Periodic Reporting for period 2 - EuConNeCts4 (European Conferences on Networks and Communications (EuCNC))
Berichtszeitraum: 2020-10-01 bis 2022-11-30
The goal of EuConNeCts4 is to organise the 2020 Dubrovnik and 2021 Porto editions of the EC (European Commission) supported conference in the area of communication networks and systems, EuCNC (European Conference on Networks and Communications), continuing the successful organisation of this conference since 2014, based on the experience that partners have not only in organising these previous editions but also on many other conferences.
EuCNC serves as a technical and scientific conference for researchers, namely European ones, to show their work in the area of Telecommunications, focusing on communication networks and systems, and reaching services and applications. However, the conference is not restricted to European researchers, rather aiming at attracting others from all other regions in the world. It also serves as a showcase for the work developed by projects co-financed by the EC, but aiming at attracting works in the area of communication networks and systems from other sources as well.
The main objectives of EuCNC are:
1. EuCNC is a European conference, but with a large international dimension.
2. EuCNC showcases the R&D activities performed within EC programmes, directly and indirectly.
3. EuCNC showcases the cooperation in R&D between European organisations and worldwide ones.
4. EuCNC bridges between academia/research centres and industry.
5. EuCNC coordinates its goals with the EC and the main European players.
6. EuCNC is a high-quality R&D conference.
7. EuCNC is a well-recognised conference in Telecommunications.
8. EuCNC provides a forum for the presentation of state-of-the-art technology, in both theoretical and experimental forms.
9. EuCNC communicates the research results to the wide audience of the general public.
10. EuCNC fosters the participation of both established researchers and students, as well as industry members from various areas.
11. EuCNC is a transparent and not-for-profit conference.
12. EuCNC positively differentiates itself from other conferences. This will be achieved by reaching all previous objectives.
EuCNC serves as a technical and scientific conference for researchers, namely European ones, to show their work in the area of Telecommunications, focusing on communication networks and systems, and reaching services and applications. However, the conference is not restricted to European researchers, rather aiming at attracting others from all other regions in the world. It also serves as a showcase for the work developed by projects co-financed by the EC, but aiming at attracting works in the area of communication networks and systems from other sources as well.
The main objectives of EuCNC are:
1. EuCNC is a European conference, but with a large international dimension.
2. EuCNC showcases the R&D activities performed within EC programmes, directly and indirectly.
3. EuCNC showcases the cooperation in R&D between European organisations and worldwide ones.
4. EuCNC bridges between academia/research centres and industry.
5. EuCNC coordinates its goals with the EC and the main European players.
6. EuCNC is a high-quality R&D conference.
7. EuCNC is a well-recognised conference in Telecommunications.
8. EuCNC provides a forum for the presentation of state-of-the-art technology, in both theoretical and experimental forms.
9. EuCNC communicates the research results to the wide audience of the general public.
10. EuCNC fosters the participation of both established researchers and students, as well as industry members from various areas.
11. EuCNC is a transparent and not-for-profit conference.
12. EuCNC positively differentiates itself from other conferences. This will be achieved by reaching all previous objectives.
The first 16 months of the project were basically dedicated to the organisation of the 2020 Dubrovnik edition of the conference. This follows the successful previous editions, held under the same name.
Rather than presenting the organisational and logistic details, one presents here the results of that work, in the form of describing the information presented at the conference website (and some steps towards its preparation), www.eucnc.eu which is hosted and managed by the project partners.
The main sections of the website reflect the conference structure:
• Committees: Information on the composition of the Steering, Technical Programme and Local Organising Committees. Regarding general chairs, the objective is to have a senior EC official and the representative from the main conference sponsor.
• Authors: Information regarding the submission of scientific papers/posters/ workshops/special sessions/tutorials to the conference, including all the necessary guidelines for submission and for paper/poster presentation. The organisation of EuCNC is a non-profit action, so, the available surplus is used for students’ grants (free registration and travel waivers) in order to allow students to participate in the conference, widening the community and promoting talented young researchers.
• Registration: Information for people to register to the conference, including the rules applicable to authors with multiple papers or posters accepted to the conference. Early-bird registrations have a discount. The rules for Travel Grants are available here, including the key dates and the application process.
• Programme: Information regarding all the sessions of the conference, with special emphasis on keynotes, panels, workshops, special sessions and tutorials. Keynotes and Panels continue to be used as a highlight, having involved senior representatives from the major industrial players in the area, such as Orang and Huawei, and from academia, such as University of Oulu (FI) and University of Arizona (US).
• Venue and Travel: Logistics information regarding the conference, namely, the venue, maps for facilitating the participants’ orientation to the venue, travel and visa information, as well as information about the city and available touristic tours.
• Patrons and Exhibitors: Information for exhibitors (e.g. call for exhibitors and exhibiting guidelines), since the exhibition is a good opportunity for European projects to showcase their work. Patronage opportunities are also presented.
