Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research Eaer

EUREKA.

International Cooperation in Research and Innovation.

Background.

The EUREKA research and development programme promotes market-led cross-border R&D projects with the aim of increasing the competitive performance of companies in its more than 41 member states and 3 associated countries. Marking the second time since 1994/1995, Switzerland held the presidency in 2014/2015.

The congress staged under Switzerland’s stewardship also provided EUREKA with an opportunity to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Guests at the anniversary celebrations included secretaries of state responsible for research and innovation from Germany, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

standing ovation was commissioned to design, plan and implement the congress’s three regular plenary sessions. Part of the remit was to put together a fitting evening programme providing a shared festive platform for participants from a wide range of cultural backgrounds.

Challenge.

Perfectly synced project management, top-level event engineering and smooth and efficient logistics were an absolute must at the three locations in Zurich, Geneva and Lugano. At each of the plenary events, the actual congress and the evening programme for the 130 international policymakers and business leaders attending were staged at different localities. One of the challenges here was to allow the congress sufficient scope content-wise to ensure that results from the working meetings and groups could be picked up again and discussed in full session. The evening programme rounded out the minutely planned congress day in a relaxed, multicultural atmosphere.

The Geneva congress was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Geneva. Guests invited to the evening programme were welcomed at the Restaurant Hotel du Parc des Eaux-Vives and the Globe of Science and Innovation (CERN). The exhibition was opened especially for the event, and guests were given first-hand information by a speaker from CERN.