| Abstract |
In an effort to overcome the weaknesses described above, the project E-CAero will develop and implement a collaborative mechanism, supported by new IT tools. The goal is to arrive at a close cooperation of the six Associations for the preparation of conferences on the European continent and for the dissemination of knowledge generated in Academia, Research Establishments and Industry. The goal is also to give Europe a capacity to conduct scientific and technical prospective in aeronautics and to identify the new and promising research fields.
This collaborative improvement will be accomplished by fulfilling the following basic objectives for the project: This collaborative improvement will be accomplished by fulfilling the following basic objectives for the project:
1. Reinforce the network of the participating organisations by promoting inter - organizational cooperation.
2. Identify and promote best practices.
3. Propose upgrading measures, tailored to the specific needs of the participating organisations.
4. Improve the communication with stakeholders and the Committee which will be established.
5. Improve significantly the industrial end-users participation in the actions programmed by the member organisations.
6. Start a new collaborative work culture between the associations. This intangible benefit is a real need in this Sector and will result in a much more efficient dissemination of the European research in this field.
The work plan has been carefully designed and streamlined to meet these objectives. It contains a series of auxiliary objectives, defining steps necessary to achieve the ultimate target of the project, namely a significant improvement in the support of the dissemination of scientific and technological knowledge and advances realized in both the Aeronautics and Turbo machinery sectors throughout Europe.
The first objective will be achieved by activities carried out within five technical Work Packages (WPs) running interactively. E-CAero proposes a collection of joint activities (named demonstrators) which together represent a systematic endeavour to improve the coordination among the participating organizations, promote deeper cooperation and strengthen the sense of belonging to a European network with all its benefits.
The second objective will be achieved by carrying out a systematic survey in order to construct a detailed picture of the different structures, methodologies, priorities and resources of the participating organisations (named logistics platform). The result of this survey will be utilized to benchmark their activities, propose best practices and identify existing deficits requiring attention in the form of collective measures. This will have a direct effect on the quality of the events organised and the other dissemination activities foreseen identified in the benchmarking exercises of the previous objective. This will improve the communication and coordination level between the participating organisations and, indirectly, all the actions undertaken in common by the participating organisations.
The third objective will be achieved through activities and measures designed to establish sustainable contacts and communication with the stakeholders, the programme committee and the European Commission. It is through these contacts that undertaken actions by the participating organisations will become more efficient and improvements will be obtained by suggestions formulated by external to the
participating organisations sources.
The fourth objective will be achieved through various actions and measures. These will include selecting recommendations on how best to work with industry, surveying industry participants to best appreciate their needs, but much is expected, also, from
organising very high quality events.
Ensuring the quality of the activities, procedures and deliverables of the project has a high priority in E-CAero. Already in the short run, the project efforts will contribute to a significant improvement in the overall quality of events and other activities organised during the E-CAero project. For this reason, quality management tools and techniques will be implemented for the management of the project.
The coordinator will develop and implement, together with the Steering Committee composed by one representative of each partner (ECCOMAS: J. Périaux, ERCOFTAC: Ch. Hirsch, CEAS: W. Kordulla, EUCASS: J.P. Taran, EUROMECH: B. Schrefler, EUROTURBO: F. Martelli), a plan to continually monitor and improve internal work procedures with the aim of optimising the efficiency of the work carried out as well as
the quality of the output. This plan will include all five of the fundamental steps associated generally with quality management in industry, namely:
· Definition and validation of the dissemination vision & mission
· Setting objectives and targets with respect to quality management
· Benchmarking and assessment of needs (to allow quantification of performance)
· Process improvement
· Process assessment
Last but not least, once a cooperative spirit is established, the team may be in the capacity to also propose a structure to conduct a prospective exercise of vision in order to make recommendations regarding the most promising S&T domains |