EUROPEAN COMMISSION€¦ · Web viewAs has been described in Deliverable D6.1, dissemination within EURO-DOTS comprises different aspects of information transfer of which the target

European Doctoral Training Support in Micro/Nano-electronics

Grant Agreement Number 257051

First Dissemination ReportDeliverable D6.4 – Report

Work Package 6 – Dissemination and Promotion

Author(s) : Herman Maes (imec) Approved by : tba by the Steering Committee

Keyword : Report

Abstract :

In this Deliverable the first actions and results of the Dissemination efforts within EURO-DOTS are described and the further Dissemination Strategy that will be used in the course of the project is presented.

Due Delivery Date : 1 May 2011

Status : final Actual Date of Delivery : 15 May 2011

Dissemination Level : PU (Public)

EUROPEAN COMMISSION EURO-DOTS : an ICT - CSA Action

Page 2 of 14


1. Dissemination targets

As has been described in Deliverable D6.1, dissemination within EURO-DOTS comprises different aspects of information transfer of which the target outcome will consist of:

informing European Universities and their PhD students about the creation of the EURO-DOTS platform, its goals, its rules, etc.

information about availability, schedule and calendar of existing courses

information about the scholarships for PhD students : availability, criteria, procedure

information and targeted calls for the creation of new courses according to the gap analysis, or for the adaptation of existing courses to fulfill the criteria of EURO-DOTS

information and promotion of the cross-accreditation of courses by academic authorities

promotion for EURO-DOTS in publications and at selected and relevant events and conferences

interaction with other organizations, particularly ENIAC-ETCB, EUROTRAINING, EUROPRACTICE.

2. Channels and tools for dissemination

For the realization of the above defined outcome, different channels and tools are used.

2.1. Internal Dissemination

An internal project partner website (INSITE) is in use and available to the project partners and has been made accessible also to the Project Officer and the Project Reviewers. It contains all internal project documents such as the DoW, minutes of the meetings, management information, deliverables, work documents, WP reports, presentations used by any of the partners at events or at the review meetings. Each partner can add or edit such documents. This internal website, http://www.mtc-online.be/info/default.asp?C=245, can be accessed only by username and password.

2.2. Public Dissemination A public website was set up and made available on 8 September 2010. The domain

eurodots.org has been registered and reserved for 5 years. The EURO-DOTS public website address is www.eurodots.org. The content and build-up of this website (version 1) have been described in Deliverable 6.2. It contains a Home Page with general information on the project, its objectives, partners, planning and timing. It has a section addressing the PhD

Page 3 of 14

http://www.eurodots.org/

http://www.mtc-online.be/info/default.asp?C=245


students with step by step information regarding the program, criteria, scholarships, etc. There is a page addressing the Academia that deals with the PhD programs and Doctoral education issues, the offer-needs gap issues, call for modules, criteria for accreditation of course modules, etc. Finally there is a section with the catalog of accredited courses, detailed information on the content and lecturers in each course module, the calendar, practical information and a registration link through which registration of PhD students and their application for scholarships is handled. A significant update of the website was carried out in January and February 2011 and this was finally launched on 11 March 2011. Today (May 2011), 12 courses are announced and the Calendar provides a quick overview of the already available courses. More information on the status of the needs and gap analysis will be posted as soon as these studies are finalized.

A EURO-DOTS flyer and a EURO-DOTS poster have been prepared, finalized and distributed. The flyer is a printed document (see attachment) that is now distributed via several channels. The poster is in an electronic version that can be printed on A3 format and posted ad valvas by all universities. This electronic version was sent to the EUROPRACTICE IC Service network on 28 April 2011.

