20th Anniversary of the cooperation between China and Europe in ICT for Enterprise

COIN IP Workshop

Enterprise Interoperability and Collaboration in China Barriers and Challenges

20 October 2011 09.00 17.00 H
Beihang University (Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics BUAA) New main building, G849

Introduction, Motivation & Background

By 2020 enterprise collaboration and interoperability services will become an invisible, pervasive and self-adaptive knowledge and business utility at disposal of the European networked enterprises from any industrial sector and domain in order to rapidly set-up, efficiently manage and effectively operate different forms of business collaborations, from the most traditional supply chains to the most advanced and dynamic business ecosystems The COIN Vision implies that in 10 years time, Enterprise Interoperability and Enterprise Collaboration IT services will be commoditized and factorized in the Internet of the Future as a set of Utility Services, available to all enterprises at a very low or zero cost and under nondiscrimination and non-exclusivity policies: Interoperability and Collaboration as Public Services. From an IT viewpoint, the COIN Vision implies that commercial Enterprise Systems of the future (the so-called FINES, Future Internet Enterprise Systems) should focus on the most added value services they could provide (e.g. supporting supply chains, customer relationships, product life cycle, financial and HR issues, in one word supporting Business Innovation) and leave the most commoditized IT services to the Future Internet open platforms developers. European Commission recently launched the FI PPP (Future Internet Public Private Partnership) initiative and the first pool of projects have already started with the aim to build a Core Platform (project FI-WARE) which, through domain independent Generic Enablers, could provide the elementary bricks to advanced smart application domains of the future, like Environment, Mobility, Logistics, Agriculture and Smart Cities.
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COIN FP7 Integrated Project 216256: COllaboration and INteroperability for networked enterprises

Key question: are EI and EC services an integral part of the FI Core Platform Generic Enablers for FINES, or, in other words, could we consider the FI as the Universal Business System for Enterprises? From a Business viewpoint, the distinction between Value Added (pay-as-you-go) and Utility (free) services is stimulating the development of innovative business models bundling Value Added services and Utility Services in a very similar way the media industry is bundling free and premium services. The latest outcomes of COIN business research show however that the full adoption of so called SaaS-U business models (merging SaaS and Utility models) will be effective for EI/EC services just starting from 2020, when Value Added services could be onthe-fly and dynamically selected in the private clouds by Enterprises and therefore the need of standardized EI/EC services available in the open clouds will become essential. Moreover, the present perception in COIN is that in the current business and market landscape for providing enterprises with just EI/EC Utility Services is not guaranteeing the IT providers with the necessary economical returns from the needed huge investments in ICT, according to the current costs of Cloud Computing and similar infrastructures. Key question: how to harmonize the user requirement to have a consistent set of EI/EC fundamental utility services available for free in the open Internet as public goods (ISU Interoperability Service Utility) with the legitimate need for profitability and economic sustainability by IT industry? From a Policy standpoint, the COIN Vision is in agreement with the most recent EC policies and in particular with the Digital Agenda for Europe which identifies 7 key themes to be solved in order to build the European Digital society. One of these pillars is: Interoperability and Standards: a digital society can only take off if its different parts and applications are interoperable and based on open platforms and standards. By 2020, thanks to the implementation of the Digital Agenda for Europe, it is supposed that current obstacles hindering the implementation of the COIN 2020 Vision (e.g. EI/EC services hard-wired, high costs to set-up a cloud service infrastructure, low bandwidth and network performance, predominance of on-premises monolithic solutions, huge availability of EI/EC services/information in the open Internet, legislative and regulatory issues which will combat monopoly positions and support open specifications and open standards) could disappear and make the provision for the ISU profitable also from a mere economic point of view. Key question: what policy actions could effectively promote openness, equal opportunities and innovation in the field of EI/EC information and services, favour the removal of the Digital Divide and support SMEs joining new business opportunities?

The COIN Metaphor

The COIN project (COllaboration and INteroperability for networked enterprises, www.coinip.eu) is the flagship project in the EI/EC domain and is giving first answers to the key questions above, by explaining them with the coin metaphor: The SIDE A of the COIN: Enterprise Collaboration. The COIN Project develops innovative services for enterprise aggregation, synchronization and co-operation, adaptable to any collaboration form and suitable for SMEs needs. COIN will develop innovative services for Enterprise Collaborative in Product Development (c-PD), Collaborative Production Planning (c-PP), Collaborative Project Management (c-PM), as well as in Human Centric Collaboration (c-HI). The first three group of services directly support the corresponding collaborative operational

