In the beginning of the 1980's it became evident that the European IT industry needed a substantial collaborative effort in the area of pre-competitive research and development. At that time several studies indicated that in the 90's and later a strategic lack in the economic power of European industry as a whole might result from the lack .of a competitive position in the key area of information technology. Therefore a strategic research program in this area was initiated by the Commission of the European Communities. This program was carefully planned and several hundred experts were involved in the process of definition and implementation. The program was named ESPRIT - European Strategic Programme for Research and Development in Information Technologies. At a very early phase of the program it was obvious that a substantial collaborative multinational effort in the direction of human factors in information technology should be undertaken. It became clear that only with the incorporation of human-factors-oriented knowledge into the product design technologies of the 90's could later success in the market be assured. Moreover, it was felt that Europe especially is well equipped to deal thoroughly with user issues in relation to information technology.