Nobody could foresee 20 years ago the important role Internet is playing today as one of the cornerstones of our society, supporting social and economic interactions at global scale. Internet's critical role will be more evident in the future as more and more activities based on it will permeate our daily life, driven by emerging novel Information and Communication Technologies.

Therefore, trying to foresee how the internet will evolve in the next 20 years is a great challenge. Even greater challenge is to guide research and innovation in this area so that our society benefits from them. It is not surprising that research on the future of the Internet has become a strategic priority all over the world, with important national initiatives in USA, Japan, Korea and China as well as in many European Member States. The European Commission through its Seventh Framework Research programme dedicates about 20% of the budget for research related to the Future Internet, corresponding to more than a billion euros funding.

The adoption pace of internet technologies has been accelerated. At the same time as society we face three emerging challenges: the need to recover from a period of economic crisis, the need to better manage energy resources and the need to mitigate the effect of climate change; these three interrelated needs call for sustainable solutions. The anticipated technological developments of the Future Internet and the trends towards smart infrastructures (in energy, mobility, health, work, environment, etc.) provide Europe with an opportunity to progress towards a sustainable economy and society. The foundations for these technological developments lay on the efforts of researchers in Europe and worldwide.

This book, the second of a series, tries to capture the emerging trends in Future Internet research, as they are presented through European funded research activities.

Enjoy reading!

Directorate General for Information Society and Media

Mário Campolargo, Emerging Technologies & Infrastructures

Luis Rodríguez-Roselló, Converged Networks & Services