From 20th to 22nd October 2015, the ICT2015 event took place in Lisbon, Portugal.

Under the organization of the European Commission, the ICT2015 event presented the new Commission policies and initiatives with regard to Research & Innovation in ICT.  Overall more than 6000 delegates participated in the event. The European Commission was represented at highest level by the Commissioners Oettinger (responsible for Digital Economy and Society) and Moedas (responsible for Research, Science and Innovation), and the Portuguese President of Republic chaired the opening ceremony!

During the event, conferences, networking sessions, parallel sessions and an exhibition with about 150 exhibitors took place.

MOSAIC 2B was one of them!

MOSAIC 2B booth was installed in the International Cooperation Village and was showcased as an example of successful cooperation projects with non-EU countries. There, the MOSAIC 2B partners demonstrated the project and presented the main outcomes. A video prepared for dissemination actions was also permanently screened, highlighting the MOSAIC 2B in use during field experiment and the participant’s testimonies.

ICT 2015, Lisbon, MOSAIC 2B booth

A large number of ICT2015 delegates visited the MOSAIC 2B booth and get informed about the project, congratulating for the achieved results and making comments about potential areas for future exploitation.

During the ICT 2015 the MOSAIC 2B will provide information about the developed components of the framework as well as first conclusions and impressions from the six-month field experiment that has been conducted in rural areas of South Africa from March to August 2015. Visitors will have to opportunity to get details about the DTN based content distribution as well as the operating principles of this technology and its implementation. The project will also demonstrate the cinema-in-a-backpack solution including the mobile business services for the micro-entrepreneurs such as: ordering, paying, screening of multimedia content and performing business analysis using visual analytic tools. Moreover, visitors will be able to interact with the tablet software and experiment its functionalities.

With over 5 000 participants, ICT 2015 will gather high level speakers, networking sessions for the creation of European consortia, an exhibition dedicated to successful European ICT projects and several activities for the general public. For three days Lisbon will be the European hub of ICT, bringing together politicians, national and European decision-makers, researchers and entrepreneurs, to debate the latest policies and initiatives of the European Commission on ICT.

The ICT 2015 event will comprise a number of parallel activities:

• A policy conference presenting the new Commission’s policies and initiatives on Research & Innovation in ICT (Horizon 2020 Programme);
• An interactive exhibition showcasing the results and impact of the most recent EU ICT Research & Innovation projects;
• Many networking opportunities to enhance quality partnerships, helping participants find partners, connect Research and Innovation and trigger collaboration;
• Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2016-2017 thematic sessions, offering detailed information on the funding opportunities in ICT sector;
• The Startup Europe Forum, offering a set of activities profiling EU policy actions for startups and SMEs, innovators, private and public investors.

The MOSAIC 2B project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for reserarch, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 611796, as well as from the Department of Science and Technology South Africa under financial assistance agreement DST/CON 0227-0229/2013.

Further information can be found here.

Visit MOSAIC 2B at the ICT 2015, International Cooperation Village, exhibition booth IV7a.

From 14-15 October 2015 professor Alta van der Merwe and Aurona Gerber presented an overview of the MOSAIC 2B project at the Third International Conference on Enterprise Systems (ES 2015) in Basel, Switzerland.

In the parallel session “Project Presentations” on Wednesday 14 October 2015 the partners from the University of Pretoria (South Africa) presented  an overview of the MOSAIC 2B project as well as what has been accomplished in the last 24 months since the start of the project.

The audience enjoyed the presentation and as was mentioned by James Lapalme (Canada) that he applause the MOSAIC 2B consortium for the work that has been done by and believe that “… more Computer Scientists should become involved in projects of this nature where it is not only about technology but the advancement of society.”

The MOSAIC 2B project – funded by the European Union and the Department of Science and Technology South Africa – will end by November 2015. After a field trial of six months with 14 micro-entrepreneurs the consortium is currently investigating the latest results and implications that will be presented at the final dissemination event in November in Pretoria.

The Enterprise Systems conference series is jointly supported by the IEEE Technical Committees Enterprise Architecture and Engineering and Enterprise Information Systems.

Funded by the Department of Science and Technology and the European Commission, this consortium driven project called MOSAIC 2B hinges on the creation of new technologies and the development of a robust and user friendly ‘Cinema-in-a-backpack’. The overall project management is in the hands of the company GraphicsMedia.net from Kaiserslautern Germany.

The Cinema-in-a-backpack is a mobile, easy to use product incorporating a projector, speakers, a battery and a tablet, which enables micro entrepreneurs to project films, becoming part of their business offering to local communities in far-flung villages.

The MOSAIC 2B project aims to test an alternative and lower cost distribution channel for multi-media content that will offer a secure and viable method for reaching and connecting areas with poor or absent infrastructure. In addition to the development of these technologies, a further goal of this project is to respond to two specific challenges in the SA market. Firstly, the inaccessibility of cinemas in rural areas, and secondly the challenges experienced by entrepreneurs to run sustainable businesses. For that reason, a concept of a micro-franchise model for the ‘Cinema-in-a-backpack’ has been developed that exploits the advantage of the DTN technology to spur entrepreneurial activities in rural areas through this offering that is underpinned by training conducted by the University of Pretoria.

The technology developed during the initial phases of the MOSAIC 2B project, which commenced in October 2013, includes the development of a cost effective delay tolerant network (DTN) through which content is sent to the cinema operators using public busses, in this case PUTCO busses, carrying so-called infostations to bus depots in rural areas. To receive the content the micro entrepreneurs visit their local PUTCO bus depots with their ‘Cinema-in-a-backpack’ at which point the MOSAIC 2B application contained in the tablet connects to the so-called infostations via Wi-Fi and the multimedia content is downloaded. Moreover, this business application, developed by EPI-USE, allows the micro entrepreneur to order, pay for and download the content of their choice and plan and document their screening events (capturing information such as number of audience members, ticket price, other business services offered and more). Lastly, the information collected via the business application is packaged using visual analytics, developed by Centro de Computação Gráfica in Portugal, offering the micro entrepreneurs business intelligence to assist them to optimise their cinema business.

