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Presentation of Discussions in
Breakout Sessions
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
Ray Kammer,
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Department of Commerce
Mr. Kammer began his summary by noting that the breakout sessions on
information technology included three subgroups that focused on electronic com-
merce, cross-lingual information management, and Next-Generation Internet
(NGI).
Electronic Commerce
Mr. Kammer said that the group posed a general question to frame its elec-
tronic commerce (e-commerce) discussion: What characteristics must e-com-
merce have to continue its rapid growth? In response the group generally agreed
that e-commerce must be easy to use, trusted by users, and interoperable that is,
different computer systems for supporting e-commerce must be able to communi-
cate with one another.
The group defined e-commerce as any communication between businesses,
between businesses and consumers, or between government and businesses and
consumers that is, as part of a potential or consummated economic transaction.
Mr. Kammer noted that these are two-way channels in that information flows
from consumers to businesses as well as from businesses to consumers.
The group developed a list of potential areas for collaboration, including
trust systems to ensure privacy; meta-language models; intelligent agents, soft
42
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PRESENTATIONS OF DISCUSSIONS IN BREAKOUT SESSIONS
43
ware programs that automatically and independently undertake certain actions
(e.g., searching a database) based on a user's preferences; hardware and software
interfaces; human interfaces; virtual organizations (i.e., disseminating best prac-
tices on business models for e-commerce); individual applications; issues with
respect to data overload; government-citizen communication; interoperability;
and infrastructure. In addition, the group outlined the next steps to be taken for
encouraging collaboration:
· Hold a United States-European Union (U.S.-EU) workshop on best prac-
tices in e-commerce.
Identify U.S. and EU competitions for funding so that joint projects can
be undertaken that complement the strengths both sides bring to e-com
merce.
Try to ensure that cooperation moves quickly to specific projects and not
be content with generalities about the virtues of cooperation and the need
to do more of it.
· Provide both the United States and the European Union with rules for
creating proposals (the group recognizes, however, that such rules may
not yet exist).
Cross-Lingual Information Management
Mr. Kammer described the two motivations for transatlantic cooperation in
cross-lingual information management and communications: (1) removing both
people-to-people language barriers and people-to-data language barriers and (2)
building on complementary efforts of both the United States and the European
Union. The group identified the following goals for collaboration on cross-
lingual information management: to provide for more rapid international progress,
to develop standards and promote interoperability, to increase resource sharing
and integration, to create a network of data centers, to bring together user-
centered and technology-based evaluations, and to develop reference architec
tures.
The group's proposals for possible future transatlantic collaboration included
developing common resources, resource development tools, cooperative plans
for reference architectures, and joint evaluation efforts. The group also devel-
oped a list of applications for cross-lingual information management. Mr.
Kammer noted that the list was illustrative rather than exhaustive: education,
environmental data sharing, international digital libraries, and e-commerce.
Next-Generation Internet
Mr. Kammer said that the NGI group identified two large challenges: the
interconnection of high-speed networks and the development of test beds. The
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44 NEW VISTAS IN T~NSAT~IC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPE~TION
group also focused on possible applications of NGI technology: laboratory col-
laboration, meta-computing, and development of test beds. The group believed
that specifying measures of success ahead of time would be important to the
success of U.S.-EU collaboration on NGI. Measures of success mentioned in-
cluded participation of individual researchers; a "high-technology" impact, that
is, technological breakthroughs from U.S.-EU collaboration; and creation of eco-
nomic value.
The NGI group also identified the following areas as possibilities for R&D
collaboration: network dependability, network security, wireless technologies,
portability, quality of service, scalability, middleware, and social impacts of e-
commerce. Finally, the NGI group' s next steps were similar to those of the other
two groups: to define more precisely the process for collaboration and to choose
specific projects for collaboration.
TRANSPORTATION CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
John C. Horsely, Department of Transportation
Before beginning his summary of the transportation breakout sessions, Mr.
Horsely, on behalf of Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Deputy Secre-
tary Mortimer Downey, thanked the Board on Science, Technology, and Eco-
nomic Policy and the Academy for convening the conference. He also thanked
Wilhelmus Blonk of Directorate General VII of the European Commission for
attending the discussion during the breakout sessions.
The breakout sessions covered three areas: intermodal transportation, intelli-
gent transportation systems, and strategic enabling research. In general, Mr.
