EUREKA Cluster ITEA2 Co-summit enhances cross-border collaborative development in Europe
Over 650 R&D actors and policy-makers from industry, research organisations, academia and public authorities participated in the fourth European Co-summit organised by ITEA 2 (the EUREKA software-intensive systems and services Cluster) and the ARTEMIS Joint Undertaking (JU) on embedded software in Helsinki, Finland on 25 and 26 October. The Co-Summit was supported by the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation, Tekes, the City of Helsinki and NOKIA. Some 76 ITEA and ARTEMIS projects presented their results with achievements and demonstrations, with two joint Silver ITEA Achievement Award winners (UseNet and Metaverse1) and the Gold award going to MULTIPOL. The prize for the best and most understandable ITEA 2 project went to DIAMONDS, based on votes cast by participants.
The Co-Summit’s special focus area on clean technologies involved relevant ITEA and ARTEMIS projects as well as the EUREKA ACQUEAU water and EUROGIA+ low carbon energy Clusters. Other exhibitors included several national competitiveness clusters, Tekes, EIT ICT Labs and EUREKA. While the conference focused on the importance of cross-border co-operation in research and development, the ever-growing project exhibition demonstrated clearly the solid results of such efforts with a special focus area on information and communication technology (ICT) for clean technologies.
During the Co Summit, priorities were set for the ICT industry to cut its own energy use particularly in data centres where renewables should suffice to provide power. Political commitment is also essential as there is no time left for rehearsals in tackling climate change. Changes expected for an ITEA3 were outlined by Vice Chairman Philippe Letellier, “We will keep the same values but the new programme will be more agile with its living roadmap offering a dynamic shared view of future challenges, shorter times from project ideas to project starts and greater exploitation of the links with other clusters – both at European and national level.” he explained.
Parallel sessions covered healthcare, automotive and security while a student master class was held for masters and doctoral students in cooperation with the University of Helsinki, Tampere University of Technology and Aalto University.
Rudolf Haggenmüller and Willem Jonker, CEO of EIT ICT Labs, discussed co-operation between ITEA and EIT ICT Labs to improve the use of research results in Europe. “Many of ITEA’s ongoing projects make good carrier projects and by applying EIT ICT Labs' catalysts we can get innovations faster to the market.“ Willem Jonker pointed out Some final thoughts came from Cecile Dubarry, Director of the Service for Communication and Information Technologies at the French Ministry of Economy, Industry and Employment. “National competitiveness clusters play a key role as efficient tools and we see EUREKA Clusters as a natural partner,” she said.
EUREKA Chairman Sándor Erdő participated in the Cross-border cooperation for clean technologies plenary panel debate. “We believe that leading strategic discussions, identifying cooperation areas of common interest, setting framework objectives for future cooperation as well as joint funding can add a lot of value in the impact of ICT technologies across countries and technological sectors,” highlighted Mr Erdő.
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