It is now no longer necessary to argue the importance of agent technology. Be- des numerous conferences and workshops on speci c aspects of agent technology there are also many companies that are exploring its exploitation possibilities. In the light of these developments and in order to foster the transfer of agent technology from research labs to business, the EU has funded a \network of exc- lence" devoted to agent technology. This network of excellence, called AgentLink (http://www. agentlink. org/), aims at bringing together research groups from d- ferent countries and industrial developers. The ultimate goal is to create synergy among the di erent projects and groups to improve the competence of European industry and the excellence of academia.

现在不再需要争论代理技术的重要性。除了许多关于代理技术特定方面的会议和研讨会外，还有许多公司正在探索其开发可能性。鉴于这些发展，为了促进代理技术从研究实验室向企业的转移，欧盟资助了一个“卓越网络”专门研究代理技术。这个名为AgentLink的卓越网络旨在将来自不同国家的研究小组和工业开发人员聚集在一起。最终目标是在不同的项目和小组之间建立协同作用，以提高欧洲工业的竞争力和学术界的卓越水平。