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<p>Dear Colleagues,</p>
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<p><b>Closing Statement of ECSS 2024: celebrating 20 years &
looking ahead<br>
</b></p>
<p>As we conclude the 20th European Informatics Leaders Summit
(ECSS 2024) in Malta, we are <b>filled with pride and a
renewed sense of purpose</b>, celebrating this year’s
achievements and the legacy of <b>two decades of building a
unified voice for the European Informatics research and
education community.</b></p>
<p>Informatics Europe has grown from an ambitious vision shared
at the inaugural ECSS in 2005 to a thriving association of
over 180 institutions, driven by passionate volunteers who
have championed numerous initiatives that <b>underscore
Informatics' value and its distinct scientific identity in
Europe.</b> This year’s celebration honoured these
collective efforts and served as a forward-looking platform to
discuss the challenges and priorities shaping the future of
our field.</p>
<p>ECSS 2024 highlights include a Community Corner and panel
discussions with several past IE presidents, where we <b>reflected
on Informatics Europe’s consistent advocacy for impactful
policies and initiatives that strengthen the discipline in
Europe.</b> Our <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/education/higher-education-data.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Higher Education Data Portal</a>, now
covering extensive data from 23 European countries, has
evolved from a static report to a robust and internationally
recognised data platform. Our pioneering contributions to
gender equality include the <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/society/minerva-informatics-equality-award.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Minerva Informatics Equality Award</a>—celebrating
its 10th anniversary in 2025—and the recently concluded <a
href="http://eugain.eu" moz-do-not-send="true">EUGAIN</a>
COST Action, which received excellent official evaluations in
all aspects. Pioneering were also our recommendation on
machine learning, back in 2018. Our <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/education/informatics-in-schools.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">decade-long work</a> with the ACM
Europe Council has proudly contributed to the “<a
href="https://data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/ST-15740-2023-INIT/en/pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true">Recommendation on improving the
provision of digital skills and competences</a>”, approved
in November 2023 by the Council of the European Union. The
recognition highlights Informatics’ crucial role in primary
and secondary education and marks the official inclusion of
the term “Informatics” in the European political discourse.
Recent achievements, including the second edition of the <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/research/best-dissertation-award.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Best Dissertation Award</a> —
rewarding exceptional and societally engaged Informatics
research — or the positive conclusion of Europe’s first <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/education/informatics-education-research-school.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Informatics Education Research Summer
School</a> exemplify our dedication to advancing
high-quality responsible Informatics in Europe. These and
other milestones were applauded at this year’s ECSS.</p>
<p><b>Building upon our legacy, ECSS 2024 focused on the future
of Informatics Europe and the discipline.</b> Discussions
addressed critical challenges and priorities, like the
pressure of bureaucracy, lack of long-term strategies and
insufficient funding on universities’ traditional role as
breakthrough innovation centres. We also discussed
Informatics’ growing impact on multidisciplinary research and
the responsibility of the education and research community for
its societal impacts. Both senior and early-career researchers
identified areas for improvement in PhD support and general
research evaluation. Slides and summaries of each ECSS 2024
session, along with photos from the event, are available
online <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/ecss/program/highlights.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">here</a>.</p>
<p><b>Concrete outcomes of these discussions include several
forthcoming publications:</b> a report on interdisciplinary
collaboration, resulting from our <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/ecss/program/leaders-workshop.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Leaders Workshop</a>; a best
practices guide for academia-industry partnerships, led by the
<a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/education/education-research-working-group.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Education Research WG</a>; a
framework on the responsible use of AI in Informatics
education, with the support of IE member <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/policy/national-associations.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">National Informatics Associations</a>.
In addition, the revised recommendations on research
evaluation will incorporate community feedback and be
published in early 2025, with a focus on fair evaluation of
interdisciplinary and open science contributions. Ongoing
initiatives shared by our <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/society/green-ict.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Green ICT</a>, <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/society/ethics/ethics-working-group.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Ethics</a> and <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/society/diversity-and-inclusion/working-group.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Diversity & Inclusion</a> working
groups will further support our commitment to high-quality,
socially responsible Informatics education and research in
Europe.</p>
<p><b>We invite our community to explore Informatics Europe’s </b><a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/about/key-achievements.html"
moz-do-not-send="true"><b>past</b></a><b> and <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/join-us/open-activities.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">present</a> activities,</b> share
our outcomes widely, and engage in ongoing initiatives with
the same passion and resilience that have driven our success
thus far. <b>Join us next year at ECSS in Rennes (France) on
October 27-29, 2025.</b> Until then, let us continue to
strengthen our community, advance shared priorities, and drive
impactful policy and collaboration in Informatics education
and research across Europe.</p>
<p>Kind regards with heartfelt appreciation,<br>
Informatics Europe <a
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/about/board.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">Board of Directors</a><br>
</p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<p style="font-family:Courier New; font-size:14px"><a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://www.informatics-europe.org/about/office.html">Informatics
Europe</a><br>
Binzmühlestrasse 14<br>
8050 Zurich<br>
Switzerland<br>
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href="https://www.youtube.com/@InformaticsEurope"
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