1
1.1
What is an agent?
1.2
Agents as a design metaphor
1.3
Agents as a source of technologies
2
2.1
Agents as Design
2.1.1
Agent-oriented Software Engineering
2.1.2
Agent architectures
2.1.3
Mobile agent systems
2.1.4
Agent infrastructure
2.1.5
Electronic institutions
2.2
Agent technologies
2.2.1
Overview
2.2.2
Multi-agent planning
2.2.3
Agent Communication Languages
2.2.4
Coordination mechanisms
2.2.5
Matchmaking architectures and algorithms
2.2.6
Information agents and basic ontologies
2.2.7
Sophisticated auction mechanism design
2.2.8
Negotiation strategies
2.2.9
Learning
2.3
Links to other disciplines
2.4
Application and Deployment
2.4.1
2.4.2
Industrial and Commercial Applications
2.4.3
Simulation Applications
2.4.4
The commercial context
3
3.1
Predictions
3.2
Phase 1: Current (c. 2000—2002)
3.3
Phase 2: Near-Term Future (c. 2003—2005)
3.4
Phase 3: Medium-Term Future (c. 2006—2008)
3.5
Phase 4: Long-term Future (c. 2009—onwards)
4
4.1
Challenges: Summary
4.2
Increase quality of agent software to industrial standard
4.3
Provide effective agreed standards for open systems development
4.4
Provide semantic infrastructure for open agent communities
4.5
Develop reasoning capabilities for agents in open environments
4.5.1
Virtual Organisations
4.5.2
Coalition Formation
4.5.3
Negotiation and argumentation strategies
4.5.4
Domain-specific models of reasoning
4.6
Develop agent ability to understand user requirements
4.7
Develop agent ability to adapt to changes in environment
4.8
Ensure user confidence and trust in agent systems
5
5.1
Europe’s strengths and weaknesses
5.2
Leverage work on similar problems in Computer Science
5.3
Link with related areas in Computer Science on different problems
5.4
Extend and deepen links with other disciplines
5.5
Encourage industry take-up
6
6.1
Ambient Intelligence
6.2
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
6.3
Grid Computing
6.4
Electronic Business
6.5
Simulation
6.5.1
Education and Training
6.5.2
Scenario Exploration
6.5.3
Entertainment
6.6
7
7.1
Research
7.2
Take-up
7.3
Community Organisation
Tom’s travel agent
Franco and the Agents Hell: A scenario of worst-practices in agent-based software engineering
Levelling the playing field for SMEs
Touring Barcelona with agents assistants
