The WG Repository:

• a first Repository prototype was demonstrated at the Co-Summit 2012 and further development took place in 2013 and 2014.
• Chaired by Matias Vierimaa

How it all started

The ARTEMIS Repository was established with the aim of making available the results of ARTEMIS projects to the R&I community. Repository 1.0, launched in 2012, comprises the publicly available documentation – general descriptions and executive summaries – intended to enable new consortia and project partners to benefit from information on setting up new projects as well as provide a showcase to promote the results and the impact of these results. It also represents a snapshot of the coverage of industrial priorities and acts as a support mechanism for Centre of Innovation Excellence (CoIE) network building. The Repository targets a wide range of organisations and individuals in the R&I community, both in Europe and around the world, from large companies to SMEs and from researchers and students to future projects and programmes, both ARTEMIS and other. As such, the Repository embodies the ARTEMIS way.

Members of the Working Group Repository

The Repository Working Group is chaired by Matias Vierimaa of VTT and its current members are Alun Foster (ARTEMIS-JU), André Hebben (ARTEMIS-IA), Ingrid Kundner (AVL), Frank van der Linden (Philips Healthcare), Andrei Lobov (Tampere University of Technology), Reiner Schmid (Siemens) and Elena Tsiporkova (Sirris). The WG is keen to add industrial members to its ranks.

The Repository mechanism

ARTEMIS-IA hosts the Repository, taking care of the information storage and IT. All ARTEMIS projects and partners are included in the Repository. In figures, that is 12 challenges, 52 ARTEMIS projects and 1683 organisations (or project partners). That is quite a reasonable mass to start with. The Repository is regularly updated and projects themselves can now also directly access or upload to the Repository after they register to an ARTEMIS-IA account. The uploaded deliverables are automatically converted into HTML while the possibility to upload using other formats such as PDF and Word is currently being explored. The visual browser will be updated, so that the look and feel of the Repository is enhanced and to enable related projects to be viewed and search functionality is improved. As it now stands, version 1.0 represents a technical prototype and collection of public information. However, if the Repository is to achieve the real impact for which it has been created, there is a need to go beyond public information, since the public deliverables from projects tend to comprise largely limited technical information. So a Repository Evolution Plan has been devised to tackle this new challenge. The WG is currently working on version 2.0 with a view to realising version 3.0 with full deliverable integration.

Going up a level

The WG is looking at ways of taking the Repository up a level, going beyond public information and enabling public (PU status) and public restricted (PR) deliverables to be shared with other European and national research projects. Of course, there are still a number of issues and hurdles to be overcome, largely legal and centring on aspects such as intellectual property, licensing rights, how to handle open-source results and ensuring that the whole process is technically feasible. However, the will is clearly there and a flagship project, CESAR, has already shown the way in its Process4Exchange approach. A good example of the impact that such an approach can have.

In a collaborative project like CESAR, cooperation is the key to successful project execution so to exchange information with other research initiatives, the CESAR process 4 exchange was established, with both PU and PR deliverables available. RE (restricted) deliverables, however, remain confidential to the CESAR consortium. The coordinators of national and European research projects are able to request access to the share point that contains PU and PR documents but while these may be shared within the respective consortium, they are expected to be treated as confidential information in respect of third parties. Projects already actively participating in the CESAR Process 4 Exchange are MBAT, SAFE, ARAMIS and RECOMP. Before the Process4Exchange got up and running, less than 10% of CESAR deliverables was public but that percentage has now risen to 25% of CESAR deliverables being accessible for ARTEMIS projects through the Process 4 Exchange.

From 1.0 to 2.0 (and 3.0)

So, what are the implications for the ARTEMIS Repository, and what are the steps that the WG members are putting their heads together to resolve? The WG team is currently in the process of planning the next level, Repository 2.0, having already made a start on the technical implementation and gaining insight into the potential IPR restrictions that could apply as well as how to deal with licensing issues and open-source results. In addition, the WG is looking into what kind of public restricted material could be (made) available. Such information is essential in defining the process and guidelines for V2.0. Of course, the Repository is intended for the projects so their information, requirements and expectations are vital to ascertain. And since nothing is free, the funding options for Repository 2.0 also need to be considered.

With ECSEL Joint Undertaking gaining momentum with each passing day, the WG is also looking at the cooperation possibilities that could exist in this respect and at promoting and expanding the ARTEMIS Repository further. So, once the key issues of how to include public restricted material, deal with the various legal implications and overcome residual technical and practical matters, a decision can be made on proceeding to and implementing 2.0, and ultimately a fully integrated 3.0.