In autumn 2016, the European Commission has launched the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative. The goal is to start building the Internet of the future, more open, providing better services, more intelligence, greater involvement and participation.
So far, so good
Since 2016, things moved in the right direction.
An open consultation took place from 14 November 2016 until 9 January 2017, to gather people’s views and ideas on the values and technologies of the Internet of the future. This consultation is an entry point for the forthcoming H2020 Work Programme for the Next Generation Internet that will be published in autumn 2017. The results of the consultation have been published in a report.
More discussions are currently taking place on the dedicated online platform but also in several workshops organised in order to share expert insight and build content and credibility.
But this is only the beginning.
REISearch survey and NGI Summit
Recently, REISearch project launched a press campaign aiming to collect citizens' opinions on the future of the internet and to find out what Europeans expect from the internet in the next ten years.
The three weeks survey collected views from nearly 4000 EU citizens and showed that “Europeans are highly interested in the future of the Internet and expect a better alignment of the digital world with values as human dignity and human rights, freedom, democracy, equality and rule of law.”
The results of the campaign will be presented and discussed at the Next Generation Internet Summit, organised by REIsearch at the European Parliament in Brussels on 6-7 June 2017.
Next steps
As part of the next Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2018-2020 (to be approved by Member States in autumn) the European Commission will invest €270 million in the Next Generation Internet initiative. This new and ambitious research programme targets Europe's best talents from academia and hi-tech start-ups, calling for a human-centric Internet that embraces our needs and our European values. This program will address at the speed of the Internet some key important building blocks like privacy, decentralised architecture and new technologies such as virtual and augmented reality, Artificial Intelligence, Multilingualism technologies, Internet of Things and Media convergence. It will also address how to put the users in control of this technology in what must be a human-centred Internet.
In addition, a study led by NLnet and Gartner, has just been launched by the European Commission with the objective of consolidating the next steps for a future NGI programme.
More information on the Next Generation Internet
- Next Generation Internet: debates; documents; blogs and videos
- Next Generation Internet: The Internet of humans – blogpost by Roberto Viola
More information on the REISearch report and the NGI Summit