2.3. Direct e-mail communication channel

For reaching the academic community, a direct communication channel has been used through the well-established and EC-funded project “EUROPRACTICE IC Service” that has a network of more than 600 European universities and 50 research institutes. A letter was sent to all these centers (see attachment) informing them about the objectives of the project/action and providing the link to the EURO-DOTS website. Also the address base of the IDESA and STIMESI projects have been used for that purpose. An electronic version of the flyer/leaflet has been sent by e-mail to the more than 3,200 addresses in the cumulative address bases. Also the EURO-DOTS Poster has been sent to this Network address base.Information on EURO-DOTS is now also available on the EUROTRAINING website: http://www.eurotraining.net/links.php?link=Projects&view=t&type=Europe. Further, the MEAD web site was adapted to include EURO-DOTS information. The EURO-DOTS flyer was also sent via e-mail to the academic e-mail list of MEAD (approx. 500 addresses). The MEAD course announcement will be sent shortly to the complete e-mail address base (6,000 addresses) and will include EURO-DOTS program information.

2.4. Promotion/Publication/Presentation in magazines or presentation at conferences, workshops, board meetings

Information on EURO-DOTS has been published recently in the Research Review Section of the Parliament Magazine, April 2011. Two contributions were published. A first article gives an overview of 4 complementary training and support projects (coordinated by imec) in which EURO-DOTS is described as “Supporting PhD Education” in Europe. A second contribution is fully devoted to the EURO-DOTS project itself. A copy of both articles is included in this deliverable.

Page 4 of 14

http://www.eurotraining.net/links.php?link=Projects&view=t&type=Europe


A so-called EURO-DOTS Fact sheet was prepared for the EC describing the main objectives, the technical approach, the key issues and the expected impact of the project. A copy of this fact sheet is attached to this deliverable.

Flyers have been made available at the MEAD booth at ISSCC’11 and were distributed at AACD’11. Also promotion will be made at ISCAS’11 and at ESSDERC/ESSCIRC’11.

Presentation on EURO-DOTS were made in 2010 at 2 conferences :o the European Workshop on Microelectronics Education (EWME2010, 10-12 May

2010, Darmstadt, Germany) : M. Declercq, H.E. Maes, “EURO-DOTS – A New EC Support Action for Doctoral Training in Europe”.

o the PhD Research in Microelectronics & Electronics Conference (PRIME2010, 18-21 July 2010, Berlin, Germany) : M. Declercq, H.E. Maes and C. Dehollain, “Supporting the European Doctoral Schools : the New EURO-DOTS Support Action of the EC”.

o Daniel Donoval has given an invited paper at the International Nanotechnology Conference on Communication and Cooperation (INC6, 17-20 May 2010, Grenoble, France) on the topic “Do we educate the right experts? - Current Status, Needs and Offerings in Micro/Nano-Electronics Education in Europe” in which the EURO-DOTS project was also shortly presented.

Presentations of the status of EURO-DOTS and request for support were made by Daniel Donoval at the following ENIAC-SCC meetings :

o SCC meeting on May 20, 2010 joint to the INC6 Conference in Grenoble. o SCC meeting on September 13, 2010 joint to the ESSDERC/ESSCIRC conference in

Sevillao SCC meeting on January 20, 2011 joint to the NANOTEC Workshop 1 (on

Identification of the main requirements for future ICT devices”.

3. Status and further activities for dissemination and promotion

The different activities on dissemination and their status are briefly reviewed hereafter:

creation of an internal and public EURO-DOTS website. Status : completed (but is continuously updated)

publication of flyer and leaflet on the EURO-DOTS Support Action for distribution at international conferences, exhibitions and fairs in the field of advanced micro/nano-electronics and towards industrial groups. This was done on 1 March 2011.Status : completed

preparation of a EURO-DOTS poster (electronic version for A3-format) to be sent to the Europractice network. This was done on 28 April 2011.Status : completed

communication to the targeted academic communities. This can also be done by the partners through their personal networks. Status : on-going

