Atos Origin is leading the European Rural Inclusion project

Focussing on developing innovative e-Government services for companies located in rural areas

Madrid - Atos Origin, an international information technology (IT) services company, is leading the development of the European Rural Inclusion project. The project has been launched to make it easier for SMEs in rural areas across Europe to deal with public bodies through the development of e-Government services.

The project, which is to last 36 months, will see the participation of 14 institutions from 5 European countries. It is financed through the Information and Communication Technologies Policy Support Programme, as part of the European Commission’s Competitiveness and Innovation framework Programme (CIP) which is aimed at promoting company competitiveness.

Rural Inclusion is a project that focuses on optimising the transactions between SMEs in rural areas and public bodies, through the incorporation of leading-edge web technology (Semantic Web/Web 2.0), in order to increase the efficiency and flexibility of such transactions. Improvements will be incorporated into local government web infrastructures, as well as rigorous and adaptable analysis services, and process modelling. The web services will provide support for the creation of learning communities and best practices, facilitating communication and the exchange of knowledge between rural companies and regional and local authorities.

Also participating in the consortium created to implement the project, coordinated by Atos Origin from Spain, are Alburquerque Council (Malaga) and the Sierra de San Pedro Cattle Cooperative, for Spain; Greek institutions and companies such as the Chios Chamber of Commerce, Athens Agricultural University, the Greek Centre of Research and Technology, Ellinogermaniki Agogi School and the company, Greek Research & Technology Network; the Deux Fleuves and Nord Martinique regions, as well as the European Centre for Permanent Education, from France; the Baltic Centre of Open Solutions and Tehnologiju Attistibas Forums from Latvia; and the National University of Ireland, Galway.

About Atos Origin
Atos Origin is a leading international information technology (IT) services company, providing hi-tech transactional services, consulting, systems integration and managed operations to deliver business outcomes globally. The company’s annual revenues are EUR 5.1 billion and it employs 50,000 people. Atos Origin is the Worldwide Information Technology Partner for the Olympic Games and has a client base of international companies across all sectors. Atos Origin is quoted on the Paris Eurolist Market and trades as Atos Origin, Atos Worldline and Atos Consulting. For further information, please visit http://www.es.atosorigin.com/