EURASIPAC Asia-Pacific Workshop

The second EURASIPAC Asia-Pacific workshop was held in Wellington on 18 February 2011 following a workshop in Canberra two days before.

The overall aim of the thematic workshops is to develop detailed recommendations to the European Commission to be implemented in the field of ICT research cooperation between Europe and the Asian-Pacific area. At the end of the project, the results will be used in the “EU-ASIA- PACIFIC ICT Cooperation Strategy” that will be presented during the final workshop in Brussels.

Among the various fields of cooperation, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is becoming more and more important. The focal characteristics of ICT are the very short cycles of innovation involved. A quick and efficient exchange of research results as well as improved communication and international cooperation is necessary to achieve excellent results and a good outcome. Those aspects are absolutely vital to compete in the international arena.

Rese archers, politicians and industry representatives joined the workshop in Wellington and discussed ICT research and cooperation opportunities. Leading speakers and lecturers from the EU, MoRST, the Universities of Canterbury and Auckland and the Fraunhofer Institute included German Ambassador Thomas H. Meister who had been invited to speak to the audience about research opportunities for collaborative research in Germany. After an abstract of the general research relations between New Zealand and Germany, he addressed the audience and the attending scientists on the diverse research support opportunities in the ICT sector.

The oceanic workshops were followed by workshops in Japan and Korea in March 2011.