Abstracts:

The 2001/ Bridgehead project focuses on information and communication technology in establishing co-operational projects with a portal and working area for partners in IT, content and cultural industries. The Nordic Centres of Excellence situated in the various countries of the Nordic region together with other Nordic initiatives will form the organisational backbone as content providers in the early stages of the project and will provide the Russian partners with access to contacts and partnerships in the region.
The Bridgehead project sees as one of its main goals to strengthen the awareness of the importance of copyright and generally accepted business procedures in developing a healthy industry in the region.

Usefulness

The Bridgehead project will enable Russian partners to present their products, skills and talent on a global market as well as keep up to date with the demands of the market. The Bridgehead project is at its initial stage mainly aiming at developing regional co-operation between Russia and the Nordic markets, but will gradually develop into a point of information and contact for all interested in the resources and know how of the Russian content and information industry.
From a Nordic perspective the integration of Russian intellectual resources, market initiatives and research into networks already active in the Nordic region opens a gateway to content and creativity at the same time as it provides first hand information on the market development in Russia.

The Bridgehead portal www.bridgehead.ru

The portal forms an integrated part of the Project 2001 as a concrete expression of the work and services offered by the partners. It also provides a ground for project development, localisation and commercial applications. The Bridgehead portal is the gateway of the Project 2001 to the general audience. It is a way of inviting new partners and provide a forum for discussion and commerce. The portal aims at forming a “test area” for co-operational projects already existing or to be developed.

The main goal of the Bridgehead portal is to provide information in economic activities related to the convergence of IT and cultural industries. The bridgehead portal is a pathfinder for those seeking professional and creative co-operation or looking for content and content development.
The service offered by the portal stresses the importance of usefulness for the professional community and gives the user a starting point in his search for reliable and relevant information.

The wild space of Information society


In addition to the services offered to the professional community The Bridgehead portal wants to offer its visitors an inspiring journey into the world of cultural content covering most aspects of cultural expressions and production. In the area called The wild space of Information Society we offer information and an extensive collection of links to sites related to the topics of the portal.

This area is offering a variety of links and information to various activities related to the thematic (culture, media, IT) areas of the portal. This area offers the customer a broad view of the development of the information society in respective countries. Here we feature news and projects of interest as well as meetings and conferences in relation to the concept of information society seen in its largest context. This section is an open area at the service of every visitor.

The aim of the wild space is to provide inspiration more than information and to give the visitor a glimpse of the activities offered over the web in a specific country and a specific field. The wild space is not a purely logical area in its structures and can also work according to intuition and free associations. In addition to the links offered the space it will be open for the public to add new links within the topical areas of the portal.

In the wild space area the bridgehead does not have editorial control except in the areas of News, Projects of interest and Meetings and conferences.



Phase of the project

The project has been developed since 1999 and has created a pilot portal under the name Bridgehead.ru . The aim of the following six months is to redefine the project to serve the interests of Nordic research and business and to restructure and update the portal together with Russian and Scandinavian partners. The project will, in co operation with Scandinavian partners, be developed into a full scale operational platform during 2002-2004 within the framework of The Nordic Boarder Region Development Program.