COIN FP7 Integrated Project 216256: COllaboration and INteroperability for networked enterprises

functions; product development, production planning and project management, while the forth group of services are more general and not specifically dedicated to a business function. The c-HI services encompass services for human collaboration and data sharing and can be utilized as supporting services, for example in c-PD, c-PP and c-PM. The SIDE B of the COIN: Enterprise Interoperability. Enterprise Collaboration is a term that describes a field of activity with the aim to improve the manner in which enterprises, by means of information and communications technology (ICT), interoperate with other enterprises or organisations to conduct their business. In the COIN context, EI services provide functionality for applying IT solutions that overcome interoperability gaps between two or more enterprises and thus enabling them to set-up and run collaborations. The COIN Project provides innovative integratedunified-federated solutions for bridging interoperability gaps at the level of data, service, process and knowledge. The main goal of the EI services is to reduce the costs of data reconciliation, systems integration and business processes synchronization and harmonization. The COIN project adopted the INTEROP NoE and the ATHENA IP EI reference framework which addresses interoperability at different levels, by using two main approaches (i.e., model-driven and semantics-based). Interoperability at the information/data level is related to the exchanging and sharing business documents among organizations, by filling interoperability gaps related to the format and content and to the messages and/or structures to be exchanged. Interoperability at the service level is concerned with discovering, ranking, selecting, composing, orchestrating and executing various applications implemented as a service. Interoperability at the process level is the capability to make proper external views of enterprise internal processes synchronised by a collaborative inter-enterprise business process. Interoperability at the knowledge level should be seen as the organisational and operational ability of an enterprise to co-operate with other, external organisations in spite of e.g., different working practices, legislations, cultures and commercial approaches. For both sides of the coin, COINs main objective here is i) to be the catalyst of previously developed EI/EC services, by harmonising their semantic descriptions and by supporting their registration into the same web site and discovering mechanism and ii) to develop innovative EI/EC services, extending the available ones with new methods, techniques and functions, as for instance the implementation of a federated interoperability platform or the integration of social networks in collaboration. The Metal of the COIN: Generic Service Platform. The COIN Project develops a pervasive, adaptive service delivery platform to host COIN services for Enterprise Collaboration and Enterprise Interoperability. A generic Semantically Enabled Service Architecture has been customised for the EI/EC domain and empowered with peer-to-peer, trust & security and intelligent reasoning / negotiation capabilities. Here the objective of COIN is to develop an open-trusted federation of service delivery platforms, namely the ISU (Interoperability Service Utility) aimed at making accessible, browsable, composable and executable from a single one-stop-shop the myriad of EI/EC services developed not only in COIN but in any other research project or standardisation/commercial initiative. In the Future Internet (FI) perspective, the objective is to integrate such a federation with the FI Core Platform and its Generic Enablers, with the final aim to develop a set of Enterprise-oriented utilities and to realise the vision of FI as the Universal Business System. The Generic Service Platform that has to provide COIN with a platform with a reliable layer for models and services. Regarding the interaction and interoperability with other COIN components, the

COIN FP7 Integrated Project 216256: COllaboration and INteroperability for networked enterprises

Evolutionary and Pervasive Service Platform is simply seen as a Web Service, that holds information that is critical to the functioning of the COIN services and models. The pervasiveness of the platform is accomplished through the usage of a decentralization technique; the information is distributed and replicated in a set of connected nodes. The peer to peer protocols are a valuable technology for the organization of the information and for the communication infrastructure. In a peer to peer network the information is shared across the members of the community (represented by nodes) and it is not under the control of a single institution or organization. This approach is a promise for true equality; there is not a single point of failure inside the network and hence the services are more reliable. The Value of the COIN: Software as a Service Utility The COIN project supports the establishment of business models for interoperability service utilities that will match current market condition and completion. The Information Technology vision of Software as a Service (SaaS) finds its implementation in the field of interoperability among collaborative enterprises, supporting the various collaborative business forms, from supply chains to business ecosystems, and becoming for them like a utility. In order to describe, reason and where possible assess change on different levels, the COIN research into EI Value Proposition needs to integrate the relevant key developments. There are of course different schematics for integrating and characterising those developments. Given that the overall context for COIN is enterprise networking, the research will be concerned with developments that are ICT based and/or ICT enabled. In conformity with the vision and mission of COIN, the research is particularly concerned with market developments and trends with reference to the themes of Software as a Service (SaaS) and Interoperability Service [as] Utility (ISU). SaaS is a market reality while ISU is a research challenge premised upon a re-structuring of the current Internet. The notions of interoperability and collaboration is changing in perspective and scope as a result of both market reality and new research orientation towards a Future Internet. On the basis that the Future Internet represents the future of ICT, this could be elaborated as the Future Internet will provide a critical infrastructure for all enterprises, which is itself an articulation of the FInES Cluster vision of the Internet being a universal business system. The basic assumptions are that the Future Internet represents the future of ICT, this could be elaborated as the Future Internet will provide a critical infrastructure for all enterprises, which is itself an articulation of the FInES Cluster vision of the Internet being a universal business system. Enterprise processes will be subject to increasing commoditisation and IT capabilities will be subject to increasing contextualisation in order to better serve business needs. The Market of the COIN: Manufacturing Enterprises, mainly SMEs. The COIN original project encompasses six industrial test cases in different domains (Automotive, Space, Aeronautics, Healthcare, ICT, Plants Engineering). The test cases have been extended to twelve, by adding new six domains coming from the so-called Enlarged Europe (Marine Shipping, Railways Components, Agro-food, Civil Construction, Logistics & Transport, Media). All the developed constituents of the COIN metaphor need to be deployed and adopted in realistic business scenarios and carefully evaluated in their business benefits and exploitation potential. To achieve this objective, specific attention is being spent in COIN to cover the different industrial sectors, European Countries, application domains, EI/EC heterogeneous requirements and legacy systems and applications. Focus on SMEs is mandatory and a priority.

