This is the #4 message to the list of maybe partners for www.cita.es project
This message is published at http://www.cita.es/joyas/proyecto.htm

First of all, I would like to thank all the replies we have all over Europe and some other countries too.

Now we need to begin the organisation of the team of maybe partners for a winner project. Perhaps we can make more than one proposal and use different project formats in Europe and other countries.

From my point of view, we must the following tasks:

1. Physical research for gems identification, certification and appraisal
1.1 Theoretical fundamentals (crystallography ellipsoids, electromagnetism, asterism, laser, colour analyzers and so on).
1.2 Tools for sensoring as peripherical devices for computer input
1.3 Mining and mineralogy information and classification
1.4 Algorithms and data structures for gemstone codification
1.5 Technical certification and appraisal on trusted and standard basis

2. Marketing survey on jewellery industry and Internet promotion
2.1 Gemmology and jewellery support for the project and standards
2.2 Expert witnessing and legal affaris on gemstone and jewellery business
2.3 Markets for gemstones. Who is who and what can be sold in any place
2.4 Internet sources for gemstone electronic commerce and new ways to sell
2.5 Website design for a gemstone data bank. Offers on sale and sold records
2.6 Promotional strategies for the gemstones in and out of the Internet

3. Electronic commerce for gemstones
3.1 Certification authorities for digital signatures on gemmology
3.2 Trusted Third Parties protocols for gemmology and jewellery
3.3 Payment protocols (SET and/or any other interesting one)
3.4 Auctions on-line for certified gemstones

At the time of this message (10 January 1999) we are very strong on 3.* and we have clear ideas on 1.* on state of the art identification technologies and tools (even if they are very expensive).

We urgently need local contacts all over Europe in 2.*. You can contact on www.cita.es behalf to professional associations, institutes or certification centers on the gemstone business in your country. They are very welcome at our project and any partner in touch with gemmologists and jewellerers will be very important in this consortium. If you need references, you can ask for them on my behalf to the Spanish Embassy Commercial Office in your country because they must be already aware of this Spanish company need on this business. The contacts are at http://www.icex.es/dinteres/ofcomes/ofcomes.html#EU

I know that many members are not familiar with jewellery business, but as soon as you notice that it is very unusual to find a seller with any technical education you will understand that this business really needs technology, and we can provide it. I am here to help any maybe partner to look for professional contacts in his country, doing my best to make everybody interested and happy.

In Spain I am already in touch with many jewellery manufacturers. There is an important industry in Córdoba, at the South of Spain, with a fair on 11th-15th March 1999, and I would like to have a meeting point there for our future customers and partners. The website is http://www.joyeriacordobesa.com

Finaly, I need some contact data of the maybe partners that I shall handle confidentialy until I have your permission to use them in any way. Please copy and paste this questionary, insert as much useful information with references and send back to me as soon as possible:

Areas of interest (1.*, 2.* and/or 3.* if possible with detailed aims):
Organization name and address:
Countries with offices and representatives:
Avalaible resources:
Internet references:
Contacts in the gems&jewellery business useful for the project:
Experience in other European projects:
Name and possition of the experts:
Curriculum of the experts:
Contact person:
Comments and wishes for the project co-ordinator:
Comments and wishes for other members of the consortium:

Please send your reply to miguel@cita.es
at http://www.cita.es

Message #3

A) For the financials, we need partners and customers of our systems, as well as funding, if possible official. I suggest to have a careful look to:

1.- In order to develop electronic commerce for gemstones, we are working on this call for tenders: http://www.cordis.lu/fifth/src/305b-e-6.htm

My company can use it in order to promote star rubies like the ones at http://www.cica.es/estrella/English.htm
nad http://www.cita.es/Vietnam/index.htm

2.- In order to finance an international commerce organization with partners in Europe and Asia, http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg1b/ecip/home_en.html

My company can use it to develop the agreement with Vietnam National Gems and Gold Corporation (VIGEGO) explained at http://www.cita.es/Vietnam/MOU.htm

B) From the science&technology point of view, I am trying to finish my doctoral thesis designing a system to identify gemstones. I am familiar with several technologies that can be used for gemstone codification in order to avoid that stolen gemstones we can control can be easily reused by any industry or commerce (in Spain more than 50% of the jewellery uses ilegal gemstones).

