Wim Lahaye's blog

Privacy

2012-01-04T20:04:00.000+01:00

In the Liveline project, one of the main issues to deal with was privacy of location based services. We discussed the issue extensively during a conference at the Institute for Family Sciences in Brussels.

One of the main findings of the conference was that privacy may not be quite what we think it is. Prof. Jos Dumortier pointed out that the issue of privacy was actually raised after World War II when nations felt that individuals needed to be protected against information collection organised by totalitarian states. Big brother was the keyword.

This is not the concept we have today about privacy. Today, we immediately think of neighbours spying on us using Facebook, or thieves looking at the facade of our house on Google Street View. Tomorrow, people may watch our whereabouts when our mobile phone starts registering our location. Two aspects are often overlooked here: one positive and one negative.

The positive aspect is: information science is capable of protecting and securing private information, provided the work is well done and, if possible, submitted to a certification process. You can share your data with the people you like and avoid sharing it with others. Nothing is 100% secure, but the risk can usually be brought back to an acceptable level. "Code of conduct" already exists in the business and it will mature with the technology. You will need to choose a quality service.

The negative aspect is: the danger doesn't come that much from your friends or neighbours and only rarely from ordinary thieves and criminals. The actual danger comes from commercial criminals, sitting behind computer screens. If your personal data (your purchasing habits, your location, your bank account status, etc..) are not protected well enough, you may experience soon some very nasty things. If receiving e-mails about blue pills makes you feel bad, consider what may be coming:

Being abroad, they could make you pay for zillions of unwanted SMS's when walking through a shopping mall. Driving with your colleagues to a business destination, you may all of a sudden receive a voice message asking everybody to look at the right where your favourite 'pub' or 'shop' is located. You may receive all kinds of publicity about things you are interested in or about things you just seem to be interested in. It will be sufficient you visited the web site at some point in time. Or perhaps it was just your best Facebook friend who visited the web site.

Anyhow, your boss and your employees will know what you like. I hope you will know it. It will be like e-mail spam: as soon as the ghost has left the lamp, it will be difficult to stop him. I wish you good luck in defining your user profile.

GNSS applications need mobile broadband access

2011-12-20T20:55:00.001+01:00

This problem is not solved yet. Location Based Services and GNSS applications in general do not only need position determination. They also need data communication. The volume of these data can be huge, if we consider detailed maps. And we all assume that there will be mobile phone operators that will deliver us these data quickly for a reasonable price.

In my opinion, in the year 2012, this is not the case yet. I am a smartphone user myself, and in my experience the data speed rarely exceeds the speed of an old dial-in phone line. The cost is excessive and even unbearable abroad. In practice, I only switch on my data communication when I can freely use a Wifi network or when I desperately need a mobile data link. Mobile phone operators talk about 4th generation LTE and we don't even have decent UMTS yet. What has happened in the last 10 years? Let us say it is the economy. I refer to my previous blogs on satellite navigation and communication and Internet access as a utility.

Durban

2011-12-11T16:05:00.000+01:00

In many countries the climate conference in Durban didn't make it in the press as main news topic. Most countries had other concerns: financial crisis, credit ratings, membership of the Euro, etc. Our country focused on the government formation.

No matter what issues you had in your country, elections, failed or succeeded government agreements, all these issues are totally irrelevant compared to the issue at stake in Durban. It seems like mankind is unable to stop carbon emission, which may lead to an average temperature increase larger than 2 degrees. We simply don't know to which uncontrollable chain reactions this may lead. We are not capable of respecting the principle of precaution and the sense of urgency seems totally absent with our world leaders.

We tend to judge ancient times because they believed in witchcraft or because they oppressed the former colonies. But the judgement of our grandchildren and great-grandchildren about our era will be equally devastating. They will never understand our narrow-sightedness and our disrespect for the planet.

Ode to curiosity

2011-11-01T15:43:00.002+01:00

Curiosity is a virtue. Perhaps not an officially registered one. And yet it is another one of these hidden virtues that need a little realignment in our lives (like generosity).

