The European Commission and the UK's e-Government Unit are to launch a range of key smart card initiatives in Sheffield on 18 and 19 May 2005.
The Commission will unveil its European Centre of Excellence for SmartCards at the two day event hosted by Sheffield City Council and will issue findings from its EU Information Society smart card scheme. Ian Watmore, the UK head of e-government, is to speak at the event and will present details of the latest smart card developments from Whitehall's perspective. The focus of the event will be on interoperability and standardisation issues, which the EU is hoping to address in order to encourage the development of smart card schemes across the continent. The Commission is to demonstrate and evaluate the results from seven pilot smart card schemes across six countries at the conference.
Sheffield, which is to manage the EU centre of excellence, will issue an evaluation of its own multi-application smart card at the conference. Organisations supporting Sheffield's initiatives include the Cabinet Office, the Department of Trade and Industry and the Passport Office, as well as several private sector IT suppliers.
Ken Bellamy, head of e-government at Sheffield City Council, said on 2 May 2005: "'We have been delighted at the strong display of industry support for the initiative, particularly with our new established links with regional electronics companies, with whom we are extending demonstrations to local SMEs over the course of the year. The centre is not only raising Sheffield's reputation in the field but stimulating the local economy too."
Quelle: KableNET, 03.05.2005
