The general layout of the project was presented by the co-ordinator, Elke Dall, from the Centre for Social Innovation. Altogether, the agenda of the meeting was dominated by presentations on the five key work packages by the respective work package leaders: Heribert Buchbauer from the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research (BMWF), Karin Wedde-Mühlhausen and Ulrike Kunze from the International Bureau of the BMBF at the German Aerospace Center (IB-DLR), Davor Kozmus from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology of Slovenia (MHEST), Nikos Sidiropoulos from the General Secretariat for Research and Technology (GSRT) and Viktor Nedović from the Ministry of Science of Serbia (MSCI). Further contributions were made by Tania Friederichs and Michele Genovese – both from the European Commission (EC) – on the political background and interfaces with the EC. All in all, the Kick-off meeting in Ljubljana can be seen as a success, providing the perspective of good collaboration and work results in the future of the WBC-INCO.NET project.
The achievements of this project will be measured e.g. through increased involvement of scientists from the region in the European Framework Programme and other programmes of co-operative research. Information on the training workshops, which will be held in May, and other project activities are available on the WBC-INCO.NET website and in the wbc-inco.net journal.