Project SEAMLESS - Small Enterprises Accessing the Electronic Market of the Enlarged Europe by a Smart Service Infrastructure

FP6 STREP - IST-2004-026476

References

• Project Coordinator: Prof. Bonfatti - Università di Modena (IT) - e-mail bonfatti unimo.it

Abstract

The SEAMLESS project studies, develops and experiments an embryo of the Single European Electronic Market (SEEM) network where a number of eRegistries are started up in different countries and sectors.

Distinctive features are:

• Addressing Craft &Trade companies through the respective mediators (chambers of commerce, entrepreneurial associations, local development agencies, ASPs).
• Focusing on two sectors, Textile (TEX) and Building &Construction (that are relevant to
  CT companies and present overlapping areas (e.g. fabrics for tapestry).
• Starting up experimental RRs in both EU-15 and new member states (NMAS) and establishing interactions between them based on a proper collaboration framework.

In adopting eBusiness solutions, the target companies present figures lower than those of larger enterprises and increasing at a slower pace. The situation in NMAS, where the percentage of CT is even larger than in EU-15, is generally worse, with significant differences between countries.

The SEEM vision is towards a web-based marketplace where companies can dynamically collaborate without cultural and technological constraints. The SEEM allows an objective comparison of profiles and offers of company of any size and location, and this could open the eBusiness space to the many small companies (providing high quality products and services at lower cost) that now risk to be left aside from the electronic market.

The main project activities are devoted to define a collaboration framework and proper business models, realise evolving sectoral ontologies, develop a technological infrastructure and a number of applications and services on top of it. Six eRegistries are experimented, in Poland and Slovenia (BCsector), in Spain, Slovakia and Romania (TEX sector), and in Hungary (generic).

The SEAMLESS project intends to provide an independent contribution to the Digital Ecosystem initiative and strictly collaborate with the relative cluster of projects.