Celtic - A Eureka Cluster Programme to foster European leadership in telecommunications

Celtic focuses on integrated telecommunications systems

Celtic (‘Cooperation for a sustained European Leadership in Telecommunications’) started in 2003 as a new European R&D programme The goal of this initiative is to sustain Europe’s leadership in telecommunications. It will run until 2011. Celtic was officially approved as a EUREKA cluster project on 23 October 2003. It is the first European R&D programme fully dedicated to end-to-end telecommunications systems.

“Telecommunications is already top of the list for investment in innovation as one of Europe’s most strategically important sectors and a key business enabler and employer. The fact that it is battling both a business downturn and a pace of development which could exceed investment capacity has, however, prompted the urgent initiation of this new Eureka cluster project,” says Jean-Paul Jacamon, Chairman of the Eureka High-Level Group.

Celtic projects will allow all players in the European telecommunications sector to collaborate in advanced R&D projects. Founding members include Alcatel-Lucent, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Ericsson, Eurescom, France Télécom, Italtel, Nokia Siemens Networks, RAD Data Communications, Telefónica, Telenor, and Thomson. Celtic is open to other large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises, research institutes, and universities. In fact it is the first time that a strong R&D commitment at European level could be achieved between manufacturers, operators, and service providers.

The unique value of Celtic lies in the development of comprehensive, integrated communication system solutions, including platforms and test vehicles. This concept is at the core of the Celtic Pan-European Laboratory and will enable the trial and evaluation of service concepts, technologies and system solutions. The main priorities of Celtic are services and applications, broadband infrastructures, and security. The objectives and work areas of Celtic are laid down in detail in the Celtic Purple Book.

The total budget that has been defined for Celtic between 2004 and 2011 is €1 billion. The costs for Celtic projects are shared between governments, who contribute up to 50% of the project budget, and private investment.

Celtic has a straightforward business case. The European telecommunications sector recorded a turnover of €236 billion in 2002, employs 1.25 million people and is responsible for 2.5% of the EU’s GDP. To keep European telecommunications in the lead, a number of challenges, like the convergence of telephones, televisions and home computers and the development of business models and services that work equally well for companies and their customers, have to be addressed. If Celtic can enable Europe to rise to these tremendous technological and commercial challenges of the evolving knowledge society, the associated economic benefits will come to Europe. “Today, Europe leads in areas such as mobile and wireless technology and broadband access,” explained Jacques Magen, former Chairman of Celtic. “We want to take advantage of this leadership by focusing on these areas and new trends such as the transmission of audio-visual data over the telecoms network. If we don’t do it in Europe, it will be done in the US or Japan.”

There are already a number of R&D programmes in Europe, such as the Sixth Framework Programme and the upcoming 7th FP of the European Commission and some national projects. But they are either not fully dedicated to telecommunications or tend to focus on the medium- to long-term. On the other hand, the current difficult business climate means that R&D efforts within telecommunications companies tend to look more at the next six to 12 months. Celtic will fill the gap and look at techniques, systems and services in a short to medium term perspective. So while it might start in a negative economic climate, as we begin to get the benefits of the first projects’ results this will stimulate further private and public investment.