Perhaps we, like Alice, peek
too readily into tomorrow

With Web 3.0, or the Semantic Web, fast on the heels of its collaboration-crazed older sister, the EU appears determined not to let a major strategic opportunity slip by, according to BusinessWeek.

The so-called "Semantic Web" promises an internet that, based on behavioral input and advanced analytics, will be able to make more decisions on behalf of users, even arranging in advance what surfers are likely to buy.

Perhaps regretful about opportunities lost in MP3s (whose technology originated in Germany, BusinessWeek divulges) and Web 2.0, EU companies and policy-makers are underwriting hundreds of millions of euros for research into the online experience of tomorrow.

"The US and Europe are competing on funding something that could have an extraordinary strategic impact," said research VP Whit Andrews of technology consultancy Gartner.

Among other ambitious connotations, the Semantic Web is expected to make the world's knowledge available online. Users will also be able to create new associations in previously unrelated data.

According to BusinessWeek, this could heavily impact fields ranging from the military, to medical research, to business intelligence - no small order for those seeking to dominate the networks of tomorrow.