What’s the best way to forge alliances and build collaboration between research projects funded in the same research areas?
In its role as coordinator and communications lead in many “Coordination and Support Action (CSA) projects, Trust-IT has helped to deliver meaningful and impactful Concertation events which are designed to provide a networking and dissemination platform for projects.
Through key CSA projects such as Cyberwatching.eu and CloudWATCH, Trust-IT have delivered annual Concertation events in Brussels which bring together coordinators and researchers from up to 50-60 projects.
The events are not only an essential opportunity for projects to understand what others are doing in their research space, but also a vital touch point for the EC and its project and policy officers to understand the state of play of projects within their unit or field. As well as an opportunity to introduce the goals and aspirations of newly- funded projects, the events are also key for the dissemination of key exploitable results from more mature projects.
The events are also an opportunity for all projects to have their say on key policy areas through a range of panel discussions covering policy areas.
Another key aspect of Concertation events is the collection of position papers from projects which can update on project progress and also capture activities around specific common topics such as Standardisation.
For over 15 years, Trust-IT has managed Concertation events for various EC units, in particular in the ICT space.
The events are an essential glue and opportunity to bring projects and their consortia closer together in order to network and synergise on common topics and challenges.