IMC-AESOP will investigate a Service-oriented Architecture approach for monitoring and control of Process Control applications (batch and continuous process). Large process industry systems are a complex set of multi-disciplinary, connected, heterogeneous systems that function as a complex system of which the components are themselves systems. They link many components from individual groups of sensors to e.g. whole control, monitoring, supervisory control systems, performing SCADA and DCS functions.The future "Perfect Plant" will enable monitoring and control information flow in a cross-layer way. Components can be dynamically added or removed and dynamic discovery enables the on-demand information combination and collaboration. All systems will collaborate in an enterprise-wide system of systems, dynamically evolving based on business needs.IMC-AESOP deals with several key challenges that arise such as real-time web services, interoperability, plug and play, self-adaptation, reliability, cost-effectiveness, energy-awareness, high-level cross-layer integration and cooperation, event propagation, aggregation and management. Using SOA we will go to complex infrastructures linked in a cross-layer way from devices to enterprise systems. Transition from legacy systems will be studied for existing ones. The SOA-based approach proposed by IMC-AESOP will simplify the integration of monitoring and control systems on application layer.IMC-AESOP will demonstrate the application feasibility in pilots. The use cases provided from several end-users will be demonstrated in pilot applications. Engineering tools, application modelling and methodologies will be investigated and highlights on the future of the domain will be provided by research and academic partners. The IMC-AESOP partnership among important ICT players / stakeholders of the industrial value chain is a key aspect of the proposal that allows to foresee important contributions to relevant standardization bodies.