Horsely stated that transportation is an important research topic on both sides of
the Atlantic because it is such a pervasive part of economic and social life. An
important goal of transportation research is to promote sustainable and competi-
tive growth. Sustainable growth is an important concept for many economic ac-
tivities in today's world, and transportation research must be brought into the
concept of sustainable development.
Turning more directly to the breakout discussions, Mr. Horsely said that the
need to "decouple the growth of traffic from the growth of the economy" was a
pervasive theme emerging from the transportation breakout sessions. Traffic is
growing rapidly in the United States and Europe, and eventually traffic conges-
tion will inhibit economic growth. The transportation research agenda could there-
fore be very productively turned toward traffic congestion. In general, this means
the application of information and other advanced technologies to transportation
problems. Mr. Horsely reported that the breakout sessions also suggested exami-
nation of institutional barriers to implementing more efficient transportation sys-
tems in the United States and Europe.
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PRESENTATIONS OF DISCUSSIONS IN BREAKOUT SESSIONS
Intelligent Transportation Systems
45
With respect to surface transportation, an important goal of transportation
research over the past 10 years, which participants said should continue, is to
inject information and communications technologies into all facets of the trans-
portation system roads, cars, buses, and rail. An example is the electronic toll-
booth, by which a sensor at a tollbooth reads an electronic debit card installed on
the car. The ultimate goal is to increase traffic flow, or throughput. In the United
States it is estimated that throughput and associated efficiencies could increase by
15 to 25 percent through the use of intelligent transportation systems.
The group discussed some of the technical issues involved with intelligent
transportation. These include network architectures, standardization, and inter-
operability. Further research would have to be done on individual applications,
Mr. Horsely continued, including rail and freight transit and the human factors
involved with intelligent transportation.
Maritime safety is another fruitful area for intelligent transportation systems,
Mr. Horsely said. Applications in maritime safety include automatic ship-to-ship
identification. Using the Global Positioning System, ships could instantly com-
municate speed, position, and conditions to other ships and to officials on shore.
Such systems could help avoid collisions and spills of hazardous cargo, such as
oil. As in other intelligent transportation areas, development of standards and
common architectures remains a challenge to implementation.
Strategic Enabling Research
The discussion also touched on areas where common work between the
United States and the European Union is possible. Areas in which "mutual ex-
ploitation" seems promising include logistics; monitoring and data collection;
developing tools for forecasting demand; and human factors, such as training,
workplace issues, and machine-human interfaces. Areas in which "mutual explo-
ration" seems worthwhile are intelligent logistic systems, sustainability and air
quality, operator fatigue, and advanced materials.
Intermodalism
Mr. Horsely said that the U.S. Congress has recently urged the Department
of Transportation to explore further intermodal issues. With the goal of improved
productivity increasingly driving business today, companies are looking for ways
to shorten the supply chain. The supply chain was once two weeks long, Mr.
Horsely noted, but that has now been shortened to two days or less in many
businesses. Using transportation wisely, and choosing the right modes, could con-
tribute to easing congestion and getting products to customers quickly. Transat-
lantic cooperation could explore the intermodal challenges in urban areas, includ
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46 NEW VISTAS IN T^NSAT~IC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION
ing how to apply information technologies to logistical issues across transporta-
tion modes.
In summarizing intermodal challenges, Mr. Horsely reiterated the shared goal
of decoupling growth in traffic from growth of the economy. As a next step he
said that the transportation breakout groups recommend convening a workshop
on institutional impediments to promoting intermodal efficiencies. Such a work-
shop could encourage participants to develop ways to use the right equipment to
ship the right commodities to the right destination on time.
CLIMATE PREDICTION, FORECASTING APPLICATIONS,
AND IMPACTS
John Krebs, National Environmental Research Council
Dr. Krebs opened his summary by saying that the climate group decided to
focus its discussion on climate research. This area is important for countries
worldwide: climate research is changing rapidly as more data are collected and
analyzed and as our understanding of climate advances. Dr. Krebs noted in par-
ticular how improved computing power is improving researchers' ability to simu-
late climate.
In sounding a cautionary note on U.S.-EU collaboration, Dr. Krebs stated
that the international climate research community is already very well connected.
