The growing interest and investment in telecare is welcome for the delivery of efficient social and health care, particularly for clients in the comfort of their own homes. Government plans the availability of a wide range and number of monitoring devices to be made available for improved services to a greatly increased number of citizens. BroadCare provides the management platform for effective operational management of these services.

Frost & Sullivan recently presented its 2006 Medical Imaging Growth Award and 2005 Award for Excellence in Technology to Siemens Medical Solutions. Each year the Medical Imaging Growth Award is given to a company that has demonstrated an exceptional growth strategy within its industry. Siemens was chosen this year in recognition of its renewed commitment to pursue innovative growth strategies that forge the way for continued market expansion and sustained industry ascendancy.

The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) will be more inclusive for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) than its predecessors, Janez Potocnik, EU Commissioner for Science and Research, assured participants attending a conference on SME participation in the Framework Programme in Kortrijk, Belgium, on 23 May.

SMEs are vital to the European economy, with approximately 25 million of them accounting for close to two-thirds of Europe's employment and GDP.

Google Co-op beta is a community where users can contribute their knowledge and expertise to improve Google search for everyone. Organizations, businesses, or individuals can label web pages relevant to their areas of expertise or create specialized links to which users can subscribe.

SOFTPRO and selected partners are introducing a new product for protecting doctors and hospitals from unnecessary costs while streamlining hospital operations: Electronic Patient Information Documentation using a tablet PC and secured with biometric handwritten signatures.

IBM and over twenty major worldwide public health institutions, including the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, announced the Global Pandemic Initiative, a collaborative effort to help stem the spread of infectious diseases.

The European Commission's Information Society and Media DG has published:

• I - a call for tenders for recommendations on exploiting research infrastructure potential in key areas of the information society (e-government, e-health, e-learning);
• II - a call for tenders for the move towards a European e-infrastructure for e-science digital repositories.