Of course as with all virtues, excessive amounts are not very productive and lead to the opposite of what they aim at. But in this age where information overflow has become normal, we are all tempted to filter out what confirms our opinion and to avoid anything that may change it. Curiosity may be the best virtue in this information era and the best katalyser for open mindedness. Moreover, the abundance of information has made the access to meaningful information (knowledge) just as cumbersome as in the old times when we always experienced a lack of information.

In school education, during centuries, politeness, diligence and commitment have been the main values. The last four decades, critical mindedness has become a new key value. The next key value in 21st century education will be curiosity. The most talented youngsters are often the most curious ones. Teachers will need to foster curiosity in an age where information comes by itself, without effort.

Education will no longer be successful through the quantity of knowledge transferred, but rather through the learning motivation transferred. How do you transfer learning motivation? By showing the beauty of things. The best teachers will be the teachers who are able to show the beauty of things, and this in any science. In order to show something, you first need to see it yourself. And perhaps 'beauty' needs a little rehabilitation as well.

Seven golden rules of management

2011-09-26T22:52:00.000+02:00

Here are 'my' seven golden rules of management:

1) Life at work is neither different from life at home nor from life in the world. One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. This rule is equally applicable to work, whether the other person is customer, a shareholder, a boss, a colleague, a supplier or the person who takes care of the office building. We need all of them to come to a result.

2) Conflict kills cooperation. Therefore: select objectives that are located outside of yourself, preferably to the benefit of the company, the country and ideally to society in general.

3) Stop any gossip talk, even and especially if the gossip is true. Nothing is so detrimental to success. If you wouldn't say it in the presence of a particular person, don't say it at all. When you hear it, stop it and talk about something positive. After a while, the true gossip will prove to be untrue.

4) In a hierarchical system, all information going downward, from the top to the base, is amplified by a factor of 10 per level. All upward information, from base to top, is damped by a factor of 10 per level. (Exact formula for engineers is plus or minus 10*log n decibel , where n is the number of employees per department). This implies that top people should listen very well and that base people should speak up very well.

5) Every manager should be aware that he is walking around with a shiny purple party hat with big pink letters: "I am a manager!". The manager who denies being a clown is not worthy of being a manager. Wearing a tie may only help you stay aware of your festive attire.

6) Nothing happens by itself. If you didn't think of something, probably nobody did. You can still delegate what nobody has thought of but you have to bring it up. Otherwise Murphy's law applies: the slice of bread will always fall on the 'jam' side.

7) The wisdom of the Dakota indians teaches us that when you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. Love your horse like yourself.

(Some inspiration came from Jeroen Bosch, Peter Drucker, Dilbert.com and manager-tools.com)

Meritocracy is merito-crazy

2011-09-18T16:03:00.000+02:00

It is good to be aware of this. We live in a meritocracy. We are told we deserve to be what we are. If we go well, it is our merit. If we go bad, it is our own fault. The positive outcome of meritocracy is that it makes us work and that is good. But it is essentially based on a lie. We are not what we deserve to be. If we go well, it is not our merit. And if we go badly, it may be our own fault, but it usually isn't.

Why do I tell this today? Well, this morning, the gospels brought us the parable of the workers in the vineyard, one of my favourites. This parable basically tells us that God is against meritocracy. He rewards us according to our needs, not according to our merits. And if we go well, it is essentially by grace, not by merit.

Moreover, also 'secular' philosophers like Alain de Botton have pointed out that today's extreme meritocracy causes status anxiety and destroys happiness. The truth is: we have much less control over our lives than we think. If we don't go too well, we should do our best, but we shouldn't be blamed. And if we go well, we should recognise how lucky we have been to get there.

So we should admit that the waves of fortune are somewhat beyond our control. Management thinkers should also recognise this. Let us get rid of our merito-craziness.

The perfect storm

2011-09-11T18:20:00.000+02:00

Ten years after 9/11, we find ourselves in yet another perfect storm: an economic, rather than a political storm. Many articles appear about this subject. Some minimise the seriousness of the situation. Others predict the end of western economy and civilisation. Most articles are disappointing for their superficiality. But we should continue the discussion.

