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Dr. Ecommerce:

I am a consultant doing work related to the legal aspects of electronic commerce. What does the IST 5th Framework Programme offer me? What else can the European Commission do for me?

Dr. N.

Dear Dr N:

The Information Society Technology Workprogramme is a
research, development and policy programme for the European Union. Very basically, if you have an innovative idea - for example in secure financial transactions over the Internet, with a clear European dimension - you could seek risk-sharing support of your project from the IST Programme. There are a number of restrictions, for example projects must be of a high quality and of correct focus and we normally require projects have at least two partners from different member states.

It would be best for you to download the work programme (as either a Word for Windows or PDF document) and read it carefully. Please visit http://www.cordis.lu/ist/ for information and to download a copy of the workprogramme as well as other related documents. If you see a particular "Action Line" (an "action line" is a specific area of focus within the Workprogramme) you are interested in, tell me which one and I will put you in touch with our project officer in charge of the "action line". If you wish to find partners for developing a project, please visit http://www.ispo.cec.be/istka2/partners.html which has links to several partner databases (ie. listings of organisations and people looking for partners) as well as the opportunity to have yourself listed in a database so others can find you.

Even if you are not interested in participating in the research aspect of the workprogramme, you may be interested in applying for expert canditature (for evaluating proposals and reviewing projects). Go to http://www.cordis.lu/expert-candidature/ for more information and to express your interest.

I think it would also benefit you to participate in our electronic commerce discussion list. For information and to join, please visit
http://www.ispo.cec.be/ecommerce/interaction/discussion.html. This would be a good opportunity for you to discuss issues in
electronic commerce with others as well as to make useful contacts.

Dr. Ecommerce