FUSION Consortium

The research project FUSION is led by SAP AG and a consortium consisting of 14 partners from five European countries (Germany, Poland, Greece, Hungary, Bulgaria), including Research Institutes, Technology Developers, Innovation Transfer bodies as well as end users.
This multinational cooperation is essential in order to implement the rising requirements caused by the European industry in the area of business collaboration. More specifically, it addresses the need of SMEs to collaborate efficiently in order to compete in the single European market.

The participating academic partners have proven knowledge in different but complementary areas, that are constituting the fundament for development and deployment of the FUSION approach: Semantic Web, Enterprise Resource Planning, Systems Integration and Intercultural aspects of IT deployment. ICCS (GR) is one of the leading European institutes in the area of knowledge management and semantic web services. BUTE-ETT (HU) has proven expertise in the area of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERP). TUK-PM(PL) focuses on enterprise systems integration for SMEs, while SEERC (GR) is conducting applied research in intercultural issues of information technology.
The aforementioned research institutes have agreed to invite the most suitable technology providers to participate in the project, as well as end-users representing characteristic use cases for SME business. SAP, the worldwide market-leading enterprise in the area of ERP is co-ordinating FUSION. CAS Software is the leading provider of CRM software for SMEs in Germany. SINGULAR is the market leading ERP developer for the whole Balkans region. InfomatiX is a Hungarian developer of mobile SFA solutions, while BEELC from Poland is an established ERP integrator in Eastern Europe. All technology providers are experienced in issues of applied research and have strong ties to research institutes.

The three use cases cover different business approaches, namely internationally distributed retailing (franchising), collaborating networks of independent SMEs as well as collaboration within dependent SME networks. At the same time they represent collaboration between different European regions: South-East European (Germanos case), Western-Eastern European (InterJob pilot) as well as the region of the Balkans (Pharos use case).

In addition, innovation transfer centres will allow for a wide diffusion of the project results. The Bulgarian chamber of commerce and industry (BCCI) with 43000 associated member and 68 Branch associations is a part of the integrated international network of chambers of commerce throughout the world, maintaining direct contacts with 200 of them. The nonprofit foundation Steinbeis (StW, Germany) provides an organisational framework for technology transfer activities. The non-profit foundation comprises a worldwide network of some 250 transfer institutes that foster innovation to SMEs.

Consortium

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