Many of the micro entrepreneurs selected to join the project as cinema operators have expressed their enthusiasm for this opportunity, both as individuals building businesses and as community members recognizing that the need for affordable local entertainment. The field experiment is planned and run by Infusion who will be responsible for collecting the data to optimize the learnings over the next 6 months.

MOSAIC 2B is executed by a consortium of 6 partners – 3 from South Africa and 3 based in Europe – and will end in September 2015 after 2 years.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for reserarch, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no. 611796, as well as from the Department of Science and Technology South Africa under financial assistance agreement DST/CON 0227-229/2013.

In a live demonstration the project will showcase the delay tolerant network (DTN) based content distribution and its components, i.e., the mobile and fixed infostations. The demo will explain and illustrate the operating principles of this technology and its implementation in the context of the MOSAIC 2B project, e.g., the utilization of the buses serving as transportation means for the mobile infostations.

In addition, the project will demonstrate the cinema-in-a-backpack solution. It consists of a tablet, projector, speakers, and a power supply unit. The power supply unit has been introduced to guarantee screening activities in the event of power loss or missing power supply. The Android application developed and installed on the tablet will enable the mobile business services for the micro-entrepreneur such as: scheduling screening events, ordering of and paying for multimedia content, screening, and performing business analysis.

MOSAIC 2B provides a low cost mechanism to deliver multimedia content to micro-entrepreneurs located in rural areas of South Africa. Implementing delay tolerant network facilitates to transfer large volume of multimedia data, in areas with limited IT infrastructure. Using this content and equipped with a cinema-in-a-backpack a micro-entrepreneur will be enabled to run a business, which enables the screening of multimedia content in rural communities. The developed framework utilises mobile technologies and low-cost ad hoc networks based on opportunistic communication to support the micro-entrepreneurs and to enhance the sustainability of their micro-enterprises. The ad hoc network relies on the existing network of public transportation buses. Essential components of the network are the mobile and fixed infostations. The fixed infostation serves as the entry point to the DTN and will be installed in Pretoria, South Africa. Utilising the standard Internet connection, the multimedia content ordered by the micro-entrepreneurs will be downloaded from the central MOSAIC 2B server to the fixed infostation and forwarded to the mobile infostations. The latter ones will be installed in the buses serving the rural communities located in Moloto, Vlaklaagte and Kwagafontein in South Africa. There, any micro-entrepreneur can download the ordered multimedia content using their cinema-in-a-backpack.

Starting at the beginning of March 2015 MOSAIC 2B will evaluate the progress of the entrepreneurs’ cinemas over an experimental-period of six months, collecting field data on the emergence of marketing and product strategies.

• Mobile Empowerment: Exploring the viability of a ‘Cinema-in-a-backpack’
• Mobile Empowerment: The design and implementation of a ‘Cinema-in-a-backpack’
• Mobile Empowerment: Collaboration in a multi-country research project
• Mobile Empowerment: Usability testing of the MOSAIC 2B Player Platform

The conference website is at: www.iamot2015.com/

In MOSAIC 2B micro-entrepreneurs are equipped with a Cinema-in-a-backpack that includes a tablet, a projector, a battery and speakers. This equipment connects to the dedicated MOSAIC 2B Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) that implements an alternative low-cost distribution channel to rural areas for multimedia content and digital movies. The MOSAIC 2B business case specifies the use of the Cinema-in-a-backpack equipment by micro-entrepreneurs for hosting movie screening events in their local, rural communities.

On Monday 16 February 2015 the training commenced where each micro-entrepreneur received a stationary pack with everything they needed for the training and for being involved in activities related to the set up of their businesses. During the e-skills training of 16 and 17 February, each micro-entrepreneur were taught how to set up an email account, do Google searches, use MS Excel for basic bookkeeping, compile a business plan and develop a business proposal. The Cinema-in-a-backpack equipment training was scheduled for 18 February and exposed the micro-entrepreneurs for the first time to the equipment that they will receive in MOSAIC 2B. Hands-on training helped to familiarize themselves with how to download movies, set up the equipment for an event, charge the battery, fill in the MOSAIC 2B screening forms and view the MOSAIC 2B project’s statistics through the visual analytics function. The dedicated business training of 19 February provided each ME with the opportunity to consider his/her own environment and how they will use the equipment and the e-skills training they received to incorporate into their own business plan. The entrepreneurs were housed in a guesthouse near the University of Pretoria and they were transported to the training venue each day.

The overall aim of the MOSAIC 2B project was to investigate alternative distribution channels and business models for multimedia in rural communities.

At PUTCO’s bus depot in Roseville, MOSAIC 2B will set up the fixed infostation. The fixed infostation serves as the entry point to the delay tolerant network (DTN). Utilizing the standard internet connection, the multimedia content ordered by the micro-entrepreneurs will be downloaded from the central MOSAIC 2B server to the fixed infostation and forwarded to the mobile infostations. The latter ones will be installed in the buses serving the rural communities located in Moloto, Vlaklaagte and Kwagafontein. Here, any micro-entrepreneur can download the ordered multimedia content using their cinema-in-a-backpack.

PUTCO provides commuter bus services in Gauteng, Limpopo and the western parts of Mpumalanga in South Africa. With over 600 buses the PUTCO’s bus depot in Roseville offers the ultimate solution to serve as transportation means for the mobile infostation and to distribute the multimedia content in the designated rural areas in South Africa.