Page 5 of 14


links with other well-defined channels such as the Europractice IC Service network (a network of more than 600 European universities and 50 research institutes in Europe and about 200 more world-wide) and the EuroTraining website have been established. A letter was sent to these networks (see attachment). Status : completed

presentation of project activities at education and training oriented conferences and professional workshops. Presentations on EURO-DOTS were made in 2010 at EWME2010 and PRIME2010 (information, see under 2.4). A list is being made up of major events at which the EURO-DOTS program and progress will be reported in 2011 (a total of at least 5 events) and will be finalized at the next consortium meeting (11 May 2011). Status : on-going

links will be continued with ENIAC JU (the ETCB = Education and Training Coordination Board) and the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology). The ENIAC platform and events will be the right channel to enlarge and ensure the active participation of industry and the use of the developed modules. The latest status of the project has been presented at the SCC meetings of May 20, 2010, September 13, 2010 and January 20, 2011 by Daniel Donoval.Status : will be continued

Scientific Committee and Academic Committees : the 2 committees will be closely involved in the further dissemination actions within EURO-DOTS.Status : will be continued

The original timing and planning + status and further planning of these dissemination actions are shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 1 Timing, Planning and Status of the Dissemination activities

Page 6 of 14

strategy + activity definition completed

set-up of internal website completed

set-up of public website completed

communication to academic communities partly completed

flyer, leaflet completed

direct communication to target groups publication in magazine/on-going

EURO-DOTS presentation selection/planning

presentation at suited events on-going

links to other communities on-going

reports on disseminationcompleted

0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24

D6.1

D6.2D6.2

D6.3

D6.4 D6.5


Letter to the EUROPRACTICE and EUROTRAINING COMMUNITIES

Dear colleague, dear PhD student,

With this e-mail, I would like to inform you about the FP7 ICT project-257051 EURO-DOTS (European Doctoral Training Support in micro/nano-electronics) project and the first offering that has now been announced on the adapted website www.eurodots.org.

The major objective of EURO-DOTS is to create a delocalized (virtual) platform to serve Doctoral Schools in Europe in micro/nano-electronics. A first set of advanced courses in micro/nano-electronics, accredited by major European universities in the framework of their Doctoral Program, is now made accessible to European PhD students, offering the opportunity to collect ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits throughout Europe. Scholarships for supporting participation to these courses are also made available to PhD students fulfilling some obvious selection criteria.

Detailed information on objectives, concept, approach and organization of this EURO-DOTS project can be found on the provided link. Also available are the calendar and detailed information about the first 8 EURO-DOTS labeled courses for which scholarships can be granted. All information on the eligibility criteria for these scholarships and the application procedure and forms are included on the website. A call for the submission of new course modules will be announced soon, but the criteria that need to be fulfilled in order to be eligible, are already made available.

I sincerely hope that this new initiative will be successful from this very start and that it will stimulate students to take this great opportunity for advanced and relevant doctoral training. Moreover we hope that it will encourage and inspire many of our excellent university research groups to participate and contribute to this European Doctoral Training platform by submitting and organizing training modules based on their own field of expertise

Please, inform your colleagues and your PhD students about this initiative and opportunity. I am looking forward to your participation.

Prof. Herman Maes, imecEURO-DOTS Project Coordinator

1 March 2011

Page 7 of 14

http://www.eurodots.org/


EURO-DOTS Flyer

This folder is folded in 3, the first page is the front page (the right hand 1/3 th part then being the front cover), the second page is the back page.

Page 8 of 14


EURO-DOTS Poster

Page 9 of 14


Research Review Magazine, April 2011 (contribution 1, general)

Research Review Magazine, April 2011 (contribution 2, EURO-DOTS specific)

(acronym for European Doctoral Training Support in micro/nano-electronics) is an FP7 project that started on 1 May 2010, with a duration of 2 years and that is coordinated by imec, Belgium (BE). The partners are the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (BE), KTH - Royal Institute of Technology (SE), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH), MEAD (CH), and the Slowak Technical University (SK). The main objective of EURO-DOTS is to create a delocalized (virtual) platform to serve the Doctoral Schools in Europe by improving the offering and the quality of training of European PhD students in the fields of micro- and nano-electronics. This platform will help PhD students in acquiring ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits, imposed by major European universities for obtaining the Doctoral (PhD) degree in Engineering.