• Media: includes news and media related contents, such as photo galleries, videos and webcasts of the conference.
• About: General information about the conference, including history, links to the previous editions’ websites and contacts.
Like other aspects of everyone’s lives, the 2020 Dubrovnik edition was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the usual format was replaced by a virtual one (only remote attendance), reduced to the Keynotes, Panels, Papers in Regular Sessions and Posters Extended Abstracts.
On the other hand, regarding the organisation of the 2021 Porto edition, it was agreed to merge EuCNC with the 6G Summit (organised by the 6G Flagship Project, Univ. Oulu, FI, coordinated by Prof. Matti Latva-aho), naming it as the 2021 Joint EuCNC & 6G Summit, with a unique organising committee, joining the colleagues from both entities.
Rather than presenting the organisational and logistic details, one presents here the results of that work, in the form of describing the information presented at the conference website (and some steps towards its preparation), www.eucnc.eu which is hosted and managed by the project partners.
The main sections of the website reflect the conference structure:
• Committees: Information on the composition of the Steering, Technical Programme and Local Organising Committees. Regarding general chairs, the objective is to have a senior EC official and the representative from the main conference sponsor.
• Authors: Information regarding the submission of scientific papers/posters/ workshops/special sessions/tutorials to the conference, including all the necessary guidelines for submission and for paper/poster presentation. The organisation of EuCNC is a non-profit action, so, the available surplus is used for students’ grants (free registration and travel waivers) in order to allow students to participate in the conference, widening the community and promoting talented young researchers.
• Registration: Information for people to register to the conference, including the rules applicable to authors with multiple papers or posters accepted to the conference. Early-bird registrations have a discount. The rules for Travel Grants are available here, including the key dates and the application process.
• Programme: Information regarding all the sessions of the conference, with special emphasis on keynotes, panels, workshops, special sessions and tutorials. Keynotes and Panels continue to be used as a highlight, having involved senior representatives from the major industrial players in the area, such as Orang and Huawei, and from academia, such as University of Oulu (FI) and University of Arizona (US).
• Venue and Travel: Logistics information regarding the conference, namely, the venue, maps for facilitating the participants’ orientation to the venue, travel and visa information, as well as information about the city and available touristic tours.
• Patrons and Exhibitors: Information for exhibitors (e.g. call for exhibitors and exhibiting guidelines), since the exhibition is a good opportunity for European projects to showcase their work. Patronage opportunities are also presented.
• Media: includes news and media related contents, such as photo galleries, videos and webcasts of the conference.
• About: General information about the conference, including history, links to the previous editions’ websites and contacts.
Like other aspects of everyone’s lives, the 2020 Dubrovnik edition was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the usual format was replaced by a virtual one (only remote attendance), reduced to the Keynotes, Panels, Papers in Regular Sessions and Posters Extended Abstracts.
On the other hand, regarding the organisation of the 2021 Porto edition, it was agreed to merge EuCNC with the 6G Summit (organised by the 6G Flagship Project, Univ. Oulu, FI, coordinated by Prof. Matti Latva-aho), naming it as the 2021 Joint EuCNC & 6G Summit, with a unique organising committee, joining the colleagues from both entities.
Although it is difficult to have a precise view of Key Performance Indicators for a conference, the objectives for the conference at the time of writing the project proposal were established having the recent previous editions of the conference as a reference, and increasing the parameters in a calculated ambitious way, to be achieved by the conference. Still, after the submission of the Description of Work to the EC, it was decided to revise the Key Performance Indicators, in order to better consider conference attraction and visibility. The discussion on the new KPIs at the StC, which was scheduled to April 2020, ended up not taking place, due to the many discussions on the organisation of the conference in a virtual format, hence, values for the new KPIs ended up not being established for the 2020 Dubrovnik edition. As the conference structure had profound changes, some of the metrics are completely out of scope concerning the current reality. Even so, key data are presented below:
Indicator Target 2022
Attraction of Authors
# submitted Papers 300 184
# submitted Posters 30 25
# submitted Workshop proposals 20 26
# submitted Special Sessions proposals 20 12
# submitted Tutorials proposals 6 15
# presented Posters 20 24
Attraction of Participants
# Participants 600 664
# Patrons 1
Technical Quality
Papers acceptance ratio [%] 50 50
Dissemination and Visibility
# Website Visitors 20000 26303
Indicator Target 2022
Attraction of Authors
# submitted Papers 300 184
# submitted Posters 30 25
# submitted Workshop proposals 20 26
# submitted Special Sessions proposals 20 12
# submitted Tutorials proposals 6 15
# presented Posters 20 24
Attraction of Participants
# Participants 600 664
# Patrons 1
Technical Quality
Papers acceptance ratio [%] 50 50
Dissemination and Visibility
# Website Visitors 20000 26303