Asiacoop

The ASIACOOP project (IST-3-15695-SSA) is a 3-year coordination and support action launched in June 2005 and supported by the European Commission ( DG Information Society and Media) under the Sixth Framework Programme aiming at facilitating the emergence of cooperation projects, accompanying their development and strengthening their impact between Europe and Asia, more precisely China, Japan and South Korea.The ASIACOOP project ended in September 2008 but will be continued by a follow-up project - the COJAK project.

Objectives of the ASIACOOP project

Launched in June 2005 for a period of over 3 years, the ASIACOOP project will provide support services dedicated to European organisations, in continuity with the support actions that the IST Programme of the European Commission (DG Information Society and Media) has been developing for many years to strengthen EU-Asia cooperation.

More precisely, the ASIACOOP project will:
* Organise cooperation events in leading Asian cities (Tokyo and Seoul), in order to contribute reinforcing the EU-Asia political cooperation framework and to provide the European IST/ICT community with efficient support (information, networking, enhanced image) in the development of their cooperation efforts,
* Develop and maintain a portal website ( [http://www.EuroAsia-ICT.org http://www.EuroAsia-ICT.org] ) and 3 country specific websites ( [http://www.EuroChina-ICT.org http://www.EuroChina-ICT.org] , [http://www.EuroJapan-ICT.org http://www.EuroJapan-ICT.org] , [http://www.EuroSouthKorea-ICT.org http://www.EuroSouthKorea-ICT.org] ) in order to offer a comprehensive set of information and support services devoted to S&T cooperation between the EU and Asia in the ICT field.

The ASIACOOP project represents the answer to the identified need to organise cooperation events in Japan and in South Korea, where in fact (compared to other Asian countries such as India, or Southeast Asia) no support activities have been developed by the IST programme in the past years despite the clear importance of these two countries with regard to the ICT sector:
* They form, together with China, the core “economic triangle” in today’s Asia, a ‘CJK’ group, increasingly active in particular in the filed of standardisation in ICT,
* The liveliness and attractiveness of the Japanese ICT sector (despite “the lost decade” from 1992 to 2004) and of the South Korean ICT sector (the country has managed to reach a remarkable level of development in the ICT field in just a very short time) are well known,
* EU-Japan and EU-Korean relations are in good shape and developing steadily on all fronts, in particular thanks to regular bilateral Summits (the [http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/japan/summit_en.htm EU/Japan Summit] and the [http://ec.europa.eu/external_relations/south_korea/intro/chrono.htm EU/South-Korea Summit] ) and the activities of EU Centers established these past years in the two countries,
* [http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/index.cfm?lg=en&pg=countries A S&T agreement] signed in Nov. 2006 between the EU and South Korea
* Such an S&T agreement with Japan should be signed very soon.

Impacts of the ASIACOOP project

ASIACOOP is expected to have a significant impact on the quality of the political cooperation framework between the EU and Asia in the ICT field, on the intensity of S&T cooperation activities between the two regions, and on the image of European organisations and of the IST/ICT Programme in Asia.

The ASIACOOP project’s multiple impacts can be summarised as follows:

Quality of the political framework for cooperation between the EU and China, Japan and South Korea in the ICT fields
*The operational support provided by the project to DG Information Society and Media in their contacts with the Asian authorities, and the organisation of cooperation events in Japanese and South Korean key cities will contribute to build a more solid framework for the development of cooperation initiatives of European organisations in Asia.Image of European organizations in Asia.
*The cooperation events organised in Japan, and South Korea will be major opportunities to enhance the image of European organisations in the ICT domain as seen by the local authorities, industry and media.Intensity of the S&T cooperation between the EU and Asia.
*The activities of the ASIACOOP project will contribute to stimulating and facilitating S&T cooperation between European organisations (in particular those engaged in the IST/ICT Programme) and Japanese and South Korean organisations as the cooperation events represent a key opportunity and a platform to identify, discuss and develop strategic ICT research projects of mutual benefit to Europe and Asia (CJK).Reputation of the IST/ICT Programme and of IST/ICT organisations in Asia.
*Planned ASIACOOP activities, namely the four project websites and the two cooperation events, will make a major contribution to the visibility of the IST/ICT Programme and of the IST/ICT players in China, Japan, South Korea, and in Asia as a whole.

External links

* http://www.euroasia-ict.org

* http://www.eurochina-ict.org; http://www.eurojapan-ict.org; http://www.eurosouthkorea-ict.org

* http://www.orionis.com (Project coordinator website)