The WINS-ICT project team has recently come back from the eChallenges e-2010 event, where it has successfully promoted the existing cooperation opportunities with WBCs and also organised two networking and brokerage events, together with its sister project ICT-WEB-PROMS and the well known IDEAL-IST, to foster the creation of new WBC – EU research partnerships.

In September, the project actively participated in the ICT 2010 conference and exhibition, where its networking session allowed for face-to-face meetings with ICT stakeholders from Eastern European and Central Asian countries thanks to the synergy created with IncoNet EECA and other support actions. This event, with more than 140 participants and the award ceremony of the six winners of the ICT idea competition by ICT-WEB-PROMS, was particularly successful.

WINS-ICT has also been coaching some of the most promising WBC researchers as to their project ideas and proposals. Finally, to continue to create project capacities in the WB region, it has supported the organisation of an ICT NCP Info Day in Belgrade as well as of the 3rd SEE ICT Forum Board Meeting and 7th MASIT Open Days Conference in Ohrid, FYR of Macedonia, by organising a training session focused on the new ICT work programme and Call 7.

The efforts of the project team are now fully dedicated to the upcoming “Forum on Research for Innovation in ICT for the Western Balkan countries”. It will be held in Belgrade on November 30 and will see the participation of representatives and high officials from ministries and public agencies dealing with the information and communication technologies as well as leading researchers and experts from academia and industry from the WBCs and EU Member States. The ambition is that the ICT Forum would eventually contribute to drive forward the political agenda for ICT research in terms of intra-regional cooperation for a greater WBC integration into the European Research Area.