1/ Prague meetings from June 6th to 9th, 2006

A - Labelling of EURIPIDES

EURIPIDES got the label as EUREKA ?! 3830 EURIPIDES on June 9th.

The presentation that was made during the HLG meeting on June 8th was appreciated by all participants. The audience was told that this merger was not a simple aggregation of the two clusters such as “1 + 1 = 2” but an equation that should encompass a larger scope in the future such as “1 + 1 = 3”. HLG representatives have shown the progress made during the first quarter of 2006 for reaching an agreement on the organisation and persons.

One HLG representative said that “It was more than interesting to see two clusters changing their “way of living” habits, considering that their future had to encompass a larger scope” and merging together, even though this merger was not an easy task.

B/ TEC meeting

A first meeting of the TEC (Technical Evaluation Committee) members attending in Prague took place on Tuesday 6th. Klaus Pavlik –Philips Austria– is the Coordinator of the TEC team and Chris Merveille –Inasmet-Tecnalia Spain- assists him. The TEC team consists of 6 members including the two Office Operation managers.

As all the projects of the 1st joint call launched in December 2005 were evaluated with PIDEA+ and EURIMUS II procedures, the TEC noticed differences and have planned an action to review the evaluation procedure and rules for the next call. This review will be based on the work performed during the first quarter 2006 by the WG3 working group.

Some volunteer persons from the Council will review the work of the TEC.

C – Pre-Council meeting

34 persons attended this meeting, including the EUREKA NPCs (National Points of Contacts) acting in the former PIDAC and EURIMAC. They didn’t want to wait for their EURIPIDAC meeting planned just after and the pre-Council members couldn’t ask the “funding bodies” to leave the room. Moreover, the logistics of the EURIPIDES Organisation was not yet finalised. As a result, this first pre-Council meeting turned out to be just an information meeting. The following presentations were made:

? The programme and the organisation. At this stage the NPAs noticed the progress made since the last meeting of December in Berlin

? The report of the pre-labelled projects stemming from the first joint call.

2/ The way of merging the two Associations

As briefly explained during the meetings in Prague, due to accounting differences between the EURIMUS and the PIDEA Associations, a new one called EURIPIDES has to be created and the other two Associations will be closed within the next three years (see scheme). PIDEA and EURIMUS will continue to follow up their own running projects. The new Office will be in charge of the new projects stemming from the 1st call of EURIPIDES.

3/ Plans for the 3rd Quarter 2006

A – Launch of the EURIPIDES Association

? By mid-September, the EURIPIDES Council will have to approve the proposed Executive Board and the founding texts for the not-for-profit Association such as the Statutes and Regulation Book. The calendar will be as follows:

? Week 28: The Statutes and the Regulation Book will be sent by the EURIPIDES Office to the pre-Council and SAB –Scientific Advisory Board.

? Before week 36: The Annex A of the Regulation Book has to be signed by the Council members. All those who have signed the Annex A will constitute the final list of Council members.

? Between September 8th and September 15th, an e-GA –electronic General Assembly– will take place between the Council members. They will have to approve the organisation proposed.

? September 15th: The Statutes forming the new EURIPIDES Association will be registered.

B – EURIMUS II & PIDEA+ running projects

The next EURIMUS APMM (Annual Progress Monitoring Meeting) will take place on September 7th and 8th, 2006.

C – EURIPIDES main events

Different meetings will be organised in Como, Italy (nearby Milano) during the week of EUREKA meetings (NPCs and HLG).

The dates are from October 18th to 20th, 2006 with the following agenda:

? TEC meeting + EURIPIDAC: on October 18th

? EURIPIDES Council meeting: on October 19th morning and afternoon

? EURIPIDES Technical Day on October 20th

Next EURIPIDES Call for Proposals

Second call of EURIPIDES:

? Launch date: June 2, 2006

? Closing date for PO submission: September 1, 2006

? First TEC meeting: September 6, 2006

? PO evaluation meeting: September 25, 2006

? Closing date for FPP submission: November 3, 2006

? FPP evaluation meeting: November 30, 2006

? FPP labelling meeting: December 1, 2006