In today's world, even with all the progress and ongoing investment in research there has been made in recent times, there continues to be disparities between the level of take up of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as well as the types and complexity of ICT solutions being deployed in different environments.

However, it is important not to underestimate the enormous impact that ICT continues to have in providing opportunities to achieve economic growth and prosperity by leapfrogging previous generations of technology and transforming inefficient work processes. Nowhere is such a transformational effect more noticeable than in the use of mobile and collaborative technologies to enable new ways of working.

Collaboration is critical to building the Knowledge Economy, and considerable work is being carried out not just in industry but also in government and academic research circles to address the often difficult technical, social and legal challenges that cross-organisational collaboration demands in modern society and a post industrial age. Usability, interoperability and secure identity management are no longer simply research challenges - they define what consumers expect in today's fast-moving collaborative world. One of the most difficult challenges of commercialisation today is identifying aspects of solutions that are universal in appeal, while addressing local, national or regional differences that can make or break the successful launch of ICT based or ICT enabled products and services.

This book brings together a comprehensive collection of over 200 contributions on commercial, government or societal exploitation of the Internet and ICT, representing cutting edge research, innovation and good practice from five continents. The strong emphasis on cross border collaboration and adaptation of innovative research results around the world augurs well for the continued development of the European Research Area.

Reflecting the breadth and depth of the ICT related research undertaken by the contributors, the contents are broken down into eleven broad thematic areas. These are: e-Health; e-Government and e-Democracy; Collaborative Working Environments; ICT for Networked Enterprise & RFID; Networked, Smart and Virtual Organisations; SME Issues; Mobility -Issues, Applications & Technologies; Digital Libraries and Cultural Heritage; Intelligent Content and Semantics; Technology Enhanced Learning and ICT Skills; and Security and Identity Management. Papers within each thematic area are in turn grouped under the subheadings of Issues, Applications and Case Studies, reflecting their primary focus.

We would like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of the advisory committee who provided authors with actionable feedback in finalising their papers for publication, and the ongoing encouragement and support of the European Commission.

Paul Cunningham

Miriam Cunningham