COIN FP7 Integrated Project 216256: COllaboration and INteroperability for networked enterprises

Objectives and Target Outcomes

The workshop originates by a COIN dissemination initiative aiming at studying and analyzing the technological, business and policy challenges and barriers characterizing the EI/EC market in China. This dissemination initiative encompasses the appointment of a COIN Angel (Prof. Xu Xiaofei, Harbin Institute of Technology HIT) who is playing the role of catalyst for a qualified pool of experts to study and debate the EI/EC domain in China and to try answer the question whether COIN EI/EC research outcomes could find in the near future a significant adoption in the Chinese socio-economic and technological context. In the framework of the 20th Anniversary of the cooperation between China and Europe in ICT for Enterprise introduced by Prof Xu and Prof. Doumeingts, the COIN workshop will be organized in three distinct phases: 1. A presentation of COIN and its main results in the field of EI/EC. Dr. Claudia Guglielmina (COIN Coordinator, TXT) will introduce Vision, Mission and Objectives of the project; Dr. Sergio Gusmeroli (COIN Technical Coordinator, TXT) will describe the most relevant technical outcomes of the project; Prof. Klaus Dieter Thoben (COIN Member, BIBA) will address how EI/EC services could support open innovation in Enterprises; 2. A presentation of Chinese initiatives and EI/EC position statements. Prof. XU Xiaofei and Mr. LIU Xiaofeng (HIT) will present the White Paper Enterprise Interoperability and Collaboration in China: Barriers and Challenges, Prof. CUI Degang (AVIC & BUAA)
will address the challenge of Product-Service Innovation in the Aeronautic Industry, Dr. NIE Lanshun (HIT) will present R&D initiatives in China in the domain of Cloud Manufacturing, Prof. LIU Shijun (SDU) will identify the enabling role of SaaS for Enterprise Collaboration;

3. A round table, where challenges and barriers for the full adoption of EI/EC solutions in China will be discussed. On the basis of previous interventions, experts invited by Interop VLAB and its Chinese pole will be moderated by COIN representatives to discuss the adoption of advanced EI/EC solutions in China. Moreover, audience will be invited to put questions and to actively participate to the debate. As an initial stimulus the three COIN key questions will be discussed by the experts and customized / localized for the Chinese context. During all the COIN workshop sessions but especially in the final roundtable, the following key questions about Enterprise Interoperability and Collaboration in Networked Enterprises will be debated: Technology question: are EI and EC services an integral part of the FI Core Platform Generic Enablers for FINES, or, in other words, could we consider the FI as the Universal Business System for Enterprises? Business question: how to harmonize the user requirement to have a consistent set of EI/EC fundamental utility services available for free in the open Internet as public goods (ISU Interoperability Service Utility) with the legitimate need for profitability and economic sustainability by IT industry? Policy question: what policy actions could effectively promote openness, equal opportunities and innovation in the field of EI/EC information and services, favor the removal of the Digital Divide and support SMEs joining new business opportunities?

