Bulgarian Technology Platform NESSI

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Bulgarian Technology Platform NESSI Mission,
Goals and Perspective

• Roumen Nikolov, Assoc. Prof.,
• Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics

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• Contents
• Background
• The Bulgarian NTP NESSI main goals
• Activities so far
• Perspectives
• The role of Sofia University as a NTP NESSI
  catalyst

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Background

• See presentation of Mr. Josema Cavanillas,
  Director Atos Research Atos Origin,
  Vice-Chairman - NESSI Steering Committee
• See presentation of Ms. Totka Chernaeva, SAITS
• Expanding NESSI Across Europe decision of NESSI
  General Assembly 08/06/2006
• Mechanisms for expanding NESSI
• MSC Member State Committee
• NTPs National Technology Platforms
• ONESSI channel towards Open Source Community
• other

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NTP NESSI main goals

• Opening wide channels for cooperation with the
  EC, ETP NESSI and its members
• Building a large network of prospective
  stakeholders in Bulgaria and SEE
• Supporting RD activities in cooperation with
  knowledge intensive SMEs
• Building links and joint investment between
  public research and industry
• Building a knowledge hub in the area of software
  and services
• Exchange and dissemination of information related
  to NESSI
• Training and competence building
• Establishing of working groups on different NESSI
  topics
• Defining a national roadmap and Strategic
  Research Agenda (SRA), based on the NESSI SRA,
  for the future evolution of the national RD and
  innovation program related to SS
• Implementing the NESSI principles at a national
  level
• Coordination of existing research activities in
  SS and promote their deployment to i2010

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NTP NESSI Goals (2)

• Supporting the implementation of the national ICT
  strategy in the area of SS and providing
  valuable feedback for improvements
• Developing SS related strategies for Bulgaria
  and SEE and bridging them with the EC strategies
  and policies
• Opening new channels for participation in EC
  projects
• Exchange RD results in SS with other member
  states
• Nominating national projects to the NESSI
  Steering Committee for a NESSI label
• Searching for new opportunities and capacity for
  development of a competitive Bulgarian and SEE
  ICT and service industry
• Working for improving ICT infrastructure and for
  providing global access to SS
• Identifying and promoting best practices
• Promoting new service oriented business models
• Making the NTP NESSI a reference point for
  end-users (national, regional, global)
• Creating a common virtual workplace on the
  internet for supporting the above mentioned goals
  and activities.

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Activities so far Awarness phase

• Established cooperation under the ETP NESSI (3-4
  years ago)
• Contribution to the ETP NESSI strategic
  development and documents preparation,
  development of EC FP7 proposals, organising
  conferences and workshops, etc.
• The State Agency for Information Technology and
  Communication (SAITC) nominated Bulgarian
  representatives for a MSC enabler member of
  the NESSI Member State Committee
• A network of National Agents to support the
  Bulgarian MSC enabler under preparation
• Identification of the NTP NESSI stakeholders
• Large ICT companies and SMEs
• State institutions - State Agency of IT and
  Communications, Ministry of Economy and Energy,
  Ministry of Education and Science, Council of
  Ministers, etc.
• Universities and research organisations

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Activities (2)

• Identification of a network of networks as
  mediators for NTP NESSI
• ICT Cluster, Bulgarian Association of Software
  Companies - BASSCOM, European Software Institute
  - ESI Center Eastern Europe , Bulgarian
  Association of Information Technology - BAIT,
  Confederation of Empoyers and Idustrialists in
  Bulgaria CEIBG Association Telecommunications
  - ASTEL, Open Source related associations, etc.
• National Academic Network (link to GEANT)
  Bulgarian Virtual ICT Department (a network all
  ICT departments in the Bulgarian Universities and
  Bulgarian Academy of Sciences)
• Initial meetings, awareness rising events,
  nominations of NTP NESSI members

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Activities (3)

• Identification of a regional for South-Eastern
  Europe network of perspective stakeholders
• BCI2007 conference and workshops, e.g ETP NESSI
  workshop Bridging the Digital Divide in
  South-Eastern Europe workshop, Network and GRID
  Infrastructure workshop, Multicore computing
  workshop, etc.
• SEE IT - South-Eastern Europe MoU for Regional
  cooperation for ICT industry excellence,
  promotion and branding, signed on September 27th,
  2007 in Skopje.
• Endorsement and accession letters are to be added
  to the mentioned Memorandum as new organizations
  or groups of organizations from the different
  pillars (ICT industry, Investment promotion
  institutions, Governmental and executive bodies,
  Universities, academies and technology training
  centers, Business support organizations and donor
  programs).

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Perspectives

• Continue the intensive discussions and meetings
  with prospective stakeholders
• Active participation in ETP NESSI related
  initiatives and projects
• Official establishment of the Bulgarian NTP NESSI
  and Core Management Board
• Development of a common virtual working place
• Establishment of the NTP NESSI stakeholder
  network
• Establishment of the NTP NESSI Working Groups

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Sofia University

• Over 35,000 students
• 80 Bachelors and over 200 Masters degree
  programmes
• Over 3000 teachers and researchers
• 17 Departments (Faculties). A new department
  Faculty of Medicine (July 2006)
• Very important role for the development of the
  country
• Challenges economic and social changes, new
  models of education, new role of universities,
  brain drain
• European Higher Education Area
• A Challenge - Sofia University to become a
  National and Regional Centre of
  High-Technologies, Innovations and
  Entrepreneurship

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Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics

• Established in 1889
• BSc Programs Mathematics, Applied Mathematics,
  Mathematics and Informatics, Informatics,
  Computer Science (2004), Information Systems
  (2006), Software Engineering (2006), Statistics
  (2007)
• More than 25 MSc programs
• PhD Programs
• Over 2500 students
• Over 180 instructors
• Gradual increase of number of students and
  instructors

