AgentLink researchers seek feedback on future of agent technologies

Researchers at the University of Southampton have produced an interim report on agent technology on which they are inviting feedback from industry.

The AgentLink III consultation document, which is available from Professor Michael Luck at the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), co-ordinator of the initiative, sets out a roadmap which aims to put Europe at the leading edge of international competitiveness in agent technology. AgentLink’s role is to promote research, development and deployment of autonomous, problem-solving computational entities across industry and academia.

The document describes current research initiatives and deployment of agent technologies and presents the challenges posed by new Grid computing and web technologies.

Professor Luck commented: ‘One of our goals in this interim report is to predict the future of agent technologies. This document is only the first stage in the process of developing AgentLink’s 2005 roadmap. Its purpose is twofold: first as a marker, laying down the preliminary findings of the initial work undertaken on the roadmap, and second as a call to the wider community to engage in the process of developing the content of the final, more substantial document.’

The public consultation and content solicitation period ends on 31 May 2005.