EURO-DOTS addresses problems that exist today at Universities in Europe regarding the organization of high-level doctoral programs that cover several engineering fields at the state-of-the art level, i.e. in direct

Page 10 of 14


connection with research. Especially in view of the increasing multidisciplinary nature and content of the emerging research fields and the fast evolution of the nano-electronics and micro-systems domains in which disruptive developments are expected in the near future, a rapid and coherent response of the doctoral and/or continuous education courses has become indispensable. Though major European universities are at the top level in some specific research fields, they can hardly cover the whole domain of nano-electronics and micro-systems, both for scientific and financial reasons. The doctoral program they can offer is therefore restricted to some fields, and cannot cover all the special topics that could be requested by innovative PhD work. But moreover, PhD students are mainly restricted to these local courses for various reasons. Foreign courses are hardly accessible because most courses are spread on a full semester at a rate of 1 or 2 hours per week, the cost for attending the few existing modular, intensive courses is prohibitive for students and last but not least, ECTS credits are most of the time not offered today for these courses (no exam organized, no official recognition and ‘accreditation’ of the courses).

A coherent set of advanced courses in micro/nano-electronics, explicitly accredited by major European universities in the framework of their Doctoral Program, will therefore be made easily accessible to European PhD students by the EURO-DOTS initiative and platform, offering them the opportunity to collect these ECTS credits throughout Europe. The courses respect specific organization criteria (short, intensive one-week course modules with optional exam) that make them very flexible, accessible and attractive towards PhD students as well as engineers from industry. And most importantly, scholarships are made available to PhD students fulfilling specific selection criteria.

In order to offer a broad spectrum of relevant state-of-the-art courses, the consortium carries out a detailed study of the gap between existing training courses at universities and the future needs in industry. It also reviews existing initiatives, studies the requirements and accreditation policies in European academia and defines the criteria that courses need to fulfill in order to become eligible (and obtain the EURO-DOTS label). EURO-DOTS will launch a call and invitation to European universities that are willing to contribute to the platform by working out suited training modules in response to the recommendations of the gap analysis and in line with the mentioned criteria. This EURO-DOTS platform is being established and its working principles and the rules for attribution of scholarships to PhD students are defined and made public (www.eurodots.org).

Page 11 of 14

At A Glance: EURO-DOTSEuropean Doctoral Training Support in Micro/Nano-electronics

Project Coordinator

Herman Maes

Imec (BE)

Tel: +32 16 281 283

Fax: +32 16 281 584

Email:[email protected]

Project website:www.eurodots.org


EURO-DOTS (Fact sheet EURO-DOTS)

EURO-DOTS aims at improving the offering and the quality of training provided to European PhD students. It helps fulfilling the requirements for ECTS credits imposed to PhD students by major European universities for obtaining the Doctoral

(PhD) degree in Engineering.

Main ObjectivesThe major objective of EURO-DOTS is to create a delocalized (virtual) platform to serve the Doctoral Schools in Europe in micro/nano-electronics.

EURO-DOTS aims at addressing problems that exist today at Universities in Europe regarding the organization of high-level doctoral programs covering several engineering fields at the state-of-the art level, i.e. in direct connection with research. Especially in view of the increasing multidisciplinary nature and content of the emerging research domains, a broad but in-depth coverage of related problems has become indispensable. Though major European universities are at the top level in some specific research fields, they can however hardly cover the whole domain of microelectronics and micro-systems, both for scientific and financial reasons. The doctoral program they can offer is therefore restricted to some fields, and can hardly cover all the special topics that could be requested by innovative PhD work.

