From 5 – 6 March 2024, EARPA (the European Association of Research Partners) held its Spring Meeting event at the Sofitel Brussels Europe Hotel.
The 2-day event attracted nearly 200 attendees, which included EARPA Members and other professionals from the European road mobility and automotive sector.
Day 1: Foresight Group & Collaborative Research Groups sessions and Networking Reception
The event consisted of 2 days of sessions dedicated to EARPA Members, which included internal workshops focused on upcoming EARPA position papers and collaboration opportunities for calls related to the Horizon Europe research & innovation framework programme.
The evening reception on 5 March, marked the end of the Presidential tenure of Christof Schernus (EARPA President) and Gaetano de Paolo (EARPA Vice-President), who stepped down from their leadership roles within EARPA.
EARPA’s Policy Officer, Elise Ekström, welcomed three fantastic speakers to the stage for the farewell speeches segment. Patrick Mercier-Handisyde (European Commission), David Storer (CLEPA) and Simon Edwards (Ricardo), and all paid tribute to Christof Schernus and Gaetano de Paola who have been instrumental in driving EARPA forward and bringing great stability to the association with their unwavering commitment and passion.
Their leadership, hard work and dedication helped streamline EARPA’s activities, and their legacy will live on for many years to come. We can’t thank them enough for all the hard work and time they invested into EARPA.
New leadership roles within EARPA and Executive Board Members
The speeches concluded with Christof Schernus officially handing over the EARPA Presidency to Michele De Gennaro (AIT), who then presented the new EARPA Vice-Presidents Horst Pfluegl (AVL) and Peter Urban (ika).
Michele De Gennaro also introduced the 2 new Executive Board Members, Margriet van Schijndel (Eindhoven University of Technology) and Wissam Dib, EARPA Treasurer (IFPEN).
Day 2: Collaborative Research Groups and Plenary Programme
Highlights of the second day included more Collaborative Research Group sessions and updates from the European Commission, from Andrea Gentili, European Commission (DG RTD) and Max Lemke, DG Connect.
Andrea Gentili’s presentation focused on the state of play within Horizon Europe programme and transport policy, while Max Lemke discussed Software defined vehicle activities. A lively panel discussion took place at the end of the session which was moderated by the new EARPA President Michele de Gennaro.
For the second part of the Plenary programme, two enlightening EARPA projects took to the stage where Peter Priller (AVL) provided updated about the FEDERATE project and Medina Ćustić (Virtual Vehicle) provided updates about the E-VOLVE project.
The next big meeting for the EARPA community and the sector will take place from 30 September – 1 October 2024 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Brussels City for EARPA’s Autumn Meeting 2024.
To view more photos from the event see our Flickr Account here.
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