I have experience as an Expert Witness in Courts of Law and I am aware about some security needs in jewellery activity.

Please do not hesitate to contact me or to forward and broadcast this message to anyone you consider appropriate.

Message #3

This one must be the third message that you receive from me about an e-commerce and anti-fraud project for gemstones and jewellery, as well as a European Investment Partner (ECIP) with Asia. You kindly reply to my introductory message and I hope to include your name and/or your suggestions in our final proposal.

Now I am using a 25 member mailing list. You can be deleted if you want me to do so, or you can invite somebody else to receive updated information. I shall be out of my office until next week, visiting Spanish Jewellery factories in Cordoba, but if you want to contact me, my cellular phone is +34619776475.

I am very happy and pleased because we found very interesting contacts in many European countries already, so I think that we can make a pan-European proposal. The point now is to ask for local jewellerers opinions and wishes on technology. I know that it is not very easy because most of them are quite far away from the Internet, and have no European projects expertise. Maybe they can appreciate the cheapest way to buy high quality gemstones like the ones already avalaible at http://www.cita.es/estrella/English.htm

Please remember that our company is looking for profit, so the commercial and industrial side of the project is very important for us too.

Our contacts in Asia are very interested in http://www.cita.es project draft. We are very sure of the support from Vietnam at VIGEGO, as you can see at http://www.cita.es/Vietnam/MOU.htm

I am in touch with more gemstone providers in Myanmar (ex-Burma), Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, but I think that VIGEGO gem support can be enough at the moment.

Just in order to let you to know about the comments we received from the members of this mailing list, I quote some messages, and I hope that you can find what you already said here:

"To publish digital certificates for gemstone is easy to handle
with an internet database system.
I think that this idea may also correspond to the objectives of
the EU-programme IST, that will be open from  the 27. January 1999".

"We would be very interested in cooperating with you in a new project
in the area of EC applications for gemstones identification, certification
and sales. As you certainly know one of the Key Actions for the imminent
5th Framework IST Programme is Electronic Commerce and this should be an
action open for proposals in the first Call which is expected very soon.
Our expertise is mainly in the area of distributed application development,
Internet and open systems technologies and security".

"It looks to me as if the project on anti-fraud measures in jewellery manufacture probably fits better in the BRITE-EURAM or SMT programmes in their new guise in the Fifth Framework Programme as "Competitive and sustainable growth"".

"We have ourselves broad experience in product development, specially interaction design for computer communication and in our network acces to specialist in electronic-biometric techniques. We also have acces to companies capable of commercialising these technologies in the northern european region".

"I'd be interested in seeing your proposal.  The above ideas
are somewhat related to cash and other monetary instruments".

"Thank you for your message.
Yes, in principle I am interested in such a project.
In fact I have been involved in related topics, namely in the area of
virtual organizations / virtual enterprises".

"Basically we are very interested in the problem
you have described. Our department generally works on topics concerning
logistics and globally distributed production. However there are many
fields that are significant in this context".

"My first reaction is that we would be very much interested in working
on a proposal with yourselves. I have forwarded this mail to my colleagues
and am awaiting a reply with regards to the your mail and specifically the
biometric identification side of things".

"Thank you for your emails of yesterday (1998-01-05, copied below) and
today. We are definitely interested in participating in a proposal for a
European project on gemstone e-commerce, and possibly too in the use of
biometrics for gemstone (ownership) codification. I personally am involved
presently in European activities/projects concerning E-commerce, secure
user authentication and smart cards".

"What you have outlined seems like a rather interesting idea.  I cannot
comment on whether biometric techniques would actually work in such an
instance but can imagine that orientatiion of the gemstone might be a
critical factor (presumably the biometrics would have to do with the stress
lines within each stone).  Whereas with an iris one is effectively
presenting a 2D subject, a gemstone would, I imagine, be effectively 3D?"