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Basic changes

• Open to the needs of the country
• Stronger links between education, training, RD
  and innovations towards a research university
  model
• Stronger links with industry students
  internships, training, cross-sector mobility,
  innovations, technology transfer,
  entrepreneurship, start-ups, joint projects, etc.
  Cooperation with Industry Associations, SMEs,
  Atos Origin Intel, Cisco, HP, Oracle, Microsoft,
  SAP, Siemens, Software AG, etc.
• Active international cooperation - more than 60
  projects related to the European Higher Education
  Area, FP4, FP5, FP6, FP7, Tempus, Leonardo,
  Phare, etc
• Building a Knowledge Triangle model (education,
  research, innovation)

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The need of new ICT programs
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E-Skills Summit, Kopenhagen, 17-18.10.2003
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E-Skills Summit Industry Consortium
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E-Skills Summit Documents Guidelines

• Curriculum Development Guidelines New ICT
  curricula for the 21st century designing
  tomorrows education
• Determining the future demand for ICT skills in
  Europe
• ICT Job Profiles
• Etc.

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The importance of ICT for Europe
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USA Report of the 21st Century Workforce
Commission
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ACM/IEEE Computing Curricula

• Vice-President, IEEE-CS Education Activities
  Board   Carl Chang
• Chair, ACM Education Board   Peter J. Denning
• IEEE-CS delegation   James H. Cross II
  (co-chair)   Gerald Engel (co-chair and editor)
    Robert Sloan (secretary)   Doris Carver
    Richard Eckhouse   Willis King   Francis Lau
    Susan Mengel   Pradip Srimani

• ACM delegation   Eric Roberts (co-chair
  editor)   Russell Shackelford (co-chair)
    Richard Austing   C. Fay Cover   Gordon
  Davies   Andrew McGettrick   G. Michael
  Schneider   Ursula Wolz
• http//www.computer.org/education/cc2001

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ICT Standards ACM/IEEE Computing Curricula 2005
(CC2005)
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Implementing ACM/IEEE CC2001/CC2005 at Sofia
University

• Adapted to European context
• Adapted to Sofia University specifics
• Top-down process
• BSc, MSc PhD Programs in
• Computer Science  
• Software Engineering
• Information Systems

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• Hardware-software interfaces
• Software methodologies, standards and metrics
• Software performance, security and safety

• Programming environments and tools
• Operating system design

• Software specifications and design
• Project management
• Documentation
• Human-computer interaction

• Designing and reasoning about algorithms
• Development of new software technologies
• Design of programming languages

• Business value of information technology
• Strategic use of information technology
• Business processes
• Evaluation of emerging information technologies

• Database design
• Info storage and retrieval
• Artificial intelligence
• Intelligent decision systems

• Programming
• Databases
• Networks
• Hardware concepts
• Legal and ethical issues

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Some new topics, e.g. Social and Professional
Issues (SP)

• Professionalism, ethics, and law courses. These
  courses are one semester long and expose students
  to issues of professional practice, ethical
  behavior, and computer law. Topics could included
  also history of computing, impact of computers on
  society, computing careers, legal and ethical
  responsibilities, and the computing profession.
• SP1. History of computing core
• SP2. Social context of computing core
• SP3. Methods and tools of analysis core
• SP4. Professional and ethical responsibilities
  core
• SP5. Risks and liabilities of computer-based
  systems core
• SP6. Intellectual property core
• SP7. Privacy and civil liberties core
• SP8. Computer crime elective
• SP9. Economic issues in computing elective
• SP10. Philosophical frameworks elective

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MSc Programs at FMI

• Artificial Intelligence
• Bio-Medical Informatics
• Computer Graphics
• Computational Science and Engineering
• eBusiness and eGovernance
• eLearning
• Information Systems
• Mathematical Logic (and Applications)
• Mobile Technologies and Distributed Systems
• Software Engineering
• Information Security
• Mechatronics and Robotics
• Mathematical Modelling
• Mathematical Modelling in Economics
• Probability Statistics
• Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation in ICT
• Nano Information Technology
• Etc.

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PhD Program

• Mathematics
• Applied Mathematics
• Informatics and Computer Science

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ICT Curricula Dynamics

• Computational Science and Engineering (towards
  interdisciplinary education)
• Intel Multicore Curricula (following recent
  advancements in technology)
• CISCO Academic Initiative (up-to-date technology
  knowledge and skills)

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Science and Industry Advance with Mathematics
(SIAM) Working Group on Computational Science and
Engineering (CSE) Education
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Intel Multi-core Curriculum Program Sofia
University joins the Top Tier University Club
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Regional Cisco Academy
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Education and Research as a Meta-Industry

• ICT is the main instrument for turning education
  and research in an industry (eLearning,
  eResearch, eWork, eInfrastructure)
• this industry could be considered a
  meta-industry since it could positively
  influence all other industry sectors
• It could become the most important asset of
  Bulgaria on their way to the Knowledge Economy
• Bulgaria is an attractive destination for foreign
  direct investments (FDI), that have radically
  changed many industry sectors, e.g. the food and
  beverages sector, cement industry, non-ferrous
  metallurgy, wholesale trade and banking in
  Bulgaria
• Need of large investments in Higher Education
  FDI could radically change the knowledge sector
  of the industry which should be built around the
  real knowledge producers universities and
  research institutions
• We might expect a radical change in building
  sustainable university-industry-government
  partnerships in Bulgaria
• This is a real chance for Bulgaria to leap
  forward into the Knowledge Economy, and Sofia
  University is prepared to take a leading role.

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Thank you for your attention!