The LAURA project is part of the European Union's IST Program.
It was launched on August 1, 2002 as an international, multi-sectoral
attempt to design and develop electronic commerce zones (EC
zones) in the less favored regions of Europe. The LAURA consortium
is trans-national in nature, involving partnerships from different
countries (Bulgaria, Germany, United Kingdom and Greece).
The main goal of this project is to introduce the latest
electronic commerce business practices to participants n this
project, which include local small and medium-sized enterprises
and local business organizations, thus improving the companies'
competitiveness, business efficiency and expanding their markets
in European countries. The whole attempt is based on the concepts
of Request-Based Virtual Organizations and sector-specific
Service Level Agreements.
The LAURA project works closely with organizations from multiple
industrial sectors in four European regions: South-Central
in Bulgaria, Saxony Anhalt in Germany, and Epirus and Messinia
in Greece.
The overall LAURA project objectives are fourfold:
1. Significantly improving SME competitiveness and business
efficiency - especially within less developed regions -
through the introduction of state-of-the-art electronic
commerce;
2. Development of regional and interregional electronic
commerce zones with an emphasis on interfacing with
Associate States in order to guarantee a smoother integration
environment with the European Union; a common project based
on collaboration of local and regional authorities and administrations,
and the exchange of experiences between different countries
and regions;
3. Implementation of instruments and methods for achieving
social and especially economic development in the less-favored
regions;
4. Provision - by means of pilots - of important examples
on how to respond to the new challenges of the emerging
Information Society, which can then serve as examples for
the spread of good practice within the participating regions
as well as in neighboring ones.
As a result of this project an Electronic Commerce zone based
on the concept of Request-Based Virtual Organization (RBVO)
will establish in each of the participating regions. The zones
will include:
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs),
Business Organizations or Local Authorities,
LAURA Support Centers.
"Support Centers" are being established in each
e-commerce zone both for intra-regional and external electronic
trading. The purpose of these centers is to provide e-commerce
support services for trading procedures, business co-operation
and building of synergies between SMEs. Additional support
services will include education and training to provide regional
SMEs with the knowledge to access new technologies, to move
beyond traditional business models and to take advantage of
these technologies.
The main outcomes of the LAURA project are summarized
below:
Business and Conceptual Levels
Improve the overall e-commerce awareness among SMEs in participating
countries and raise the e-commerce adoption level for daily
business practices;
Define a robust conceptual model for interregional and intra-regional
e-commerce zones;
Elaborate Service Level Agreements (SLA) management and
Business Quality of Service models and possible implementation
guidelines.
Operational Level
Establish Support Centers in each of the selected regions
both for internal and external electronic trading between
SMEs
Technological level
Define a conceptual model of Request Based Virtual Organization
(RBVO) expressed in terms of modern software engineering and
e-commerce standards - UMM, UML, BPML, BPSS, ebXML, etc.;
Develop a framework and guidelines for designing, architecting
and implementing RBVO-based B2B e-business networks;
Implement a system prototype which is based on the LAURA
concepts, and validated in the four LAURA-participating countries.
The benefits for participating SMEs in the LAURA project
are:
Improvement of their competitiveness and business efficiency;
Cost reduction for trading operations by supporting the
value chain constitution and operation between the actors;
Ability to identify and exploit important existing business
networks and synergies;
Greater trust and partnerships with other SMEs by utilizing
the existing contacts of business support institutions,
such as chambers of commerce or associations;
Expand existing markets by using e-commerce as an enabler
to establish Virtual Organizations;
Obtain effective supportive services (e-business advices,
consultancy, training, etc.);
Develop the SMEs' personnel, individual skills and know-how.
Visit the project website at www.lauraproject.net
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