• Jonathan Bowen, Centre for Applied Formal Methods, London South Bank University, UK.
• Traian Muntean, CNRS TIMA Grenoble and Université de la Méditerranée Marseille, France.
• Didier Bert, CNRS LSR/IMAG, Grenoble, France.
• Manuel Fernandez Iglesias, ETSI Telecomunicacion, Grupo de Ingeniería de Sistemas Telemáticos, Universidada de Vigo, Spain.
• Egon Börger, Dipartimento di Informatica, Università di Pisa, Italy.

It was planned to cover a range of formal methods, including the B-Method, Z notation (e.g., see the Community Z Tools Initiative - CZT), ASM (Abstract State Machines), RAISE, VDM, etc. It was intended that the Network would coordinate and collaborate with a number of organizations related by to formal methods, including in particular Formal Methods Europe, but also the BCS FACS Specialist Group on Formal Aspects of Computing Science, the APCB (Association de Pilotage des Conférences B) and the Z User Group, etc. Liaison with national networks, such as the UK EPSRC-funded FORTEST network on formal methods and testing, was also envisaged.

The proposal was supported by the UK EPSRC Research Council and was awarded a travel grant (GR/S22004/01), starting 17 October 2002 for 14 months (extended to 20 months). Discussions on the proposal took place at the FME (Formal Methods Europe) AGM in Pisa on Saturday 19 October 2002. The proposal also had full FME backing, with the offer of financial support if needed. Further discussions were held at the BCS-FACS FASec'02 Conference on Formal Aspects of Security, 18-20 December 2002, and ZB2003 and FM2003 conferences.

An associated mailing list is available. See additional information.

Although the European Coordination Action proposal was ultimately unsuccessful, a future submission is possible. If so, further information will appear here as it becomes available. This resource and the associated JISCmail mailing list will remain for use by the formal methods community. In particular, the Virtual Library formal methods pages are now hosted on this website, hopefully providing a stable web location for the foreseeable future.

This website is accessible as www.FMnet.info.

Statement:

Europe leads the world in the development and use of formal methods for critical computer-based systems. However there has been a lack of EC-funded coordinated effort specifically to promote the use of formal methods, aid researchers in creating links between existing centres of excellence and with industry, to improve the technology transfer process. The Coordination Action will address issues such as tools, standards, web-based technologies (e.g., XML), integration with other approaches, the relationship to testing, refinement to code, etc. Activities will include workshops, support of conferences, technology transfer, transfer of researchers, training, etc. The Coordination Action will help ensure coordination of many activities that are currently underway separately and will also foster new initiatives, especially to encourage the development and interoperability of industrial-strength tools in an appropriate manner. Specific formal methods include ASM, B, CSP, LOTOS, Perfect Developer, RAISE, VDM and Z, although others may be considered as well.

See also:

• ARTIST: Advanced Real Time Systems FP5 Network and FP6 proposal.
• CoLogNET FP5 Network of Excellence in Computational Logic.
• IST Accompanying Measure on System Dependability.
  An FP6 initiative for an Integrated Project on Dependable Systems and Information infrastructures Research and Exploitation (DeSIRE) allied to a Dependability Foundations for Information infrastructures Network of Excellence (DeFINE) were planned.
• Community Z Tools (CZT) SourceForge website for Z tool development, including ZML, an XML markup language for Z specifications. Similar facilities will be encouraged for other formal methods open tools development efforts.

• ESORICS: European Symposium On Research in Computer Security Network of Excellence Expression of Interest.
• FMR: Formal Methods and Reconfiguration to Improve Real-time Systems Reliability Network of Excellence Expression of Interest.
• FMSOC: Formal Methods for System on a Chip Design Network of Excellence Expression of Interest.
• FORMALCARD: Formal Methods for Safe and Secure Smart Card Software Network of Excellence Expression of Interest.
• TestNet Network of Excellence Expression of Interest.

See also Technologies & Engineering for Software, Systems & Services under Key Action 4 of Information Society Technologies (IST).

Part of the Museophile resources. See also ProCoS resources.