COIN FP7 Integrated Project 216256: COllaboration and INteroperability for networked enterprises

Background of the organizers

Harbin Institute of Technology is a large nationally renowned multi-disciplinary university with science, engineering and research as its core. As one of the top nine key universities in China, HIT now has 21 schools/departments, including 73 undergraduate programs, 147 masters' programs, 81 doctoral programs, 18 post-doctoral research stations, 18 national key disciplines, and 32 national & provincial (ministerial) key labs. The university employs 2,944 full-time teachers, among which 884are professors, 1,102 are associate professors, including 22 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering. At present, there are 42,695 full-time students including 25,035 undergraduates, 11,794 master degree candidates and 4,387 doctorial degree candidates. HIT also added the Shenzhen Graduate School and Weihai Campus to the main campus in Harbin (including the Research Academy of Science and Technology and Research Academy of Industrial Technology), forming a pattern of 'one university, three campuses'. HIT has remained an international university since its foundation. Cooperation and exchanges are carried out between HIT and many universities all around the world though exchanging students, faculty and research staff, holding academic conference and cooperating in scientific research. INTEROP-VLab is the "International Virtual Laboratory for Enterprise Interoperability", officially created as an AISBL (Association Internationale Sans But Lucratif) under the Belgian law. INTEROP-VLab is stemming from the Network of Excellence INTEROP-NoE (Interoperability Research for Networked Enterprise Applications and Software, FP6 508011), coordinated by University Bordeaux 1.The mission of INTEROP-VLab is to consolidate, develop and durably maintain the new European research community founded by the INTEROP-NoE in its three years and half of intense integrating, joint research and dissemination- activities in the domain of Enterprise Interoperability. INTEROP-VLab is a virtual, i.e. distributed and coordinated research organization, which is capable of aggregating existing and future research laboratories in close connection with industry, to achieve a number of goals that each single participant organization could not reach. TXT e-Solutions is a private, mid-sized software vendor and system integration company, with its headquarters in Milan and growing branch offices in Genoa, Turin, Bari, Rome, Vicenza, Paris and Lyon (F), Barcelona (E), Chemnitz and Halle (D) and London (UK). TXT is a technology intensive Company, offering to its customers complete solutions, based upon kernel products, high-level competence on enabling, innovative IT and specific knowhow in a number of application domains. It acts on the market through three business divisions: Industry & Retail Division, Aerospace & Defense Division, Banking & Finance Division. The CRS TXT Division (Corporate Research and Innovation), led by Sergio Gusmeroli, is in charge of medium-to-long term research activities and is / has recently been active in several collaboration projects at Regional, National and European level.

COIN FP7 Integrated Project 216256: COllaboration and INteroperability for networked enterprises

AGENDA, October 20th 2011

Time 08 :00 08 :30 08 :35 Item Registration Participants self-introduction Welcome Welcome & Opening Welcome & Opening 08 :45 09 :15 10 :00 10 :30 11 :15 12 :00 13 :30 14 :00 14 :30 15 :00 15 :30 The COIN Project Vision, Objectives, Results The COIN Services Project: Architecture, Participants Prof. MA Dianfu(BUAA) HIT & INTEROP VLab China Pole Prof. XU Xiaofei UB1 & INTEROP VLab Prof. Guy DOUMEINGTS COIN Project & TXT e-Solutions Dr. Claudia GUGLIELMINA

Platforms, COIN Project & TXT e-Solutions Dr. Sergio GUSMEROLI

Tea/Coffee Break The COIN Project: Business Innovation for Next COIN Project & BIBA Bremen Generation Enterprises Prof. Klaus-Dieter THOBEN COIN4China White paper HIT & INTEROP VLab China Pole Prof. XU Xiaofei Mr. LIU Xiaofeng Lunch Product Service Innovation in Aeronautics Industry R&D of Cloud Manufacturing in China Enterprise Collaboration based on SaaS Platform Tea/Coffee Break Moderated roundtable EI/EC in China: Challenges and Barriers by SMEs Topics (technology, business, policy) EI/EC services and the Internet of the Future The killer EI/EC application/service for SMEs Challenges/Barriers for EI/EC take-up in China Open Innovation, EI/EC new business models IT solutions and approaches for SMEs EI/EC data/services & [Linked] Open Data Concluding Remarks Meeting closure Panelists: Dr. Claudia GUGLIELMINA Dr. Sergio GUSMEROLI Dr. Florent Frederix Prof. Klaus-Dieter THOBEN Prof. Guy DOUMEINGTS Prof. Xiaofei XU Prof. Degang CUI Representative of SME Online AVIC & BUAA Prof. CUI Degang HIT & INTEROP VLab China Pole Dr. NIE Lanshun SDU Prof. LIU Shijun

17 :00 17 :20

Prof. Guy DOUMEINGTS Prof. Xiaofei XU Dr. Sergio GUSMEROLI

PlaceBeihang University (Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics)

New main building, G849