From patrick.schouller@inria.fr Fri Feb 28 18:55 MET 1997
Message-Id: <199702281754.AA29361@nuri.inria.fr>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 18:56:36 -0600
From: Patrick Schouller 
Subject: OFFRE DE PARTENARIAT FINLANDAIS

Bonjour,
une offre de partenariat finlandaise :


The Interactive Media Group of the Helsinki School of Econonimics and
Business Administration believe ourseves to be at a key position in any
European-wide multimedia efforts. There are several reasons.

Finland has one of the oldest telecommunications industries in the world.
That industry is today also one of the most deregulated in the world. This
situation has resulted in Finland having world-leading telecommunications
technology (Nokia, Telecom Finland, Helsinki Telephone Company, to name
just a few). Finland is the world's leading country in internet connections
per capita in the world.

What is more, our School is extremely well positioned in the national
context. With cooperation of the Finnish Ministry of Education, our School
has broadband ATM connections. All students at our School have had e-mail
connections for over ten years. Our Library is the leading producer of
CD-ROMs in library services (see www.hkkk.fi/libwww/libhome). Our many
educational multimedia applications include an integrated CD-ROM/Internet
Chartered Accountant exercise. Our multimedia knowhow is such that in our
International Telecommunications Programme we transfer it to such
industrial heavyweights as ICL, Ericsson, Telecom Finland and the Helsinki
Telephone Company.

Teemu Vaananen, the director of our Group, has personally written a case
study of Interbank (a Finnish bank, see www.hkkk.fi/interbank), which both
of us have successfully analysed with students a great number of times.
Teemu has also written a book on the topic. His doctorate thesis relates to
the topic.

Supporting the above educational activies, Teemu is the Director for the
Interactive Media Group  (see www.hkkk.fi/img). Teemu's ongoing research
efforts focus on tracking, analysing and learning from existing multimedia
technology suppliers and content producers in Finland. This is not
exploratory work. In Finland, tomorrow's global multimedia technology is
already a reality today.

Teemu has negotiated the production, sale and distribution of multimedia
cases that have been distributed in some of the largest Finnish business
colleges ("ammattikorkeakoulu") in Finland. He is in a TACIS project that
provides the Russian universities of Arkangel and Petroskoi with multimedia
teaching to support the shortcomings of their teaching staff.

I, Antti Ainamo, am personally in charge of managing the starting of
virtual lectures from the United States from Professor Dan Steinbock on the
transformation of the global multimedia industries. These virtual lectures
are scheduled to start in autumn 1997 or spring 1998.

I am also doing research in two research projects that are not formally
part of the Interactive Media Group. Firstly, the Finnish Centre for the
Advancement of Technology (i.e. the "Finnish MITI") finances an applied
research project carried out at the cross-disciplinary research project by
our School's departments of Information System Sciences and Organisation
and Management. I am one of the two senior researchers. The topic of this
project is platforms for software development in the internet.

Secondly, I will soon begin consultative research on electronic commerce
for Telecom Finland.This research project concerns the evaluation the
launching of products in the electronic commerce market. The agenda is that
we have cross-disciplinary applied research crossing over organization and
management, information system sciences, regulation and marketing.

In addition, we have several researchers working under our supervision.

To summarise, Finland is a leading edge country as relates to multimedia
technology as concerns public infrastructure. The Finnish Ministry of
Education is enthusiastic about all the developments that are taking place
at our School. We have excellent connections with the leading global
multimedia companies, as well as with national fast growing technology and
content specialists. Our School is in the context of research, education
and consulting both a leading applier of multimedia technology and a
leading producer of multimedia content. Finally, we are at the very core of
all this integrated knowhow.

The above factors contribute to making the Interactive Media Group of the
Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration a strong partner
in any research consortium that has as its concept the development of
applications for universities, business, or both. We seek a network of
contacts that jointly amount to a consortium. We are willing to come
halfway in developing a concept arising from that network. Also, we would
like to be at the core of that consortium and are willing but do not insist
on taking the lead. The Interactive Media Group has the technological
capabilities that enable any concept that is developed on this basis to be
implemented not only in an exploratory fashion but in a way where it will
become Pan-European business and social reality.

Please reply with signs of interests as soon as possible, as time is
running very short. The deadline is already March 14.


Best Regards,

Antti Ainamo



***********************************************************************
                        Antti Ainamo, Ph.D.
        Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration
     Runebergink. 14-16. 00100 Helsinki, Finland, Fax +358-9-431 38 700
         Tel. Direct +358-9-431 38 444, Mobile +358-50-511 0362
***********************************************************************



****************************************************************
                        Patrick SCHOULLER
MINISTERE DE L'INDUSTRIE DE LA POSTE ET DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS
	  Direction Generale des Strategies Industrielles
	     3/5 rue Barbet de Jouy 75353 PARIS  07 SP
Telephone : + 33 1 43 19 34 25
Telecopie : + 33 1 43 19 35 51
****************************************************************