The partners in this project worked seamlessly and in a coordinated way to meet the goals of the project, in close alignment with the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the European Commission, aiming to give Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials the desired visibility within the framework of the European Green Deal that will lead Europe into being the first carbon-neutral continent until 2050. The EuroNanoForum 2021 event took place at a moment where Europe had begun its post-pandemic recovery process and resumed its quest for a greener, digital, resilient and sustainable economy and society. Due to the constraints imposed by the pandemic, the whole event took place digitally as a Virtual Event through a dedicated digital platform created according to the project needs.
In the framework of work package 1 - Coordination and Management- INL made careful day-to-day management. INL made weekly assessments of the programme and speakers engagement evolution against the project deliverables and milestones. The project Team has always ensured the correct communication, coordination and cooperation between the four project work packages and took all the decisions within their scope and work plan. We kept weekly meetings to follow up on every ongoing aspect of the project from its beginning to its last day. INL also kept constant contact with the ENF2021 Advisory Board members, who provided strategic advice regarding the programme and all the relevant contents of the ENF2021 and were decisive for the success of this conference.
Work package 2 has been fully devoted to the programme and content management. With the support of the International Advisory Board, we delivered the final programme adapted to the format of a fully digital conference.
The conference organisation (work package 3) involved the anticipation of every scenario in the face of the pandemic situation. When it became evident that a full in-person event or even a hybrid event would be impossible, we activated every protocol for a full digital event. The event’s website was the go-to platform where all the information regarding the event was constantly made available and updated. INL made a constant effort to disseminate the ENF2021 to all relevant audiences, namely through a weekly newsletter, posts on social media to promote sharing, permanent updates on the official event website and targeted e-mails (European and International Universities and RTO’s, for instance). This effort was translated into a record number of registered participants (3640, from over 140 countries).
In terms of communication and dissemination (work package 4) the work performed started with the preparation of a dedicated dissemination and communication plan for ENF2021 on time. INL disseminated all the info through the project partners to maximize dissemination through all the available channels and networks. The website, was the central hub for all the information regarding the event and required a significant investment in terms of time and resources. The social media dissemination was made primarily through the INL official channels and disseminated with the invaluable support of all the project partners and the European Commission. INL also drew and implemented a dedicated marketing strategy for the proper and wide dissemination of the ENF2021, being the weekly newsletters its flagship. Several save-the-date was sent out, driving traffic to the ENF2021 official website. All the communication materials were identified by using the dedicated branding. With the support of the European Commission and the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, a set of six videos have been also developed. Its main objective was to generate awareness for the ENF2021 and make a call for registrations, mainly through social media. Every session of the ENF2021 is and will be available for future public viewing and sharing through the official ENF2021 website.
