FIA Ghent report

The Future Internet Assembly is an initiative supported by the European Commission. Its purpose is to foster open interactions and crossfertilisation across technical Future Internet domains, reaching out to whom ever has the talent. This was the sixth FIA, continuing a process to coordinate European Future Internet R&D which was launched by the Bled Declaration in March 2008.

FIA in Ghent, 15-17 December, at the tail end of the Belgian presidency, was an opportunity to lay some ground rules for the potentially unruly adolescent to continue living in harmony with its family and community. As the internet enters adulthood, it will be a time for learning but also a time for some experimenting and innovating, and if the past nearly two decades have shown anything, the future will also be quite a ride, with all the usual hits, misses and in-betweens. Europe and FIA plan to be in the thick of it.