Marie Curie Alumni Association Annual Conference, Vienna, Austria
24-25 February 2019 – The Marie Curie Alumni Association held their 6th General Assembly and Annual Conference on the theme ‘Research and Innovation, Beyond the Information Age’. The conference looked at the challenges and opportunities technology presents and how it is revolutionising people’s lives, including the impact on the work of researchers. COST hosted a stand and took part in a presentation with three other initiatives supporting researcher mobility.
Success factors of H2020 widening instruments in Slovakia: lessons learnt and future outlook , Žilina, Slovakia
20 May 2019 – This workshop was co-organised by ERAdiate and COST. The aim was to portray successful Horizon 2020 Widening projects (such as the ERA Chair project ERAdiate at UNIZA, the University of Žilina) and COST Actions with participation from Slovakia and neighbouring countries (Slovenia and Croatia). Slovak participants from the various Widening instruments (ERA Chairs, Twinning, Teaming, COST) came together to share their experience and knowledge to assess the success factors resulting from participating in H2020.
Smart Digital Futures Conference, St Julian’s, Malta
17-19 June 2019 – Representatives from COST and COST Actions participated in this multi-conference event on issues related to cuttingedge smart systems: innovation in medicine and healthcare, intelligent decision technologies, intelligent interactive multimedia systems and services, agent and multi-agent systems and smart technology-based education and training, and smart transportation technologies. COST organised a workshop about the programme and its funding opportunities and three COST Actions presented their work.
European Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW), Brussels, Belgium
17-21 June 2019 – The EUSEW is the biggest European conference dedicated to renewables and efficient energy use in Europe. Sessions organised by the European Commission and energy stakeholders focused on sustainable energy issues, new policy developments, best practices, and sustainable energy ideas. Multiple COST Actions participated in some of the debates: chemistry of smart energy carriers and technologies, mining in the European anthroposphere, and European energy poverty: agenda co-creation and knowledge innovation. Read more
European Conference on Networks and Communications (EuCNC) and Global 5G Event, Valencia, Spain
17-21 June, 2019 -EuCNC2019 was the 28th edition of a successful series of conferences on telecommunications, sponsored by the IEEE Communications Society and the European Association for Signal Processing and supported by the European Commission. The conference focused on various aspects of 5G communication systems and networks, including cloud and virtualisation solutions, management technologies, and vertical application areas. COST had a booth in the exhibition and hosted a session on how to grow innovative ideas and careers.
Week of Innovative Regions in Europe (WIRE X), Iasi, Romania
26-28 June 2019 – This is the main European policy forum for innovation and regional development. The 10th edition took place in Iasi, under the Romanian EU Council Presidency 2019, with the support of the European Commission and the Ministry for Research and Innovation in Romania. It gathered stakeholders from the EU research and innovation community, such as policymakers, representatives from the regional and national authorities, the private sector and academia. COST held two sessions: one on pockets of excellence and the importance of creating synergies among programmes, projects and people; and a COST Academy workshop on communication skills for researchers.
COST Connect
A series of thematic workshops organised by the COST Association, which provide an open space for researchers, policy makers and research and innovation (R&I) stakeholders to network and grow their ideas.
Sharing is Daring?
13-14 February 2019
Brussels, Belgium
In recent decades, data has taken an increasingly prominent role in society and in science and technology. This sharp rise in its importance has led to new challenges on data sharing.
This event brought together representatives of COST Actions and relevant stakeholders to share best practices, raise awareness about data sharing and exchange, and promote the principles of data management.
Read more
Beating cancer in 2030: Mission impossible?
21-22 May 2019
Brussels, Belgium
Mr Wolfgang Burtscher, Deputy Director-General DG R&I opened this Connect event which paved the way towards closer cooperation between research networks and other relevant stakeholder such as European institutions and other organisations working on cancer research. The event provided an interactive forum for participants involved in cancer research to identify the needs and gaps in this field to achieve effective treatments.