"Your message sounds quite interesting to me. I have been browsing your Web pages and I have imagined that you want to apply sobe biometric techniques to gemstones in order, for instance, to identify to which person a gemstone belongs to, and thus preventing from stealing gemstones. Applied to on-line catalog, this would allow the potential buyer to make sure that the gemstone has not been stolen and is, as you wrote, certified. Is that the idea ?
Anyway I  would be very interesting to know more about your project in order to be able to tell you in which area we can help you".

"Send me more... We can be interested in  image and signal treatment
..We can also look for french users".

"We could be very interested in this proposal. Before making a final
decision I would need to know more details about what expertise we
would need to bring to the project, what the deliverables are,
requested funding level, and so on. I have looked at your website and
related webpages. Please let me know any more details as they become
available".

"I can help with proposal development and consortium building, as well
as identification of the appropriate EU programme/task (probably
somewhere in the ICT area)".

"I will be in touch shortly after discussion with colleagues,
Kind regards from Belfast"

"Your project proposal certainly sounds very interesting and worthwhile".

"Thank you for your e-mail concerning gemstone e-commerce. E-commerce and
biomedical technology are both in our R&D interests. We are very much
interested in participating in a project concerning these fields.
Please send us more  information so that we can more efficiently define
what we can offer to such a project and better define our possible role".

"We emphasise mainly on messaging, EDI (in various forms, such as VAN-EDI,
WEB-EDI etc.), secure transactions over the web and development of
integrated environments that include communication mechanisms (such as
Internet, Internet coupled with X.400, X.400, VANs), conversion mechanisms,
archiving mechanisms (relational dbs for further analysis and management),
web sites and flow control between them. At all times, the technology to be
used is followed by an exhaustive investigation of the requirements of the
enterprise vis-a-vis its existing state of affairs.
All these, aim at enhancing the functionalities of an enterprise in order to
use electronic commerce as a tool to minimise cost, or develop new marketing
channels or both. This often requires the re-engineering of certain business
processes directly or indirectly affected by the new trading method, with
the ultimate target to facilitate the enterprise to improve its financial
and market position".

"In conclusion, I would like to let you know our interest in exploiting a
co-operation with you. Since you are the initiator of this converstion I
would expect a set of next actions".

"Thank you for your message and the invitation.
The project plan is very interesting to me and my group can
contribute to the the proposal by focusing on the information
management aspects of the system to the developed.
We can provide expertise in the areas of: Object-oriented
information management, distributed and federated databases,
architecture design for virtual/extended organizations,
and information handling for clearing houses/electronic
commerce.
I look forward to hearing from about the consortium configuration
and plans for development of the proposal".

"I'd love to talk to you about this.  Please call at your convenience".

"I wish to know which is the europen programme your company are planning to
participate to. The purpose is to pick up any sort of documentation and see
which are the costs, even in human resources, needed".

"I thank you for your message. The idea on electronic identification
of gemstones through certification techniques looks very interesting.
I would like to ask you for some additional information regarding the
planned project. For example: under which call do you plan to submitt
the proposal? What should be the subject of our organisation in such a
project? I am looking forward to hear from you soon".

"I would be very much interested in knowing more about the project to
evaluate our possible contribution".

"Yes I am interested to learn more about your draft proposal
as well as the idea to use some electronic-biometric techniques (eye iris identification) for gemstone codification".

"Thank you for your e-mail message. We are interested in participating in
European RTD projects. We can contribute to such project in the multimedia
and database RTD activities, such as database/multimeda catalogue of digital
certificates for gemstones, which includes advanced search capabilities".

Updated until 10 January 1999.

Further information:
 

Miguel Angel Gallardo Ortiz, Mining Engineer (UPM), Criminologist (UCM) and Expert Witness  Cooperación Internacional en Tecnologías Avanzadas (C.I.T.A.) SL  at Internet http://www.cita.es  Apartado Postal (P.O. Box) 17083, 28080 Madrid, España (Spain)  Tel.: (+34) 91 474 38 09, Modem/Fax: 91 473 81 97,  E-mail: iberoeka@lix.intercom.es