We proudly look back at the very successful ECS Brokerage Event 2020 with 484 participants from 30 countries, more than 100 attendees from SMEs, 33 presented project ideas, 50 posters and numerous consortia meetings. The growing participation rate shows how much Europe’s Electronics Components and Systems (ECS) Community appreciates this event to meet potential partners, learn about R&D&I funding programmes and use the opportunity to form collaborative consortia.
The event took place on 14-15 January 2020 in the Le Plaza Hotel in Brussels and was for the second time jointly organised by three Industry Associations AENEAS, ARTEMIS and EPoSS as a part of intensified cooperation based on a renewed Memorandum of Understanding signed in November 2019.
The three Associations share a mission to represent the interests of the ECS Community in the ECSEL Joint Undertaking under Horizon 2020. They are also contributing to shape the European Partnership for KDT (Key Digital Technologies) under Horizon Europe by co-designing funding programmes together with the European Commission and National Public Authorities. Furthermore, they are also promoting EUREKA Clusters as a valuable funding instrument.
On the first day of the event the latest update of the Electronic Components & Systems (ECS) Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) was released and presented. Dr Elisabeth Steimetz from EPoSS, the Chair of the ECS-SRA Update 2020, and the Vice-chair, Dr Patrick Cogez from AENEAS summarised the changes made to the ECS-SRA this year during an interactive session. All the participants got a chance to contribute to defining priorities for the ECS-SRA major edition which is planned for 2021.
The ECS-SRA 2021 will continue to be structured around key applications and essential technologies as drivers and enablers for ECS. But it also foresees the greater emphasis on transversal, cross-sectional topics including Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Edge computing, advanced control, architecture and design methods together with quality, reliability, safety and cyber security. The ECS-SRA 2021 will be structured around two parts: part A - a top-down document to support high-level decision-making focused on societal needs from sustainability to European competitiveness; and part B - bottom-up - to provide a strategic basis for KDT, and ECS-related EUREKA and Horizon Europe calls in future.
This year the three Associations also emphasised the role of the SMEs in the ECS Community and presented the 12 commandments published by EPoSS for successful SME R&D funding with respect to significant increase of the participation of high-tech SMEs in collaborative projects in future.
The ECS Brokerage event was not only an extensive presentation of current programmes and calls, but also a rich source of practical information on searching for calls and advice on submitting proposals.
Please have a look at the ECS Collaboration Tool if you want to join a consortium or get further details, see the photos or download the presentations.
(Photo: Simon Pugh)
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