There are a number of umbrella programs to coordinate research, although not to
provide research funding. Such programs include the International Council of
Scientific Unions, the International Geosphere/Biosphere Program, the World
Climate Research Program, and the International Human Dimensions Program.
Given the existence of these programs, any collaboration between the United
States and the European Union should coordinate closely with the broader inter-
national initiatives.
Research Priorities
The climate group's first topic of discussion was U.S. priorities for climate
research. Bob Corell of the National Science Foundation presented a summary of
a report from the National Research Council called "Overview of Climate Change:
Research Pathways for the Next Decade." The group then heard a summary of the
European Union's Fifth Framework Programme on climate change. The good
news, said Dr. Krebs, is that the priorities reflected in these documents are very
similar. This is not surprising because the international research agenda on climate
changes is well understood and coordinated.
In the context of existing international ties and coordination, any new cli-
mate change research mechanism must be "more convenient than existing mecha-
nisms if it is to work." For example, what would be unlikely to work is any
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PRESENTATIONS OF DISCUSSIONS IN BREAKOUT SESSIONS
47
mechanism that involves "double jeopardy," that is, one in which researchers
must first clear hurdles in the United States and then clear similar hurdles in
Brussels to obtain funding. Existing channels for international funding are avail-
able, with fewer burdens in the application process.
With the review of existing programs in hand, Dr. Krebs discussed the five
areas in which joint U.S.-EU activity could add value to climate research.
Terrestrial Environment
The Kyoto Protocol requires that all signatory countries develop a carbon
budget to understand where carbon comes from and where it goes. Understanding
the terrestrial environment and carbon sink (i.e., how vegetation assimilates car-
bon) is important to developing carbon budgets. There are parallel and separate
research programs in the United States and Europe. The climate group, reported
Dr. Krebs, suggested that U.S. and EU programs be linked.
Predictability
Dr. Krebs pointed out the limits to predicting changes in climate that cur-
rently exist. In the short term it is accepted that forecasts are not reliable beyond
10 days. In the long term, climate researchers are confident about broad climate
prediction in 50- or 100-year intervals. The fundamental theoretical question is:
What are the limits of predictability on short- and long-term climate forecasts?
That is, can we become more confident about short-term forecasts beyond 10
days? Can we predict broad climatic changes inside of 50 years? Another ques-
tion raised by the group is: How exact must climate predictions be? Research
should explore the gains that result from more exact predictions (in terms of
benefits from actions to mitigate climate calamities versus costs of developing
more exact models). All of these research questions can benefit from joint U.S.-
EU research.
Comparison of Model and Impact Forecasts
The United States and several European countries (i.e., the United Kingdom,
Germany, and France) have sophisticated models, and these models' performance
should be compared. Currently, such comparisons do not occur.
U.S. National Impact Assessment Program
The United States has developed an assessment program to explore how cli-
mate change may affect specific U.S. regions. A number of European countries
have national assessment efforts but have not broken down the assessments to
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48 NEW VISTAS IN TRANSATLANTIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION
regional levels. Acknowledging that the United States may be ahead in this area,
the group suggested that the EU could learn from U.S. regional modeling efforts.
North Atlantic Oscillation
In Europe the North Atlantic greatly affects climate, in addition to changes in
the mean temperature of the earth. Decade-to-decade changes in European cli-
mate appear to be affected by changes in atmospheric pressure between Iceland
and the Mediterranean. More research is needed to understand the cause of the
oscillation phenomenon in the North Atlantic. The issue is important to the cli-
mate of Europe and North America.
In closing Dr. Krebs mentioned two issues the group was unable to discuss
but that are important nonetheless: (1) how to obtain data on areas of the world
with small scientific communities (climate change is a truly global issue, and the
United States and the European Union, with about 75 percent of the world's re-
search and development spending, should pay attention to other areas of the world
that do not have the resources for such research) and (2) research should consider
the link between technologies that may provide a solution for climate change and
the science of climate change itself. Looking toward the future, Dr. Krebs said
that the United States and the European Union should further develop the list of
areas in which collaboration could be fruitful. He noted that the climate group did
not include representatives from industry or polar science (i.e., how climate
change would affect the polar caps). Dr. Krebs concluded that broadening the
discussion to include these constituencies would aid in refining the list.
