News: IDEAL Cell Kick-off Meeting
The project Innovative Dual mEmbrAne fueL Cell (IDEAL-Cell) started on the 1st of January 2008.
The opening event – "The Kick-off Meeting" was organized by the Coordinator ARMINES and held in Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris on February 19-20, 2008.
Although preceded by few meetings during the preparation of the proposal, and by a long term collaboration between some of the Partners, the "Kick-off" ensured active participation of a large number of people involved in different project activities and fulfilled its important and constructive role in the cooperation of the multinational and multidisciplinary IDEAL–Cell Team.
The presentations and discussions followed two general directions:
- organization aspects;
- scientific and technical aspects.
Regarding the organization aspects of the project, the European Unit of ARMINES (responsible for the administrative, financial and legal management of IDEAL–Cell) presented the principles of the project management organization. The members of the Management Team stressed on important definitions and rules, concerning financial issues, reporting, Consortium Agreement. The e–tools of the project (e–management platform, internal and external web-site) were also explained and discussed.
The EC project Officer (Carlos Saraiva–Martins) also explained the "rules of the game" for the successful implementation and reporting. He elucidated the philosophy of "risky projects" in the Energy Theme of FP 7.
Regarding the scientific and technical aspects, the Scientific Coordinator presented the Project as a whole – with its general directions, impact and long term goals, while the Scientific Manager introduced a model for internal scientific management – chart and schedule for the internal products flow, preparation of technical reports and deliverables. The Managers, as well as the Work Package Leaders marked current open questions in the activities planned for the first stage of the project implementation. They framed the technical discussion, which continued after the official closing of the Kick-off meeting. The questions about the quantity and nature of the initial powders and the geometry and size of the testing samples found their principles solution.
The "Kick-off" Meeting was highly evaluated by the Partners and by the Executive Board. Its performance in Month 2 gave a significant contribution to the successful beginning of the project, ensuring the maturity needed for taking the first decisions. |