The text below is not superficial. It urges us to think about strategies. And it indicates a paradox. Do we need to do 'business as usual' or do we need to do 'unusual business'? The uncomfortable truth seems to be: we need to do both. And we will have to bring sacrifices, all of us. Let us see if we are still capable of doing that collectively. See the perfect storm.

The Knowledge-Creating Company

2011-08-21T18:49:00.000+02:00

During my latest lovely holiday period, I decided to re-read a book that I must have read 10 to 15 years ago. "The Knowledge-Creating Company" is a book written by Japanese professors Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi. The authors not only confirm the importance of knowledge to companies in the same spirit like e.g. Peter Drucker. They go a step further and look into the process of knowledge creation. One -often forgotten- aspect of knowledge and knowledge creation is the importance of implicit, tacit knowledge, as opposed to the explicit knowledge that can be described in patents, procedures and handbooks. This implicit knowledge is hidden, not only in the individual people's minds but also in daily practices and in the collective soul of the company.

The book is inspiring because it builds on very solid foundations: Greek wisdom, Buddhism, the highest ethical standards, the best classics of management and some Japanese spirit. Including 'just hard work' of course. It is refreshing in this time of crisis because they neither come up with popular messages nor with unnecessary controversial theses.

I was also glad to read in the flemish magazine Trends that prof. Nonaka published an article in the Harvard Business Review where he pointed out the importance of the right type of knowledge to leadership. According to Nonaka, managers are nowadays too much focused on explict knowledge and short-term advantages. The right type of knowledge needed is however practical wisdom and a general concern for company and society. It is a bit idealistic but it seems like we need it?

Amsterdam

2011-07-24T10:18:00.000+02:00

A significant moment for me was the Liveline project final review meeting in Amsterdam. I had already reported on the Liveline project in this blog. More about the meeting can be found on the Liveline project web site.

Afraid of progress

2011-05-31T22:29:00.010+02:00

Rational arguments don't seem to matter too much. Last week, a gentechnology research area of the University of Ghent was destroyed because it contained gene-modified potatoes. I was glad to see that I was not the only one who didn't understand this. First: this field was a research field, run by scientists. Second: this research, when successful, can save millions of human lives on a globe that is bound to suffer from a major food crisis. In this case, rich people are destroying something that can save poor people's lives, simply because they are afraid of progress. I agree we need to be careful with gene technology before we put it into production. But that is what this research is all about. Should we let nature decide that the potatoes become food for insects and fungi? Humankind survived because it did NOT leave everything up to nature. Unless you consider human creativeness as a product of nature. Thanks to cross-fertilisation and domestication of plants, we are capable of discussing this new possibility today.

Status Anxiety

2010-12-30T16:28:00.010+01:00

The famous philosopher and essayist Alain de Botton shows us in this book one of the main sources of unhappiness in society: 'status anxiety'. He explains the origins of the phenomenon, the main values of the leading classes throughout history, the evolution to meritocracy, the dependency on the opinions of others and the tendency to cultivate high expectations in life.

The author also points to 'solutions' that may not resolve but at least reduce the phenomenon: philosophy, art (including tragedy and comedy), politics, christianity and bohemianism. He shows how society has always found 'alternative' ways of defining or interpreting success in the course of the past centuries. He uses many facts and figures from 18th and 19th century society life.

I also believe status anxiety and distrust have now become the key drivers of what I called 'hyperactivity' in society. (See my blog in dutch.) Hyperactivity is the source of the seven plagues that affect society today: overconsumption, traffic jams, stress, depressions, air pollution, family disintegration and social injustice.

Zurich and public transportation

2010-09-16T22:04:00.004+02:00

Zurich is a city that knows how to organise public transportation. There are still many traffic jams, but at least much more people use the public transport means, subway, tram, bus or trolleybus. Public transportation is not just for those who can't afford a car. It runs like a swiss clockwork. It is easy, self-explaining, clean, fast and timely. You arrive in Zurich as a total stranger and you are capable of taking the tramway to the place you need to be. Try the same in many other countries.

The Swiss show that it is possible to do better. Why can't we go there and learn from them? It would be an investment with excellent return.

