Objective: The E-factors project has set up a thematic network dedicated to bringing together universities, research centres and practitioners with a common objective: to determine factors of broad and sustainable adoption of new business models based on e-Business practices and research expertise across Europe. The E-Factors network has actively sought to transfer skills and experiences with a view to generating strategic implications in the implementation of e-business models and disseminating this knowledge across Europe.

Objectives:

• To collect, organise and disseminate experiences gained in individual projects on market opportunities and constraints.
• To develop a list of common issues and ideas as to how individual project results (both in terms of findings and in terms of methods of research work adopted) can be combined and further developed to produce complementary results.
• To construct a report that the EU can use to formulate future strategic implications. Knowledge has been drawn from the expertise of leading universities and current IST projects conducting research in e-business models as well as their adoption and their socio-economic implications. In particular the thematic network will focus on four change drivers that are important for the effective adoption of e-business models: organisational, societal, individual and technical.
• To develop means, such as the organisation of workshops and the exploitation of e-management education programmes,to support the dissemination of the combined knowledge of the thematic network participants to a broad range of stakeholders within Europe.
• To promote and guide further research and development in the area of e-business model adoption through the collaboration of academe and industry.

1. The identification of existing and emerging e-business models, which can be used as 'best practices' for businesses to aspire to.
2. The construction of a report classifying factors associated with e-business model adoption, taking into account the five change drivers: organisational, industrial, societal, individual and technical.
3. The expansion of the network membership during the project duration and the establishment of self-sustained continued collaboration between the network participants beyond the end of the EC funding period aiming at establishing excellence in e-business in Europe.
4. Contributions to highly publicised events (including a dedicated session on e-business models in an well-established International Conference on e-Commerce and a number of regional workshops) to raise awareness and foster the widest possible dissemination of project outcomes.