e-2004

eChallenges e-2004 took place in the Hofburg Palace, Vienna in October 2004. There were 610 delegates from 40 countries - 96 percent Europe, 2 percent Americas and 2 percent Asia. Fifty percent of delegates were involved in European research projects with the other fifty percent involved in national, regional or industry funded research.

We were very pleased to see a significant increase in participation from industry (19%), SME (13%) and public administration (19%) as it is vital that there is a true exchange between commerical organisations, government agencies and the research community.

Below we have provided an overview of some of the many endorsements received from sponsors, presenters, workshop organisers, exhibitors and delegates following e-2004.

Feedback from Sponsors

"I was above all impressed by the high quality of the workshops, which have attracted so many delegates from all over Europe, the inspiring quality of the exhibition-area and the high level of excellence regarding the audience. And I am convinced that a big part from these achievements stems from a high quality and experienced conference management." [Michael Wiesmuller, Federal Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology, Austria]

Feedback from Presenters

"I would just like to thank you for an excellent conference in Vienna. I enjoyed myself, met a lot of new people and picked up some valuable research material." [Alan Hogarth, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland]

"I'm looking forward to eChallenges e-2005, thanks for all the great work before & during eChallenges e-2004". [Barbara Sigrist, University of Applied Sciences Basel, Switzerland]

I would like to express my gratefulness for your excellent organisation of the eChallenges e-2004. The whole process around the workshop was smooth and the website worked as a great tool to enter papers. [Lars Albinsson, University College of Boras, Sweden]

Feedback from Workshop Organisers

"The conference was remarkably well organised and prepared. Based on iterative correspondence, instructions and feedback, optimal quality of papers and presentations was achieved. The process of pre-selection, feedback and suggestions for improvements was very much appreciated in order to further lecture and workshop quality and relevance to the participants.

Consequently, presentation standards and focus were high, and the scope of content presented was very attractive.

Through comprehensive preliminary instructions and support on site, a smooth organisation of sessions and workshops was facilitated. Technical help was ready at hand, and all desirable assistance given where needed.

The web-platform enabled a practical and reliable way to submit papers and presentations in a smooth and comfortable way. Special functions such as creations of "My Page" and My Programme" were greatly appreciated.

We congratulate the organisers on this great organisational achievement."

[Helga Bechmann, IZET, Germany]

"The quality of the presentations and their thematic grouping was of very high quality, representing an improvement in coherence as you always seem to manage. Your recommendations on the powerpoint format and size really helped both as chair and in the final impact.

The workspace you set up for the IPC and chairs worked really well and made it easier to keep track of the progress of my own work plus that of the presenters in the sessions. This also helped make the sessions a success, as well as the good preparation on site: we got to the rooms and everything was already loaded and all the machinery worked perfectly. I was also happy that you fed some newcomers into our workshop, that added a lot."

[Jesse Marsh, Atelier Studio Associato, Italy]

Feedback from Exhibitors

"Thanks a lot for a great conference & a chance to establish EU-Russian contacts". [Olga Pekieshkina, SingleImage, UK]

Feedback from Delegates

"The administration of the event was professional, well coordinated and the staff very keen to help. Instructions and signing was clear and the timetable easy to follow.

But most importantly of all, the selection, allocation and scheduling of the presentations was particularly well done. It would have been difficult to organise the very broad range of related subjects, but it was clear that the various streams were thought through carefully and time-tabled to provide a very even spread of interesting sessions, somehow avoiding too much conflict for those interested in multiple streams.

The quality of the presented papers continues to improve on an already high standard. I referred to my e-2003 publication dozens of times over the year and have already found the e-2004 publication an exciting and useful source of information about projects.

A critical part of the conference is networking but the most valuable part is teaming up with people working in like projects. In our case, the resulting saving on resource and time, and verification of work by cross-project collaboration will be considerable.

The social events organised for the conference were particularly splendid.

[Peter Stanbridge, Korora Ltd, UK]