Research network on interoperability of applications and software for networked enterprises in the Valencian Region (INTERVAL)

Enterprise interoperability is a tool for enhancing the competitiveness of firms, and its importance is brought out by the fact one of the EC’s strategic aims is to accomplish interoperability among European firms by the year 2010. Nevertheless, in the particular case of the Valencian Region (Spain), research into enterprise interoperability is still badly structured, fragmented, overlapping and, in many cases, practically non-existent. The INTERVAL project has been set up in an attempt to solve this problem. The scheme plans to carry out a series of initiatives aimed at integrating research activities and applying them to the complicated Valencian business sector. By so doing these companies would benefit from the application of knowledge created specifically for them and adapted to fit their characteristics. In this paper we present the details of the project, including its goals, aims, activities, results achieved, the methodology used to accomplish them, the economic and/or technological advantages, as well as possible applications and future lines of research