Technology

Web 3.0: Will Europe Overtake the U.S.? Part 1

Written by Gaurav Bhola, MSM, Managing Editor & Community Manager on July 26, 2007 3:12 pm EST

Traditional Europe has been trying to catch up to the U.S. in the internet technology arena for years. Somehow Americans have been able to innovate or leverage new web technologies to stay on the cutting edge, ahead of Europe. A good example of this is Finnish engineer Olli Martikainen. In 1982, at VTT research institute in Finland, Olli initiated development of a router which sent streams of data from one computer to another. But the Finnish financiers of the project didn’t see any relevance of the technology, thus the project ended in 1986. Nevertheless, someone did see potential in this technology, and Cisco propelled to great success with similar technology. Another story of missed opportunity took place in the U.S. Xerox developed the GUI or graphical user interface technology at their Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in the 1970s. Apple founder Steve Jobs visited PARC in 1979 and fell head over heels for the Xerox Alto, the first computer to use a graphical user interface. He then developed the Apple Lisa based upon his observations at Xerox. The Xerox story is similar to Olli’s in one regard that certain project decision-makers didn’t recognize the potential of the technology, didn’t understand what they had. Cisco realized the potential of the router technology as did Steve Jobs with GUI technology. In the fluid and dynamic World Wide Web arena, it is critical to continually innovate to stay ahead of the competition. Herein, European companies and governments are working feverishly to bring the next generation of internet technology to market, before the U.S. The research is being funded by several hundred million euros. The next generation of the internet is being called Semantic Web or Web 3.0. The core of Semantic Web is technology that permits people to locate, access, and correlate information, irrespective of where it resides, on a website, company database, or in desktop software. Semantic Web can unchain information in various stovepipes, in assorted software applications, and assorted locations that cannot be linked easily. The one who defines the technology for Web 3.0, whether the U.S. or Europe; will have a distinct advantage in the market. Part 2: Coming soon

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