 A well that can be attached to a heavy piece of machinery, 11 00:00:52,000 --> 00:00:55,000 or that's holding a building together, or a crane high up, 12 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,000 or even a structure such as you see around you. 13 00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:05,000 If you can have wireless sensors attached that are able to predict when one of these wells is going to go, 14 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:08,000 you have a life-saving situation. 15 00:01:09,000 --> 00:01:13,000 This is the aim of the European software project called PROMIS. 16 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,000 Computer programs aimed at improving the management of a wide range of products, 17 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:21,000 from massive locomotives to the nuts and bolts that go to make them. 18 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,000 All so that material fatigue can be avoided. 19 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:28,000 And as trains become more complex with thousands of components from different manufacturers, 20 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:33,000 they're also becoming increasingly dependent upon computer technology. 21 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:35,000 In Hennigsdorf near Berlin, 22 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:40,000 Benjamins is meeting software developers working next door to the Bombardier train plant. 23 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:46,000 Andreas Edler and his PROMIS project team are developing software which will analyze component performance. 24 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,000 We want to make products better and more intelligent. 25 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:53,000 Trains, or water heaters, or whatever. 26 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:58,000 You can achieve this only when you know how the products behave while in use. 27 00:02:01,000 --> 00:02:05,000 More than 20 partners from universities, technology providers, 28 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:09,000 and industrial organizations are participating in PROMIS. 29 00:02:09,000 --> 00:02:13,000 This means they have to agree on a common computer language and software, 30 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:18,000 even among themselves, before they can go on to develop a system of component surveillance 31 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:23,000 which individual companies will be able to adapt to their own manufacturing needs. 32 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,000 The software architecture that you choose must be flexible enough 33 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,000 not to prohibit certain requirements of the manufacturers, but to support them. 34 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:39,000 This program has to be operable for any of them. 35 00:02:40,000 --> 00:02:44,000 Meeting the challenges of creating what's called interoperable software, 36 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:49,000 i.e. a system compatible with those of any supplier, takes a huge effort. 37 00:02:49,000 --> 00:02:53,000 Competing companies have to work with software researchers in an open way, 38 00:02:53,000 --> 00:02:56,000 sharing knowledge and agreeing to common solutions 39 00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:00,000 so interoperable software can be created for the benefit of all. 40 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:08,000 There's not one company that's able to deliver the best software. 41 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:13,000 To deliver the whole solution today, I think PROMIS has succeeded beautifully 42 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:21,000 in getting a wide group of technology providers, research institutes, together, to work together. 43 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,000 PROMIS isn't the only EU Commission-backed software project. 44 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:30,000 Here in Brussels, heads of research of leading technology companies 45 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:33,000 are joining forces on what's known as the Nessie Project. 46 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:39,000 Its aim? To make the vision of compatible, personalized information become a reality. 47 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Nessie is going to enable the delivery of personalized information, 48 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:52,000 so delivering what people need, when they need it. 49 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:55,000 And this requires linking different worlds. 50 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:04,000 With Nessie, we want to guarantee the possibility of managing bureaucratic needs between different countries. 51 00:04:04,000 --> 00:04:09,000 For example, from the paperwork required in the setting up of a company 52 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,000 to the request for a certificate. 53 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:17,000 The software will eliminate the need for language compatibility. 54 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:22,000 A joint European technology platform is the aim of the project developers. 55 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:28,000 A common interface, which all the participants agree to base their own hard and software technology. 56 00:04:31,000 --> 00:04:36,000 We're going to provide the infrastructure which will allow for the development of many services, 57 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:40,000 to give small companies the chance to access information that they need most, 58 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,000 so they can find their way around the world. 59 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:46,000 We are, all of us are competing. 60 00:04:46,000 --> 00:04:50,000 But we are united around the concept that there is not today a single company 61 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:54,000 that can, or even should, harness the power of an environment 62 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:57,000 that is going to enable the delivery of all these services. 63 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:05,000 At the high-tech campus, Maddy Janza from the Philips Experience Lab 64 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:08,000 is leading the European project Amigo. 65 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:13,000 Its aim is to unify the attempts of different developers of so-called ambient intelligence 66 00:05:13,000 --> 00:05:17,000 to agree on joint standards, especially in the software technology. 67 00:05:17,000 --> 00:05:22,000 This way, the different machines in a home will be able to be controlled by joint programs 68 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:25,000 even when they're made by different appliance producers. 69 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:36,000 The idea of the Amigo project is that it's going to be a platform 70 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:42,000 The idea of Amigo is that all these devices are interoperable 71 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:45,000 and can work together in one network. 72 00:05:45,000 --> 00:05:49,000 So that basically means that in the end it should be possible 73 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:56,000 to operate your dishwasher, for example, via an interface on your flat panel screen.