• Published on 03 May 2018
• External News

ECSEL Call Forum 2018

The ECSEL JU “Call Forum 2018” this year was co-organised with CEZAMAT, the Centre for Advanced Materials and Technology in Poland, and with the Industry Associations AENEAS, ARTEMIS-IA and EPoSS. It took place on 6-7 March 2018 at the impressive site of CEZAMAT in Warsaw.

For the first time, ECSEL JU decided to organise an event in Poland aiming both at the presentation of ECSEL JU and CEZAMAT to a broader European audience, as well as encouraging Polish researchers and companies to participate more often in ECSEL JU projects.

Vice-Rector for Research, prof. Rajmund Bacewicz, of Warsaw University of Technology opened the event, while Marcin Ociepa, Deputy Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology for Poland, also addressed the attendees of the conference. Their messages stressed the importance of the ECS technologies in advancing the benefits important for society, and also called on the traditionally strong Polish academic community to step up alongside their European colleagues in supporting these innovations.

March 6 was a day dedicated to acquainting the guests with the importance of driving up R,D& I in the electronics sector, how this is presently addressed in Poland and by the activities of ECSEL JU, and on the mechanisms of applying for funding of projects within the ECSEL JU program. The activities of CEZAMAT were presented by prof. Tomasz Skotnicki. Mateusz Bonecki from Better Solutions, a Polish SME and already successful participant in ECSEL JU funded projects, introduced the participants to the role of ECSEL JU in Poland. In turn, the possibilities of participation in the ECSEL JU were presented by the Executive Director of ECSEL JU - Bert De Colvenaer and as well as Head of Programmes Dr Yves Gigase and Call Coordinator Dr Simona Rucareanu.

As a link to the activities of the second day, Caroline Bedran, Director General of the AENEAS Association, gave insights into the activities of the Industrial Associations participating in ECSEL JU, how they work to build communities around the important topics addressed in the European Strategic Research Agenda, which is referenced by the ECSEL JU and other European programmes in their work plans, as well as introducing the on-line tools offered to help consortia in preparing their ideas for projects.

The second day of the event, organised by the three participating Industry Associations, was devoted to facilitating industrial consortia, starting with a high-level speech delivered by Mateusz Gaczyński, Deputy Director of the Department of Innovation and Development at the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Poland. There were also presentations of projects ideas and potential partners, above all facilitating multilateral meetings in order to build strong project consortia. Guided tours of the facilities of CEZAMAT were organised by prof. Tomasz Skotnicki and prof. Romuald Beck, positioning CEZAMAT as a focal partner for potential projects and further cooperation with the broader Polish RD&I community.

The conference was attended by about 180 guests from such countries as: Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands. A large percentage of participants are representatives of Polish R & D units, SMEs and companies. The highest authorities of the co-organisers all rated the event highly, and concluded that it was a success.

About ECSEL JU

The “Electronic Components and Systems for European Leadership” (ECSEL) is a Joint Undertaking established in June 2014 by the European Union Council Regulation No 561/2014. It is a public-private partnership that will engage, for 2014 to 2020, up to 1.17 billion euro funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, combining it with a commensurate amount of national/regional funding and participants’ own contributions to leverage about 5 billion euro Research and Innovation investments in nanoelectronics, embedded and cyber-physical systems, and system integration technologies. The R&D actors are represented by the associations AENEAS, ARTEMISIA and EPoSS.

About CEZAMAT

The Centre for Advanced Materials and Technologies (CEZAMAT) is one of the largest investments in Poland in the field of high-tech research and development. Co-funded by the European Union, the project envisages the establishment of the network of five laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art R&D tools. Laboratories of the Center will allow to carry out new marketable technologies with commercial potential which are supposed to contribute to economic development.

Written by Alun Foster - Head of Plans and Dissemination at ECSEL Joint Undertaking