PLERCIM, the newly created research consortium established by two major Polish universities, the University of Warsaw and the University of Wroclaw, has become a member of the ERCIM European Economic Interest Grouping. Poland is the 18th country to join ERCIM.
Keith Jeffery, President of ERCIM, was interviewed in the March issue of /eStrategies Europe/, a quarterly publication announcing and publicising the ICT program in Europe. The goal of this issue was widespread exposure and dissemination for select projects. The article presents the unique role of ERCIM and in particular its commitment to work with European industry. It also includes the list of ERCIM running projects.
A new ERCIM Working Group "eMobility" was established in January 2007. The working group aims to develop a strategic basic research agenda and project proposals in the area of eMobility. To complement the activities of the eMobility European Technology Platform (ETP), the working group focusses on more (theoretical) basic research issues.
The ERCIM Working Group "Matrix Computations & Statistics" is changing its name to "COMPUTING & STATISTICS". The WG will expand its aims and scopes and attract more members from researchers working in the interface of computing and statistics.
Keith Jeffery, Director for IT at CCLRC, has been reelected ERCIM president for the next 2 years during the bi-annual Board of Directors meeting in Nice, France,in October 2006.
Keith took office as ERCIM president on 1st January 2005.
ERCIM has signed the 'Berlin Declaration on Open Access to Knowledge in the Sciences and Humanities' on 30 October 2006. The Berlin Declaration states that, "Establishing open access as a worthwhile procedure ideally requires the active commitment of each and every individual producer of scientific knowledge and holder of cultural heritage".
The ERCIM Working Group SESAMI on "Smarts Environments and Systems for Ambient Intelligence" (http://www.ics.forth.gr/sesami/) has been officially formed in mid 2006 and is co-chaired by Anthony Savidis (FORTH) and Norbert Streitz (Fraunhofer). It succeeded in bringing together a selected group of internationally renowned experts in the field, displaying a very good balance of ERCIM and non-ERCIM institutions.