Generosity: the ultimate cure for a sick economy

2010-08-05T14:05:00.007+02:00

Today, we read in the newspaper that fourty billionaires are following their colleagues Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in donating half of their fortune to charity. Good news and a good catalyst to write this blog about the role of generosity in economy.

On the other hand, I want to extend this role of generosity a little...In the example above, generosity is typically associated with charity, and is only the result of economic activity. I state in the blog below that generosity is actually the best lubricant in the economic engine and it is even an essential fuel in the case of the innovative economy.

"Generosity" needs a little realignment in our list of human virtues. Giving away money or time without expecting anything in return is simply not done in economy. "There is no such a thing as a free lunch". The tendency of employees to perform unpaid overtime for their employer does not classify as generosity, but rather as economic pressure, lack of realism in expectations, neurotic behaviour or modern slavery. MBA programs do not even mention the word generosity. They teach, on the contrary, how to squeeze out the very last drop from an already squeezed out lemon. Even in the world of charity, real generosity is often mixed with other motivations like the concern for a good image or release of feelings of guilt, but let us now accept this for inevitable.

The opposite of generosity is greed. If greed brought us into this economic crisis, generosity should get us out. If we all agree that the new economy shall be based on innovation, we need people to take risks and invest in new initiatives. Venture capitalists stress the importance of sound business plans. But in today's economy, this leads to a dead end. First, business plans can always be questioned; a minimum of belief is needed. But what if there is no place for belief, what if the risk averse behaviour always seems more rewarding than the risk prone behaviour, like today? Secondly, if if an investment takes place, the pressure for quick results (greed) often kills the early growth of the vulnerable initiative.

What we need are 'stupid' people who would spend their money anyhow, either because they have no alternative 'secure' job, because they detest the safe-secure status quo or because they don't want to live on society's back. This 'entrepreneurial spirit' has something to do with pride. These people exist, but society's pressure on these people is so huge now that they risk to become an extinct species. If it continues like this, the crisis will have a permanent effect on our economy. Let us pray for more generosity and entrepreneurship.

Raising kids in the 21st century

2010-07-20T22:05:00.006+02:00

Raising kids is not easy they say. According to the french adagium it is: "donner des racines et des ailes", to give roots and wings to children. Roots to make them aware where they come from and wings to make them willing to go somewhere else. I sometimes refer to education as: "shooting to a moving target", because of the speed of my kids' growth process.

On television and elsewhere, I discover a lot of uncertainty with parents concerning the best way to raise kids. There are two major causes. One cause is the deep social gap between those who raise their kids in the best possible way and those who basically... don't. At school, these kids are mixed and this creates obviously a lot of problems.

Another cause is the paradigm shift with respect to previous generations. Education is no longer based on authority and obedience but on persuasion and interaction. Most people, even the older generations, see this as a positive evolution. And most agree that this is more demanding on the parents' side. Perhaps it is also more demanding on the children in the sense that they have to make choices and decisions much earlier, sometimes too early, in life.

In comparison to earlier generations, parents tend to be less demanding in terms of attitude. What strikes me, is how demanding they have become in terms of performance... Children are expected to be perfect in about everything nowadays, from ordinary school to dancing classes, horse riding, music school, school theatre and whatever you like. Of course, there is a positive aspect on all that. But if I look at the agenda of some kids, it looks like all these activities serve yet another purpose: prepare the kids for the toughest of all rat races and in the mean time: let dad/mum do their own thing. Anyway, this child rat race is not nice for the less talented and it will not lead us to paradise.

Satellite navigation and communication

2010-05-14T15:44:00.010+02:00

The European Commission supports through R&D programmes, the development of applications and services based on GNSS, the global navigation satellite system, a system that will be completed with Galileo in some years time (2013).

Potential applications and services exist in many areas ranging from road traffic to air traffic and from people finding to commercial location based publicity. An example is the Liveline project. A problem that is often neglected is the fact that these applications often require, next to a good position determination, a wireless communication path that connects a mobile unit to an application server. This wireless communication path is supposed to exist. For short range data communication, one can use a WLAN communication system. For long range data communication, the mobile telecommunication operators are supposed to deliver the solution.

