Interest in ITEA 2's eighth call very high

ITEA 2 PO Preparations Days 2013

The considerable interest in ITEA 2 Call 8 was clearly shown by the high number of participants during the Project Outline Preparation Days, held in Istanbul on 19 and 20 March. A record total of 281 participants from 18 countries actively participated in the different sessions and discussions.

The programme opened with a warm welcome by EUREKA Chairman Okan Kara. The presentations that followed prepared the participants for the event by delivering introductory information about ITEA and the structure of the PO Days.

After the plenary session it was up to the participants themselves! During the well-visited poster session, some 50 project ideas were presented and during two parallel sessions that followed, 52 project idea pitches were given.  The second day started with plenary presentations detailing the project submission process, but the majority of the day was used to continue the project idea discussions between newly forming consortia.

The lively group discussions resulted in 15 plenary project idea presentations, some of which were already presented at the end of day 1, while others were held at the end of day 2.

Like last year, the event was evaluated well with a high overall score of 4.0 out of 5.0 (45% questionnaire response). In general, most of the comments expressed were positive. Improvements for next year are still to be made in the organisation of the group discussions and in the event app, which was introduced at the event this year.