The "Digital Olympics" will be held before the real stuff starts in 2008 to ensure the event is delivered to the public by a comprehensive information service system.

Companies, universities, local authorities and other groups are coming together with the support of the European Commission (EC) and Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST).

"Our goal is to cooperate with the Chinese authorities in the 'Digital Olympics' project, by bringing expertise from both the public and private sector in Europe, and sharing experiences from the organization of many Olympic Games in different European cities," said Pedro de Sampaio Nunes, an EC information department director.

A one-day workshop was held in Beijing yesterday. It is the first for the digital collaboration project and gave European companies first-hand information on the city's Olympic action plan, in addition to bringing together potential partners in IT fields.

At the same time, the workshop aimed to strengthen scientific and technical cooperation between Europe and China, particularly in the information security technology, telecommunications, software, multimedia services and intelligent traffic systems.

The conclusions and recommendations of the workshop will be sent to the newly created EU-China "Digital Olympics" working group. It is co-chaired by the EC and MOST, and includes representatives from the Beijing municipal government.

(China Daily April 2, 2003)