The eChallenges e-2008 Conference takes place in the beautiful city of Stockholm. This is the eighteenth in a series of Annual Conferences supported by the European Commission, which regularly attracts over 650 delegates from leading commercial, government and research organisations around the world to share knowledge and experience, lessons learnt and good practice in the areas of ICT for Networked Enterprise & RFID, eGovernment & eDemocracy, eHealth, Collaborative Working Environments, Technology Enhanced Learning and ICT Skills, Knowledge and Content Technologies, Security and Identity Management, GRID and Mobility.

The goal of e-2008 is to stimulate rapid take-up of Research and Technology Development (RTD) results by industry and in particular SMEs, and help open up the European Research Area (ERA) to the rest of the world.

The Call for Papers for eChallenges e-2008 closed on 29 February. The Advance Programme is published. All authors should submit their final papers by 11 July. The Final Programme will be published in late August.

Online Registration is open - the registration deadline for presenters is 15 July and Early Bird Registration for Delegates is available up to 31 July.

The Call for Exhibitors is open with a closing date of 29 August.

Confirmed plenary speakers include Mr Bo Bladholm, Lord Mayor, City of Stockholm; Mr Sten Nordin, Mayor, City of Stockholm; Mrs Åsa Torstensson, Minister for Communications, Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, Mr Antti Peltomäki, Deputy Director General, DG Information Society and Media, European Commission; Prof. Per Eriksson, Director General VINNOVA - The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, Mr Per Unckel, the County Governor of Stockholm, Mr Urban Funered, Ministry of Finance and Mr Edmundas Žvirblis, Deputy Director, Information Society Development Committee, Government of the Republic of Lithuania.

Major Sponsors confirmed to date include Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications, VINNOVA (Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems), City of Stockholm and County Administrative Board of Stockholm.

SAS is the official airline carrier for eChallenges e2008. Delegates and accompanying persons can avail of a discount by quoting the Event Code when booking flights via SAS Call Centres.

Supported by the European Commission and Technical Co-Sponsored by IEEE, eChallenges provides a prestigious, international forum to share success stories and lessons learnt from applied Information and Communications Technology (ICT) related research at European level (FP6 & FP7) as well as Regional, National and Commercial initiatives. International cooperation and discussion of commercialisation, exploitation & interoperability issues are key aspects of the programme.

The programme will combine strategic keynote presentations, technical, legal and policy papers, business and government case studies, workshops and tutorials. e-2008 will also feature an Exhibition and an attractive Social Programme for partners, presenters, delegates and exhibitors, to enhance networking opportunities both during and after the Conference.