Brussels, 08/09/2010 (Agence Europe) - Research into the area of information and communication and technologies (ICT) at the service of citizens and enterprise is an essential element in the digital strategy for Europe, adopted by the European Commission in May 2010. Within this context, the Commission announced that it would give its support to the European research project, CASPAR (Cultural, Artistic and Scientific Knowledge for Preservation, Access and Retrieval), which seeks to guarantee access to and preservation of digital data. Neelie Kroes, the commissioner responsible for the Digital strategy declared that “digital information is extremely vulnerable and also extremely valuable... I am very excited by the potential of CASPAR's tools and techniques to ensure sustained quality of and access to valuable data in the future.”
The amount of digital data produced in a variety of different fields is increasing exponentially and there is a danger that this data could be lost to future generations because this information often proves incompatible with the rapid pace of change in the world of new technology. The CASPAR project focuses on the long-term preservation of scientific, cultural and artistic resources. It is based on a framework defined by the OAIS standard (Open Archival Information System) for preserving these complex resources in the long-term. It will enable data to be accurately described, so that the relevant figures can be extracted, printed and correctly interpreted in the future. The system was developed by researchers from France, Greece, Israel, Italy, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom and CASPAR is the most recent development to be added to initiatives such as the Europeana digital library. The total cost of the project stands at €15 million and has received €8.8 in funding from the European Union under the Commission's programme for financing research (the sixth framework-programme 2001-2006). CASPAR, as well as other major research successes in the domain of ICT funded by the EU, will be presented at “ICT 2010” on the 27-29 September 2010 in Brussels. (I.L./transl.fl)