Read more
Innovative education and learning practices
5-6 June
Brussels, Belgium
This workshop enabled a debate between researchers, policymakers and funding organisations on innovative learning and formal and non-formal education. Innovative education learning practices are crucial for creating resilient societies, leading to more social cohesion and open societies. Learning practices should be adapted to fast-changing environments, where both digitisation and demographic changes create the need for enhanced critical
thinking and creativity.
Read more
The blue planet – what future for european ocean research?
13-14 June 2019
Brussels, Belgium
This workshop paved the way towards a closer cooperation between research networks and relevant stakeholders,
such as European institutions, JPI Oceans and Horizon 2020
projects on a sustainable blue economy, maritime security,
marine protection and climate change. It brought together researchers and innovators and industrial communities.
Furthermore, it fed into the ongoing discussions on Horizon
Europe, in which the future of oceans is identified as one of the missions in Horizon Europe.
Read more
Action for Standards
28-29 November 2019
Brussels, Belgium
This event was organised with CEN-CENELEC and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre. It contributed
to highlighting and promoting the active engagement of COST Actions in standardisation activities and enabled a debate between researchers, standardisation bodies, policymakers and other relevant stakeholders in this sector.
Read more
Find out more
National Science Summit, Lisbon, Portugal
Above: Director of the COST Association, Ronald de Bruin
7-8 July 2019 – The COST programme was present in two conferences during the summit and had a booth. On 8 July, the President of COST, Professor Paulo Ferrão and COST Director, Dr Ronald de Bruin participated in a session about the COST programme. Among others, Stefan Weiers, Deputy Head of the Unit ‘Spreading Excellence and Widening Participation’ at the European Commission, Helena Pereira, President of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and Eduardo Maldonado, President of the Portuguese National Agency for Innovation, took part in the session. On 10 July, two COST Action participants (IRACON and RECODIS) made presentations during the session on industry, innovation and infrastructures.
Start of the SEEIIST Design Phase, Budva, Montenegro
18 September 2019 – The South East European International Institute for Sustainable Technologies (SEEIIST) is a large-scale competitive research infrastructure aiming to further mitigate tensions between countries in the region. It does this by encouraging scientists to work together towards a common goal. SEEIIST’s primary objective is to promote ‘science for peace’. The purpose of this high-level event was to inform the public about progress in the SEEIIST project, which is in the design phase. COST’s Director presented the COST mission and strategic goals, emphasising its role in networking and capacity building, as well as the relevance of the COST Connect event to cancer research in SEEIIST.
ICT Proposers’ Day, Helsinki, Finland
19-20 September 2019 – The Digital Excellence Forum at ICT Proposers’ Day provided an excellent opportunity to present and discuss the main policy drivers behind the digital transformation of European industry and society and how the EU research and innovation agenda can best contribute to these objectives. The conference was organised by the European Commission and presented the Horizon 2020 Work Programme. COST had a stand at the exhibition.
Graphene Week, Helsinki, Finland
24-26 September 2019 – Graphene Week is an annual conference hosted by the Graphene Flagship, which features global leaders and experts in research and development into technologies based on graphene and related materials. COST was present at the exhibition and organised a session on funding opportunities and collaboration.
European Week of Regions and Cities (EWRC), Brussels, Belgium
7-10 October 2019 – The EWRC is an annual event in which cities and regions showcase their capacity to create growth and jobs, implement European Union Cohesion Policy and prove the importance of the local and regional level for good European governance. COST was present during a dedicated session portraying cases where COST Actions had an impact at the regional level and, more generally, networking opportunities for local and regional authorities.
Science Forum South Africa (SFSA), Pretoria, South Africa
4-6 December 2019 – 2019 marked the fifth year of the popular Science Forum South Africa event which aimed to ‘ignite conversations about science between researchers, policymakers, industry representatives and the general public’. COST’s Director was a panellist during the session ‘Mind the gap! The role of professional, globally connected research and innovation (R&I) managers in advancing scientific impact’. Read more