HUMAN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES:
ENDOCRINE DISRUPTORS
Paul Foster, Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology
Dr. Foster began his summary by saying that the group's discussion focused
on endocrine disrupters, that some consider to be a growing human health risk.)
To briefly describe the endocrine disrupters issue, Dr. Foster said that there is a
genuine and growing concern that chemicals released into the environment are
having a serious impact on humans, wildlife, and vegetation. That is, chemicals
are acting like hormones or affecting how hormones work.
Dr. Foster said that there has been a great deal of research on endocrine
disrupters in the past three years, so the breakout group was not starting from
ground zero. His group wants to build on existing work and try to build bridges
iViews on this topic and especially the assessment of the risk vary a great deal. The National
Research Council has undertaken a study on this topic, entitled Hormonally Active Agents in the
Environment.
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PRESENTATIONS OF DISCUSSIONS IN BREAKOUT SESSIONS
49
across the Atlantic on endocrine disrupter research. As a first step, Dr. Foster said
the group identified the following key issues in which collaboration may be fruit-
ful:
· Building a common language. Despite the recent work on endocrine
disrupters, there is no universal agreement on what an endocrine disrupter
is. There are different definitions within EU member states and in the
United States. U.S.-EU collaboration could help build a common language
for endocrine dis-ruptors research.
· The biology of endocrine disrupters. The scientific community must
deepen its understanding of biology to better understand endocrine
disrupters. We do not fully understand what is normal in living organ-
isms, so it is difficult to determine what is abnormal. This issue is espe-
cially important with respect to reproduction and early childhood devel
opment.
· Improve understanding of the impact of hormones on disease. Scientists
must make more progress in understanding how hormones or hormone-
like agents affect disease. If we better understand this, scientists can test
and screen for chemical agents. As the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) lists over 70,000 chemicals, it is important to know which
chemicals to test. This area would be a prime candidate for collaboration
because common protocols are needed, testing methodologies must be
validated, harmonization must occur, and international trials must be co-
ordinated. Also, to ensure that comparisons of different test results in a
region are valid, scientists must use the same testing methods in the same
part of the world.
Risk assessment. The United States and the European Union would ben-
efit from collaboration on risk assessment for example, determining the
frequency of occurrence of compound X and the magnitude of its harm.
Classification and labeling. This is a potentially thorny issue as it requires
agreement on whether risk is communicated to citizens or some notion of
intrinsic hazard. Most labeling in Europe is hazard based, whereas the
scientific perspective would have a preference for risk-based labeling.
Exposed populations. If we know what the effects of a chemical are and
the risks associated with exposure, it is equally important to know the
extent of exposure among key populations (i.e., humans, wildlife, vegeta-
tion). Knowing the exposed population, along with affects of chemicals,
could allow scientists to make cause-and-effect claims about the presence
of chemicals among certain populations.
Exposure assessment. As noted above, the EPA lists over 70,000 chemi-
cals, and the general population is not exposed to all equally. U.S.-EU
collaboration could be particularly helpful in determining the level and
frequency of exposure to certain chemicals.
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50 NEW VISTAS IN T^NSAT~NTIC SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COOPERATION
.
Technologies for remediation. If it is established that a certain chemical
creates risk, what should be done? Banning a chemical may be problem-
atic given the pervasiveness of certain chemicals in society. There is al-
ready a large body of research in this area, and U.S.-EU collaboration
could develop a global inventory of available research on technologies for
remediation. Scientists must do more than just communicate the content
of their research; they must also provide information such as the size and
scope of their research so as to bring the right expertise together world-
wide. Dr. Foster noted one model of how to evaluate data from such stud-
ies, namely, the U.S. National Institute for Environmental Health Sci-
ences. This institute brings together experts to evaluate studies on
reproductive health.
Dr. Foster concluded his presentation with the following observations:
Funding mechanisms. The research community must know the procedures
for obtaining funds. As noted in another breakout session, scientists will
not seek funds from a source if the procedures are too difficult.
Collaboration. A panel of experts could usefully be convened to fully
describe the opportunities for collaboration and to be responsive to the
Fifth Framework Programme that gets under way in 1999. The breakout
session only touched on possible areas for collaboration, and specific pro-
posals must be developed to realize collaboration.
· Trade issues. One breakout participant noted that endocrine disrupters
involve chemical management, and when governments try to manage
chemicals they have the potential to affect trade.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
intelligent transportation