A coherent set of advanced courses in micro/nano-electronics, explicitly accredited by major European universities in the framework of their Doctoral Program, will therefore be made easily accessible to European PhD

students, offering the opportunity to collect ECTS (European Credit Transfer System) credits throughout Europe.

Page 12 of 14

FP7 ICT – Nanoelectronics

The Scientific Community Council (SCC) of ENIAC

welcomes and fully supports this EURO-

DOTS initiative to promote a Europe-wide support of the doctoral

training also in view of the ambition of ENIAC to

identify the needs and reduce the gaps in education on nano-

electronics in Europe


The courses will respect specific organization criteria (short, intensive one-week course modules with optional exam) that will make them very flexible, accessible and attractive towards PhD students as well as for high-level continuous education of engineers from industry. Scholarships will be made available to PhD students fulfilling the selection criteria, for boosting the start-up of the project, while other sources of scholarships and/or industrial support will be explored for the long-term continuation of the project.

Technical Approach

The EURO-DOTS consortium intends to provide solutions based on a detailed study of actual and future needs at our universities and in the industry to cover the gap in training courses. Moreover it will review existing initiatives, study the requirements and accreditation policies in European academia, define the criteria that courses need to fulfill in order to become eligible and obtain the EURO-DOTS label and launch a call and invitation to European universities to propose and work out training modules in response to the recommendations of the gap analysis. Finally the EURO-DOTS platform will be established and its working principles and the rules for attribution of scholarships to PhD students will be defined and made public.

In order to support these goals and activities, an Academic Committee and a Scientific Committee with recognized experts from academia and industry have been established that will support and advice the consortium on the many academic and industrial issues.

Work Packages have been defined in line with these components.

o WP 1 : Study of future training needs in micro/nano-electronics (More Moore, More than Moore, Beyond CMOS)

o WP 2 : Review existing suited course modules and gap analysis between needs and offering

o WP 3 : Eligibility and accreditation criteria for course modules

o WP 4 : EURO-DOTS platform : working rules, calls for modules, selection and build-up of a coherent program of

accredited course modules

o WP 5 : Management of the EURDO-DOTS scholarships

Page 13 of 14


o WP 6 : Dissemination and Promotion

o WP 7 : Project management

Key Issues

Today, Engineering Schools or Universities are confronted with the problem of organizing high-level doctoral programs covering several engineering fields at the state-of-the art level, i.e. in direct connection with research.

On the other hand, for PhD students, the choice of doctoral-level courses is mainly restricted today to local courses for various reasons:

o foreign courses are hardly accessible because most courses are spread on a full semester at a rate of 1 or 2 hours per week;

o the cost for attending the few existing modular, intensive courses is actually prohibitive for students; o ECTS credits are usually not offered today for these courses (no exam organized, no official

recognition of the courses);

Another problem is the fast moving field of micro/nano-electronics and micro-systems. Some disruptive developments are expected in these fields in the near future, requesting a rapid and coherent answer of the doctoral courses and/or continuous education courses in order to maintain Europe at the state-of-the-art in R&D. An evaluation of medium- and long-term needs in high-level courses is therefore mandatory.

Last but not least is the continuity of this EURO-DOTS action and platform. The goal of the present project is to build up the platform, to define the rules and to work out a first coherent set of courses. A plan for continuation will be worked out and timely initiatives taken.

These are the key issues that EURO-DOTS intends to tackle and provide solutions for.

Expected Impact

Strengthened positioning of European industry in the field of nano-electronics by providing advanced training modules that close the gap between present training programs and future industrial needs.

Complementary and broad offering of high-quality training modules through-out Europe, increasing the attraction for PhD study in Europe also for non-European students.

Strong and continued cooperation between industry, academia and research centers, involving all Member states.

Increased mobility also of PhD students in Europe.

Page 14 of 14

Documents

EUROPEAN COMMISSION€¦ · Web viewAs has been described in Deliverable D6.1, dissemination within EURO-DOTS comprises different aspects of information transfer of which the target