Roberto Viola, director general of the European Commission’s DG Connect, says the Next Generation Internet initiative will reverse the internet paradigm and recognise the value of humanity in technology. He confirms that the EC, while planning for Europe’s digital future, is still firmly focused on the current Horizon 2020 programme objectives.
Monique Calisti, Managing Director of Martel Innovate, interviewed Viola at the EC’s Digital Assembly 2018, which took place 25-26 June in Sofia, Bulgaria. Roberto Viola, who pioneered the Commission’s Next Generation Internet initiative (NGI), talks about Europe’s position at the forefront of the NGI movement and stresses the need for the ICT researchers and innovators to stay with the now.
“You always work for the next but there should also be a ‘now’.”
Viola says the “humanization” of the internet will mean more focus on individuals: “My vision for the internet of the human is… the individual decides what they want or don’t want, what they want to buy, what they want to see, and in what way they want to interact.” However, he stresses that this means increased opportunity and openness for all.
In terms of digital advances, Viola lauds Europe as an innovation-friendly, accessible environment with a lot to offer, not least the “beautiful ideas” that come out of its many universities and research institutions.
“There’s a collective intelligence [in Europe] around the new civic way of looking at the internet. That is the thing we want to exploit.”
Looking ahead to Horizon Europe in the recently announced FP9 budget, Viola is enthusiastic, but also realistic and present-focused. He says that the period from now until 2021 is a long time in “internet terms”, so the EC is supportive of ongoing and upcoming Horizon2020 efforts.
“That’s why we [continue to] organize thematic calls and community building events and whatever it takes to really grow a very vibrant community.”
Watch the full interview with Roberto Viola below.
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