The first discussion of host software for ARPANET and initial experiments on that network took place in 1968. The outcome of that discussion was documented in RFC 1. Over the last 40 years, the Internet has undergone an astonishing transformation to become one of the most significant achievements in human history. Over that period, the Internet has "grown up" from a relatively obscure research adventure to interconnect networks to spawn a multitude of commercial undertakings to become a critical infrastructure for the economy and society of today and tomorrow; the pool of users has expanded from a small cluster of network researchers to encompass potentially everyone that lives and that will live. With the rising demands and expectations being placed upon it, the Internet must change and will change. By definition, the Internet is about creating a level playing field for all to exploit. Therefore, that change should have a positive impact on the capabilities of the user (potentially everyone). It should enable and catalyse new markets and new business opportunities for the provider, incumbent as well as new, based on open competition and open access. Most importantly, the Internet is an indispensable instrument for supporting the advancement of society's value system, economically, culturally and socially. The design of the Future Internet is about the design of Future Society.
The Future Internet will not happen without the deep engagement of the diverse stakeholders and without meaningfully embracing the interests of those stakeholders. Global efforts are underway to engineer and agree upon the optimal stakeholder model, which many believe must be multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural. But the distance from the controlled environment of the research lab to creating value and use out of those inventions remains vast. At the same time, the wisdom of the crowd is on the match, traditional notions of innovation are challenged, and the distinction between users and providers - of contents, services, even infrastructures - is becoming blurred. As the Internet advances from a network of networks to an Internet of Services, Things and 3D Content, to possibly a network of people and their ideas and aspirations, we need to re-examine and re-appraise the technical underpinnings that may or may not make that happen.
This talk is about envisioning the Future Internet by:

1. Revisiting the architectural principles of the original Internet which gave rise to its stable foundation - a foundation for serendipitous and disruptive innovations that have characterised the Internet to date;
2. Discussing some of the key choices that need to be made in the technical, business and policy environments, and what they might entail;
3. Describing the orientations of research activity at the European level;
4. Attempting to answer the question: Can the Future Internet be stopped?

References:

1. The Future of the Internet Workshop, Brussels, December 2006
   http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/publications1/books/futint/home_en.html
2. 103 Ways to Success
   http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/ict/programme/publications1/books/ippa2007_en.html
3. A Compendium of European Projects on ICT Research Supported by the EU 7th Framework Programme for RTD
   ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/ict/docs/ch1-g848-280-future-internet_en.pdf
4. A Conference held under the Slovenian Presidency of the EU, Bled, 31 March 2008
   ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/ict/docs/ch1-g940-280-future-internet-ld_en.pdf
5. European Future Internet Portal
   http://www.future-internet.eu/

Man-Sze Li is Director of IC Focus Ltd, a London based ICT research company. Previous positions include Chief Technical Officer of CommerceWorks, Managing Director eCommerce of Portfin Group, Senior Consultant of Level-7 and of Ovum, Assistant Director EDI Standards at the UK government agency SITPRO, and Group Head of CIT Research. In addition, she has been involved in the establishment of 9 Internet start-up companies and was the founding chair of several European standardisation groups in the application area. Her research interest focuses on Future Internet, Interoperability, Service Utility, and related business models and governance aspects. She is Co-Chair of the European Commission DG INFSO Enterprise Interoperability Cluster, chief editor and co-author of several reports published by the European Commission in recent years, and authors of several books and about 100 published papers. She contributes to a number of initiatives related to European research in Future Internet, including the "Post-Bled" services working group, the standardisation committee of the European Technology Platform NESSI and a public White Paper on the Internet of Services.