50 up!

Reflections on the ITEA Magazine with former ITEA Chairman Rudolf Haggenmüller

Dirk Elias, current Chairman of ITEA, says that "the way that people consume information has changed. It's a reason to rethink what we do with regard to our communication for and with our Community. And if the Community consumes differently, we also have to adapt.” That's not an observation lost on Rudolf Haggenmüller, current Eureka President and ITEA Chairman when the very first ITEA Magazine was launched in June 2008.

"That's right," Rudolf agrees, "people seem to be reading the news digitally today. So, when thinking about the past 17 years, I went to my cupboard here in my living room and I took out all the copies of the printed ITEA Magazine, along with the ‘Golden Book' and the 'Vision 2030', and I asked myself how things will be 17 years from now."

"A very valid point!" Dirk responds. "Maybe it will be a compilation of digital information like photos from your timeline for you to remember something. A timeline of certain subjects or technological developments spread over time in different places where you see how the topic evolves over time. All compiled by an AI that knows your preferences well." Time will tell. But let us have a look at how things began.

What inspired the launch of the ITEA Magazine?

"I just looked at the ITEA Magazine number one and it's clearly stated there: 'Its aim is to keep the ITEA 2 Community and beyond updated about the ITEA 2 programme status and progress, achievements, projects and events.' We had to sharpen our notion of ITEA and communicate this better to the 'family' as well as to Public Authorities, our Board members, everybody. Clearly communicate our values, our ambitions and also our success stories. All this in the face of concrete challenges."

Among these challenges was the very future existence of ITEA, since there were many who foresaw no future and there were plans to stop the platform in 2012. "I took this very seriously," Rudolf recalls. "So, in 2008 I already started to prepare ITEA 3. To the great surprise of my Eureka peers. The magazine was a very clear response to the challenge we were confronted with, a tool to reach the full Community. Even our industry partners and the companies in the ITEA Board. We had to remind the industry, Public Authorities, SMEs and academic partners of the value and uniqueness of ITEA. Our intention was to survive, to keep ITEA with all its uniqueness, its strengths, its bottom-up approach."

Success breeds success

"My message to the entire Community, in the magazine's 50^th edition, is that ITEA is unique. People should be proud, too. Proud of ITEA. If you go to Singapore and speak with the Singapore Enterprise Agency, they have plans that are already reality in ITEA. ITEA is a forerunner. Now that the magazine is being phased out, I can only say I will miss it. The magazine, when it was in my mailbox, down I went, picked it up and went upstairs, opened it up and said, wow, there is the new edition. But, of course, I know that I am different from the younger generation, so I cannot give any advice here. In any case, ITEA has to make sure that the success stories continue to be well communicated, especially to the Public Authorities, to demonstrate the advantages of participation in ITEA projects whose impact and exploitation have proven time and time again to benefit business and society – fast."

The new 'interface'

So, what next? Nothing in the mailbox for Rudolf to read? Far from it, digitally speaking. The interface with the Community, countries, and industry will come in a different format. It's the nature of the changing world of communication. "We certainly want to keep the success stories," says Dirk Elias. "We are very much aware that these are the cornerstone of our communication. So, we will keep that, together with short videos, still focusing on the benefits and the strong outcomes. We have to understand the preferred way that the Community consumes information. Specific companies might want to consume something in a different way. And also personalise it based on target groups or the way they like it. So that's the post-magazine challenge."

"So," Rudolf concludes, "I will be able to click on the homepage and see something that tells me where I can get the latest news, views and stories." That will be an even broader and, at the same time, more specific offering than the magazine could ever achieve. In the words of Bob Dylan, "the times they are a-changin", and communication at ITEA is changing with them…