But is this really true? There are still many issues. First, in the countryside, you still have ordinary 2nd generation GPRS communication. Basically, the best communication speed you can achieve is 56 kbit/s, the speed of a classical telephone line. The new generation data communication systems take much more time than anticipated 10 years ago. Secondly, data communication abroad still costs a fortune. The roaming charges for data communication are still too high for many applications to be economically viable. I also refer to a previous blog about internet access.

To summarise, the GNSS applications and services require a more holistic approach. Moreover, the mobile telecommunication operators need to become more involved with the Space - GNSS community of service providers. Today, they are either not interested in this emerging market, or they go their own way. S-band hybrid terrestrial - satellite communication could offer an alternative solution in some years time, but not tomorrow.

Sclerosis in the space sector?

2010-05-14T14:46:00.009+02:00

I'm now 45 years old. Considering that my career started around 25 years and expecting that it could end at 65 years, if life permits, I should be half-way. Remarkable is that when it comes to project work, I'm often the oldest one in the team. On the other hand, in high-level conferences and networking events, I'm often among the youngest.

There is a specific problem with the space sector. The space sector lived its 'boom' in the later eighties, early nineties, before I started. In the bigger space companies, a hierarchical pyramid was built up, a large base of design and development people, a number of project managers and middle managers and a narrow top of company managers. Roughly 20 years later, this entire pyramid has grown older. At the base, new designers and developers have been recruited, but not proportional to the pyramid that was already there, the base is relatively too weak to support the heavy top. The top of the pyramid counts too much people and costs too much money. Many have to leave the larger companies and do something else, perhaps start their own company.

This is not so bad in itself. Experienced people from the space sector should be able to start space downstream service companies or they could cross-fertilise other sectors of economy. Their knowledge and skills should be fruitful in many sectors of economic life. In the current state of the economy however, many of these people are forced to stay in space business. The public hand somehow protects them, as it still spends a lot of money on space, but only few companies can really make a sound living from it. In space companies, revenues stagnate and salary costs increase continuously. As a result, the space sector suffers from decreasing profit margins. I am generalising a little bit, and I admit that the findings above are applicable to other sectors of economy as well, but a certain sclerosis of the space sector can't be denied.

Heat (Hitte)

2010-04-11T15:55:00.011+02:00

Science related to climate change is not easy. The scientific findings often depend on who ordered the study. I can't judge who is wrong or who is right. Perhaps temperature and gas composition will get out of control in a few years and we're gone. Perhaps, on the contrary, our great grandchildren will consider climate change as the madness of the century, just like we laugh now with the witch executions in the 16th-17th century.

George Monbiot, the author of 'Heat', may be considered as a typical 'enfant terrible' by political and industrial leaders but his concern for the climate change is genuine and authentic. He describes how we don't seem to be able to change our daily behaviour.

In case of scientific uncertainty, the principle of precaution should prevail. Compare with the eruption of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland. We knew a plane could crash from the ash clouds, we were not sure about it but we decided to stop flying as a precaution, although we desperately need to fly. Obviously and fortunately, the measure was temporary.

Suppose you ignore the principle of precaution. In the case of the ash clouds, one could then have to sacrifice a few planes and passengers, but humanity would fly and still survive (I'm cynical). In the case we continue ignoring the precaution principle in climate change, we could face an uncontrollable destabilisation of the temperature and gas composition on earth. Then don't forget: we don't have an emergency exit here. Nobody escapes. Nothing can save us, no Swiss bunkers, no Biosphere II, no undersea glass domes, no moon base, nor Star Trek space ships to protect us. But perhaps it is a chance for another species to take over the management of the Earth.

Internet access as utility?

2010-04-07T22:27:00.006+02:00

Internet access is something you need more and more, everywhere, anytime. You need it in the office, in internal and external meetings, on business trip, at home and even on holiday. Being cut off from internet and e-mail is being cut off from society. It had become just as bad as not having a telephone. Internet is becoming a utility like water, electricity, gas or telephone.

One would think that after so many years of mobile phone networks, ADSL and WLAN that internet access is easy. One has to admit it has become easier than a few years ago. But easy?

