Updated: Jan 10, 97
6. Exploitation Plans

An important aspect of the development of the project would be the effort to raise funding from complementary sources, with a view to moving towards a self-financing status for the Observatory (see workpackage 7.9). The aim would be to secure funding from a variety of sources in addition to the financial support provided under the Health Telematics Programme. One potential source of external financing would be the service fees levied by the Observatory. A subscription could be offered to health authorities, universities, institutes, telecom operators, private companies such as hardware and software manufacturers. In addition, a small fee would be charged for the supply of specific information requested on an ad-hoc basis. Some of the other diffusion activities would equally create revenue, in particular the workshops and conferences organised around technology or user-related issues common to a number of different sectors.

The progressive adoption and the installation of the National Languages "EHTO Satellite-Sites" will result from clear commitments of telecommunications operators and services (having an world-wide coverage), and Satellites will create awareness of the Observatory at international scale. This is also seen as being as a future source to give the Observatory important sponsorship to its communication's infrastructure, as well as Satellite-Sites will also be in the origin of interesting strategic alliances between EHTO and other international industries (VAN's, Web-Site supportive services and equipment), and they will also help the Observatory to create revenue of a new type, and to stabilize its independent financial status by 1998.

Preliminary contacts have already been established with the Health Telematics Research Community in the Fourth Framework Programme, as well as with Industry, especially with Telecom Operators. The response to the concept of "Satellite-Sites" in national languages has also been extremely positive, and profiles the installation of two Satellite-Sites in the Iberian Peninsula (in Spain and in Portugal) by March 1997, and possibly three other Satellites will be created in 97 in Finland, France, and Germany. Recently (December 1996) South Africa has also showed its interest to the setting of a local EHTO Satellite-Site, still in 1997.

Last but not least, in the second half of 1996, Telecom Operators (e.g. Belgacom, as being the main sponsor for the initial installation and to the work in EHTO, in Brussels), vendors of Hardware (workstations) and of special equipment used in Telemedicine (in telepathology), have continued to give important sponsorship to complement the initial phase of installation of EHTO.

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