The GAMME project (Automated Generation of Multiple Electronic Markets) is a scientific and experimental research project aimed at developing the scientific and technical skills needed to set up market and exchange mechanisms and auction mechanisms on the information highway. The project is co-funded by Bell Canada and CIRANO. CIRANO (Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche en Analyse des Organisations) is a research, liaison and transfer centre. It brings together university researchers and high-level research professionals whose mandate is to pursue cutting-edge university research and share the results with the rest of the Quebec community. It is within this framework that the project described in this document by CIRANO researchers was formed.
The development of the information highway will have a major impact on the structure of our economy, on the organization of trade and relations between firms and on the acceleration of market globalization. The information highway has already begun to fundamentally change the value of trade, as evidenced by the adoption of EDI standards, the expansion of information highway networks and the creation of secure encryption and electronic payment methods: even governments are planning to convert to electronic commerce, particularly with respect to the purchase of goods and services. The objective of this project is to develop unique expertise in a niche that remains largely neglected in terms of e-commerce, namely the creation, design and implementation of markets and auction mechanisms on the information highway.
We propose to leverage commercial and security intranets, "distributed object" computer systems technology and scientific market analysis to significantly reduce the costs associated with creating new markets and enable the development of electronic markets. Since online markets are the most advanced trading mechanism, it is to be expected that these types of institutions, with the help of technology, will gradually emerge.
This project requires prior mastery of the advanced technology required for e-commerce, but also requires investment in scientific market analysis. In this regard, scientific expertise in the design of auction and exchange mechanisms has developed over the past decade. It has already been used (particularly in the case of telephone rights auctions, organized by the FCC) and will be used even more in the future for a wide range of applications. In addition, it is possible to imagine a host of commercial applications for the e-marketplace technology we wish to develop, and we believe that there is potentially considerable demand for the creation of such markets. In the meantime, we believe it is necessary to commit university resources to develop, on an experimental basis, the technical and scientific expertise necessary for the design and implementation of efficient markets adapted to economic conditions.
In concrete terms, the project aims to create a software-prototype for exchange, set up an experimental economics laboratory and improve an analysis grid for the design of exchange mechanisms. In the medium term, CIRANO wishes to engage in pilot projects to develop practical expertise and create showcases for the concept of smart e-markets."