— posted by Thomas Skordas, Head of unit “Photonics”,  DG INFSO, EU Commission

Science and technology are two elements of utmost importance for finding new answers to old problems.  Nowadays, key enabling technologies have the potential of providing innovative solutions to current societal challenges. Photonics (defined by Pierre Aigrain as “the science of the harnessing of light”) is one of these technologies that has already yielded results, in a field where current conventional technologies have approached their limits in terms of speed, capacity and accuracy.

Ethylene is the world’s largest volume industrially produced organic material and propylene the second most used petrochemical commodity. Impurities of those gases in large scale production processes still lead to enormous chemical waste, since the detection of such impurities is a complex and slow process that takes 9 minutes with today’s most sophisticated systems. 

However, thanks to a revolutionary EU-funded project called SENSHY, new gas detection systems based on Mid Infrared (MIR) Lasers have been developed that facilitate for the first time ever the detection of impurities in real time thus avoiding chemical waste being produced frequently and in high quantities. The newly developed laser source also facilitates new gas detection systems that identify, for example, methane in a reliable and low-cost manner that will ultimately save miners’ lives.

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— Posted by DG INFSO’s Going Local for Cyprus

The Digital Agenda goes to Cyprus – European Commission officials take part in a Conference to discuss, with targeted audiences and the public, how Information and Communication Technologies can help Europe and Cyprus achieve high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion. Find out more about the Digital Agenda . The conference, entitled “Going Local II – A Digital Agenda for Europe and for Cyprus”, takes place on November 25, from 8.30 to 14.00 at the Ministry of Economy, in Nicosia. Conference language is English.

Key themes to be covered in the conference are:

Digital entrepreneurship (emphasis on EU funding) – a presentation of the state of play on digital entrepreneurship in Cyprus and opportunities for funding offered by the EU

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Posted by Detlef Eckert, DG INFSO, Director Policy Coordination and Strategy

Die Europäische Kommision ist am 9. und 10. November in Deutschland, um im Rahmen der diesjährigen “Digital Agenda Going Local” Initiative mit Vertretern der Wirtschaft, der Länder und des Bundes heiße IKT-Themen zu diskutieren.

Ich freue mich schon darauf, am 9. November am Breitbandtag Niedersachsen die neuesten Vorschläge aus Brüssel zur Anhebung der Breitbandversorgung in Europa vorstellen.

Am 10. November werde ich vormittags Kollegen aus den verschiedenen Ressorts treffen, mit denen wir im Rahmen der Digitalen Agenda zusammenarbeiten. Nachmittags findet eine Going Local Veranstaltung im Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie statt, auf der wir neue Herausforderungen und Chancen der europäischen Breitbandpolitik im Zuge der neuen Vorschläge zur Connecting Europe Facility sowie neue Entwicklungen im Green IT diskutieren werden. Ich bin schon gespannt und hoffe auf einen interessanten Gedankenaustausch.

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