First let us take an average hotel or guest house. Look at all the problems. The signal may be too weak in your room. You may need a WEP or WPA key and your computer may not recognise it. Then you usually need a username and a password. Either the hotel is expensive and the internet access will be extremely expensive (at least 10 Euro per hour on your VISAcard). Or the hotel is cheap and the landlord doesn't know anymore how to generate you a password. You spend ages at the reception desk until the sole person who can help you appears or doesn't appear. The hotel leaflet contains all information you need, except the way to get access to the internet. If you were lucky to get internet access, your webmail or any other application may suffer from an overprotective firewall installed at the hotel's premises.

Now that should not be a problem if you have a mobile phone network data card? Just try it. First, you will go bankrupt if you use it abroad. They charge you 'only' 3.63 Euro/Mbyte, but they will charge you a new Megabyte as seen as you have requested the first bit of that Megabyte. Secondly, you will buy a 3G-4G card and be unfortunately just out of range of the 3G network. As a result, you can download at GPRS speed of 56 kbits/s, something like a good old telephone line speed. Good luck if you happen to have received a few Mbytes in your e-mail box or if you would have liked to watch television on your mobile.

And yet, it seems easy...Why not equip every building with easily accessible Wifi or WIMAX? If internet access is just like water and electricity, every hotel room should offer it, even without submitting a form or asking for your VISA card? Suppose the hotel manager would have to generate you a password if you needed to use electricity for your shaver or your hairdryer? Indeed, you could use the electricity for malicious purposes, so why not register first? It shows how paranoid our society has become.

The paradox of public R&D subsidising

2010-04-02T08:19:00.011+02:00

Public R&D subsidies are generally considered as blessings for innovative industries. Especially for young dynamic start-up companies and growing Small and Middle size Enterprises (SME's) they are supposed to help bridge the gap between idea and product. Every nation and region is helping its start-up companies in one or the other way and that is fine.

But there is a paradox in the R&D policies as they are implemented today. They tend to have a negative side effect.

A typical start-up SME needs perform 3 to 5 years development work with a small team to come to a product prototype. Then it needs 3 to 5 years work in an extended team or network to come to full production. Only then, the product revenues start coming in, fulfilling the dream of the entrepreneur. Essential for a start-up SME is therefore the focused effort to reach this goal. Where does the money come from to make this come true? This money is supposed to come from venture capital or from a business angel who believes in the idea. A sound business plan is supposed to exist.

The public R&D money is only supporting this process. Public decision makers usually need to satisfy as many people as possible and tend to cut their budgets in small pieces. Therefore public tenders usually cover only tiny portions of the complete product development cycle.

When money gets scarce (we don't even need a blessful time like ours), the private investors and entrepreneurs will encourage / force the start-up SME employees to submit many tenders in reponse to the public programme calls. But because the budgets are small, the SME's need to differentiate the subjects of the tenders and participate in many programmes. This is often contrary to their initial core mission. They lose focus and may never come to a product in the end. After each project, they have to come up with a completely different project to qualify for a new subsidy programme.

But also at the public side, there is a problem. First, evidently, the R&D money needs to come from somewhere and often charges, through taxes, the same industry that needs the support. Secondly, the political need to satisfy all stakeholders leads to a fragmentation of the budgets so that in the end, none of the subsidised organisations receive enough money to reach the critical level that is needed in a mondial competition.

The only way to overcome the problem is to develop a regional vision. Political and economic actors need to develop a common R&D subvention vision and decide on what they want to be good at and what NOT. Very often, this vision brings one large and several small companies together around a common technology. A good example is the car telematics 'valley' developed in Sweden around Volvo. Or the creation of SES Astra in Luxembourg. Small countries like Sweden and Luxembourg have the advantage that the political and economic actors easily cooperate on such a joint vision. They have the courage to make a choice. In such a context, worldwide excellence in one specific area becomes possible.

Galileo Application Days

2010-03-07T17:47:00.021+01:00

Some souvenirs of the Galileo Application Days, which were held in Brussels, March 3-5, 2010. The event attracted close to 900 participants and was a major success.

