Periodic Report Summary 3 - E-CAERO (European Collaborative Dissemination of Aeronautical research and applications)
Project Context and Objectives:
The dissemination of Aeronautical research in Europe is currently diversified, asynchronized or even fragmented. The European Commission identified this lack of uniformity as a serious drawback and launched an open call in the FP7-AERONAUTICS and AIR TRANSPORT (AAT) – 2008-RTD-1 aiming at making a step forward in the direction of harmonious dissemination of research among European aeronautical and aero engines Associations. A Coordination and Support Action call (AAT.2008.7.7.) was defined with the following collaborative objectives: “Enhancing the harmonised dissemination of European scientific knowledge from major organisations in the field of aeronautics and air transport”. As a response to this call, a consortium constituted by the above six European Associations in different fields of the aeronautical research submitted successfully a E-CAero proposal to merge knowledge and skills in technical and logistics expertise for the set-up of new joint events.
In order to synchronize and make joint efforts the project activity is undertaken by the six existing European Associations:
ECCOMAS represented by its permanent secretariat at CIMNE, Barcelona, Spain
ERCOFTAC
CEAS
EUCASS
EUROMECH
EUROTURBO represented by its permanent secretariat at VKI, Belgium
All these associations have all of their activities or part of them within the Aeronautics/ Turbomachinery/Aerospace Sectors in Europe. This Coordination and Support Action aims at supporting the dissemination of knowledge and advances realized in these Sectors, covering the fields of Modeling, Simulation, Experimental Testing and Design Methods for the solution of problems of industrial interest. The spectrum of disciplines considered in E-CAero, which are of interest to the European Associations Partners, covers Aerodynamics, Structures, Materials, Fluid Dynamics, combustion, as well as the multidisciplinary domains like Aero-acoustics, Flow Control, Aeroelasticity and Aerothermodynamics.
The project E-CAero develops and implements a collaborative mechanism, supported by new IT tools. The goal is to arrive at a close cooperation of the six Associations for the preparation of conferences on the European continent and for the dissemination of knowledge generated in Academia, Research Establishments and Industry. The goal is also to give Europe a capacity to conduct scientific and technical prospective in aeronautics and to identify the new and promising research fields. This collaborative improvement will be accomplished by fulfilling the following basic objectives for the project:
This collaborative improvement will be accomplished by fulfilling the following basic objectives for the project:
1. Reinforce the network of the participating organisations by promoting inter - organizational cooperation.
2. Identify and promote best practices.
3. Propose upgrading measures, tailored to the specific needs of the participating organisations.
4. Improve the communication with stakeholders and the Committee which will be established.
5. Improve significantly the industrial end-users participation in the actions programmed by the member organisations.
6. Start a new collaborative work culture between the associations. This intangible benefit is a real need in this Sector and will result in a much more efficient dissemination of the European research in this field.
Project Results:
As part of the project task, and following the main guidelines, defined by the objectives of the project, the six associations have been looking for the most appropriate approach to a common dissemination strategy. Several fronts have been investigated:
Conferences, seminars and workshops: the joint organization of new or previously organized events has been one of the main discussion within E-Caero consortium. Partners have organized common activities, as well as have invited other partners to collaborate on the organization.
IT tools: two main tools have been discussed. The first one is a common webpage. A webpage where anyone interested on research should find the most relevant information about his topic. A common webpage should help to synchronize and optimize organizational effort in each organization. The second one is the conference manager tool. This is a tool to fully manage a conference; from the creation and administration of the event to the management of papers and registrations.
Activity dissemination: a periodic newsletter has been produced. The first issue has been released taking advantage of AERODAYS 2011 conference in Madrid. Both tools was finally released about M24 of the project with the main aim to collect the feedback from the consortium. The website released at the beginning of the project has been updated ad improved in order to facilitate the interaction among partners. The conference tool has been used in the organization of some of the events within the framework of the project.
Publication policy: publishers have been invited to participate in the project meetings in order to find the best way to collaborate.
ECAA creation: initial discussion about the creation of a supra-organization, umbrella for all the common activities, has taken place in all the meetings.
Potential Impact:
Specific results from the project activity can be illustrated by special sessions within thematic conferences or the E-CAero newsletter, first release March 2011. Regarding the joint organization of conferences, several of them are planned for a near future, while some others have already taken place.
As part of the planned work, more common activities are planned to take place, and new ones are being organized during 2013. Conferences are one of the most visible part of this effort, as well as the newsletter, which is available for free on the webpage (www.e-caero.com). For the final period of the project, the project effort is devoted to create an European organizational common effort to easily disseminate and spread the research knowledge from one source to another, accounting with research institutions, as well as industrial companies and policy makers. Initial discussion are heading to the creation of ECAA.
List of Websites:
www.e-caero.com