Martel Orchestrating the 1st EU-China EXCITING Conference in Beijing

Martel’s team has been busy for the past two months, preparing for the first Conference of the EXCITING project on EU-China Collaboration on 5G and IoT, as well as the plenary meetings for project partners in Beijing between March 8th- 10th, 2017.

Conference: Enhancing EU-China Collaboration in the field of 5G and IoT

The efforts seemed to have paid off. The agenda for the conference on March 9th featured some of the most renowned experts and professionals in the field of 5G and IoT from both China and Europe.

Around 220 stakeholders registered from Europe and China (85%), covering industry (45%), research (52%), policymakers and governmental organisations as well as the civil society.

Mr. Wei Li (MIIT), China

From the European side, Mr. O’Donohue, Acting Director of the Directorate E (Future Networks),  DG CONNECT expressed the EC’s support to both the project and the Conference through a video; from the Chinese side, Mr. Wei Li, Vice Director of High Technology Division, Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China, gave a welcome speech to the audience.

The event then included four sessions:

• Cooperation policy: including speeches from China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT), EU Delegation to China, and EU Chambers of Commerce
• Technology (5G): including speeches from the 5G Infrastructure Association, China Mobile, University of Surrey, Seconded European Standardization Expert in China project (SESEC III) and Huawei Europe
• Application (IoT): Tsinghua University, Martel Innovate, Huawei Europe, ITU-T SG20, and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications
• A panel discussion on potential joint actions

The final agenda, list of speakers, their bios and abstracts – all bilingual – can be found here: March9AgendaAbstractBio.

In the afternoon of 9th, a high-level press conference – Global IPv6 Forum Press Conference and Jim Bound IPv6 Award Ceremony was organised under the framework of IPv6 Forum and EXCITING project. This was jointly presented by project partners, Mr. Latif Ladid (IPv6 Forum President) as well as Mr. Dong Liu, the CEO of Beijing Internet Institute (BII). Three Chinese experts have received the Award, and they are from: China State Grid, China Telecom and Tsinghua Universtiy. The Chinese press release can be found here: http://www.c114.net/news/52/a998218.html

On March 10th, an internal wrap-up session among project partners and a group of distinguished Advisory Group members was successfully held. Conclusions included forming concrete suggestions to the European Commission for inclusion in the next Work Programme of Horizon 2020, as well as collaborating with the 5G IA, the 5G PPP initiative, and facilitating cooperation between EU and China in terms of future research projects in the fields of 5G and IoT.

In the afternoon of 10th, Huawei Beijing invited the project participants for a visit to its research facilities.

Benefits for Martel?

As a result of the event, Martel has extended its footprints in China with the STI communities and authorities, demonstrating its position as a key liaison point between Europe and China in the field of ICT. This has paved the way for its further engagement in relevant future initiatives to support the development of 5G and IoT, connecting the stakeholders in both regions.

Furthermore, Martel as the Coordinator of the EXCITING project has again proved its capability in successfully organising a high-level, international conference in a very efficient manner. The event has resulted in improving Martel’s reputation within the consortium, invited guests and participants.

Next…..

A number of external events are being targeted by the EXCITING project as opportunities to participate in various forms, in order to disseminate the results of the project. This will enable project partners to engage stakeholders and enhance collaboration in the field of 5G and IoT between EU and China. Such events include the EU-China Summit (Brussels, End of May – early June, 2017), IoT Week (Geneva, June 6-9, 2017) and EuCNC (Oulu, June 12-15, 2017) .
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