Federal E-Science Initiative
Grid-technology should exceed the potential of the internet
Dieser Artikel in Deutsch
E-Science: what is behind this concept is the current discussion about the structural change taking place in science as a result of both information and communications technologies and the development of grids, a technology which will outstrip the capacity of the Internet many times over. In order to gather together activities in this area, two initiatives have come about in Germany: while the D-grid was founded within the scientific community during 2003, the Federal government is now responding with its own e-Science Programme. "We are reacting to the expression of need formulated by the scientific community", Frank Schlie-Roosen from the Federal Ministry for Education and Research commented. "Together with the major organisations promoting research we want to develop a comprehensive e-Science concept in the coming years."
The next generation of the Internet is expected to have far-reaching consequences for scientific work. The networking of computer resources spread across the globe by grids will allow data to be saved and processed to an as yet unheard-of extent. This will open up completely new problem-solving dimensions, in working with simulations, for example. Global climate models, complete aeroplanes or even the global economy could be constructed on the net and the effects of the various individual elements on each other could be examined. There are already actual application scenarios, amongst other things, in particle physics, astronomy, biology and meteorology.
The consequences of the new technologies for society as a whole are as yet unclear. Gridvisionaries speak of virtual organisations in which firms, political institutions and academic institutes amalgamate for a certain period of time with the objective of dealing with a concrete task. A much-cited example from the field of disaster prevention is the case of a chemical accident: the factory involved as well as research institutes and local authorities would be able to concentrate their data on the relevant chemicals, the characteristics of soil and water, the demographic structure, and hospitals available on the grid in order to draw up plans of action.
But we have not got quite that far yet. Amongst the most important questions still open - apart from technical problems - are how science should identify further areas of application, how to formulate the requirements in relation to political framework conditions and how to develop practical models of charging for digital services.
| 