We demonstrated the Liveline project in the application village and presented the project in the Charlemagne building, next to the Berlaymont building.

http://www.gsa.europa.eu/

http://www.application-days.eu/

Liveline project

2010-02-27T21:03:00.009+01:00

Social web services belong to the most remarkable evolutions in recent years. At the professional level, we are witnessing the increasing success of LinkedIn, Xing, Ecademy and many more. At the more general social level, we hardly know any young people who are not member of Facebook, Netlog, Twitter or anything similar. People share their experiences and their emotions by means of texts, pictures and movies with almost anyone who may be interested.

Adding the element of 'geographical location' to a social web service creates a feeling of omnipresence with your family and friends. You can follow somebody's whereabouts on the screen of your laptop or mobile phone and meet him/her on his/her way. We call this a location based social web service. BLIIN Live! is an example of such a service.

It is obvious that these services involve some risks related to privacy. Location information can be abused. Therefore it is imperative that 'vulnerable people', especially young people, start using secure tools in a secure way. Moreover, in a family context, parents often need to know their children's position to be able to protect them properly. But children also have a certain privacy right. It is important to find a right balance.

This is in a nutshell one of the main goals of the Liveline project that is starting now within the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme for Galileo Applications. This project will be presented and demonstrated at the Galileo Application Days in Brussels next week. More information is available on the web site.

http://www.liveline-project.eu/
http://www.gsa.europa.eu/go/news/do-you-know-where-your-children-are

Biosphere 2

2009-11-01T17:29:00.013+01:00

In Tucson Arizona, at the end of last century, an important experiment took place. People built 'Biosphere 2', a completely autonomous ecosystem in which a team tried to survive without physical interaction with the Earth's ecosystem. The experiments were not considered successful and received a bad press. Serious human errors seem to have been made in the scientific research, in the management and in the public communication. The details are not of interest to this blog.

Our greatgrandchildren will consider this experiment as one of the most important experiments of the twentieth century. I believe this type of experiments should receive a new positive impulse from international institutions. The experiment should be retried, perhaps in a different way, with a different organisation and a better public communication.

There are two very good reasons for that. First, autonomous ecosystems are an essential requirement for long duration space travel. I am convinced that mankind has to continue to explore space and will continue to do so. No matter how difficult space travel may look like, it will become necessary at some point in time.

A second reason is that we have to start building shelters on earth in case the atmosphere reaches a point of instability. With the current rate of fossil fuel consumption, the CO2 emission and the associated greenhouse effect, one can't exclude that, at some point in time, climate temperature changes amplify themselves, the Earth's ecosystem changes completely and the atmosphere ends up with a different gas composition.

Even if this may look like a pessimistic scenario and even if scientists can't predict any of this, even if some scientists still don't agree on the cause of climate change, the principle of prudence should encourage us considering this possibility. Paleontology teaches us that dramatic ecosystem changes have taken place in the Earth's history.

If our generations prove to be the cause of the climate change, we owe it to our children to start developing the preventive measures. But shouldn't we start thinking about the emergency measures as well? Do we have an emergency exit if our climate goes - completely - wrong?

In Europe

2009-08-15T14:20:00.000+02:00

"What you can do, you also have to do." You may wonder why this simple statement seems like the most important message that I want to remember from this 800-page book about Europe in the 20th century. It belongs to the testimony of a 58 year old romanian professor who is enjoying now the freedom of many things (travelling, expression of opinion) that have been impossible most of his life.

The book "In Europe", originally written in Dutch by Geert Mak, has become so popular that you see it everywhere in the Netherlands and in Flanders. The translated book may be on its way to a similar success in the rest of Europe.

The book takes the reader on a trip to some of the most awkward places in Europe. By telling what happened in these places, the author creates a rather complete overview of all cruelties that mankind has been capable of in the 20th century. The book also shows us how recently the Eastern half of Europe got released from oppression and lies. And in many places, it is not over yet.

When you read this book, you come to the conclusion that we are not doing enough for Europe. Most people claim to be in favour of a more united Europe, but in politics and public administration, only the national interests are at stake. The reason is that the delegates are only elected by their member states of origin and do not have to take responsibility towards other member states. This will never work. Let us hope that the next generation of politicians will do something about this.