Expected profiles are identical: excellent writing and communication skills, open-minded and creative, enthusiast and hard-worker, autonomous but with a team spirit, can-do attitude, sense of quality and service, high ethical and professional values.

The two project assistants will join existing project teams working on international research projects supported by the European Commission. Positions are however different: one project assistant will cope with administrative and financial matters while the other with be involved in ICT research. For each of them a previous experience of 2 to 3 years would be appreciated.

Sigma Orionis specializes on research, studies and consultancies supporting the dynamic research -> innovation -> markets and benefits from a 30-year expertise in the domain of ICT and of International cooperation.

Please send your CV together with a cover letter at recrutement@sigma-orionis.com.

The 1st international conference on Internet Science, will be organized from April 10 to 11, 2013 in Brussels, under the aegis of the European Commission, by the EINS project, the FP7 European Network of Excellence in Internet Science launched in the continuity of PARADISO and which Sigma Orionis is proud to be part of. Hosted by the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts, this highly multidisciplinary conference combines Computer Science, Sociology, Art, Mathematics, Physics, Complex systems analysis, Psychology, Economics, Law, Political Science, Epistemology and other relevant disciplines.

It will be a unique venue fostering dialogue among scholars and practitioners belonging to these disciplines. It will also provide the EINS Network of Excellence with an opportunity to interact with external stakeholders, detail project objectives and methodological approach, and showcase its first results.

Ten prestigious speakers have accepted to contribute to the conference:
(in order of inclusion into the agenda)
• Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Advisor to European Commission’s President Barroso
• Pilar del Castillo, Member of the European Parliament, Chair of the European Internet Foundation
• Martin Hynes, Chief Executive, European Science Foundation
• Carl-Christian Buhr, Member of the Cabinet of Ms Neelie Kroes, European Commission VP for the Digital Agenda
• Urs Gasser, Executive Director, Berkman Center for Internet & Society
• Jon Crowcroft, Marconi Professor of Communications Systems in the Computer Lab, University of Cambridge
• Andrea Matwyshyn, Assistant professor in the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department, Wharton School
• Alissa Cooper, Chief Computer Scientist at the Center for Democracy and Technology
• Pablo Rodriguez, Internet Scientific Director and Head of the Barcelona Lab, Telefonica Digital
• Mario Campolargo, Director Net futures, DG Connect, European Commission

Pre-registration at http://internet-science.eventbrite.com is compulsory since registration may be closed prior to the event date due to room capacity constraints.

Looking forward to meeting you in Brussels on April 10-11, 2013!

The EuroAfrica-ICT/P8 FP7 project (coordinated by Sigma Orionis), the European Commission (EC) and the African Union Commission (AUC) organised a series of events in Lisbon this week: 8 main meetings took place between Monday 26 and Friday 30 November, among them:

• The REC (Regional Economic Communities) Steering Committee Meeting (Nov. 26, 2012)
• The EEG8 JAES P8 (European Expert Group meeting of the Joint Africa-EU Strategic Partnership on science, information society and space”) Meeting (Nov. 27, 2012)
• The AXIS Steering Committee Meeting (Nov. 27, 2012)
• The BIC Steering Committee Meeting and Open Workshop on Trustworthy ICT (Nov. 27, 2012)
• The 2012 Africa-EU Cooperation Forum on ICT which was the main of this series of events (Nov. 28-29, 2012)
• The P8/ICT multi-stakeholder Implementation Group (IG8/ICT) of the Joint Africa-EU Strategic Partnership (Nov. 30, 2012)

The ‘2012 Africa-EU Cooperation Forum on ICT’ was the fifth of a series of very successful multi-stakeholder conferences organised since 2009 by the EuroAfrica-ICT Initiative under the aegis of the European and the African Union Commissions. These conferences have traditionally provided an indisputable focal point for all Euro-African stakeholders in the public and private sectors involved in collaborative ICT research and ICT for development with a specific emphasis on networking-opportunities, knowledge-sharing and consensus-building.

Over 210 delegates attended the event (institutions, national and international companies, SMEs, academia, research institutes, etc.) with a very good representation from both Africa (24 countries represented) and Europe (17 countries).

The event proceedings are now available online: Agenda | Attendee list | Photo gallery | Videos | Event report| Event partners

In order to build EU-NZ researcher connections, and to highlight the opportunities for EU/NZ research collaboration in the field of Smart and sustainable cities, an European ICT tour has been organized by Sigma Orionis last week as a part of the ACCESS4EU:NZ project.

Representatives of the Universities of Auckland, Otago, Waikato, Canterbury and SCION Crown Research Institute involved in the field of smart and sustainable cities, attended this tour from November 12 to 16 2012, in Brussels and Barcelona.

The outputs have been very positive in terms of knowledge sharing on the Smart and sustainable cities research field and funding opportunities in Europe. This tour has also enabled the New Zealand delegates to strengthen and develop their links with Europe while networking with key projects, research institutes and European organisations interested in EU-NZ research cooperation.

Visit the ACCESS4EU:NZ website here for complementary information.

The OpenChina-ICT Dialogue Conference, organised by Sigma Orionis in cooperation with BSEAC (Beijing Software Enterprise Advisory Center) welcomed over 240 delegates from Europe and China at Wenjin hotel in Beijing last November 15-16, 2012.

Were present, in particular, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), the Ministry for Industry and Information and Technology (MIIT), the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the Delegation of the European Union to China and representatives from the European Commission.

The Dialogue Conference aimed at developing concrete recommendations for actions for international cooperation in ICT between Europe and China. It comprised one day dedicated to discussions on EU-China cooperation opportunities and on facilitating policy dialogue between these two regions. On the second day, a matchmaking session welcomed 12 European organisations and 42 Chinese organisations and resulted in the signing of 46 MOU agreements in the morning, in the afternoon, delegates had the opportunity to visit two local ICT institutions in Beijing.

The presentations, the online agenda, the event report and the pictures can be accessed here.

Two follow-up Chinese workshops will be organised in the second quarter of 2013 to further discuss on the identified research topics for EU-China cooperation.

]]> http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/11/16/a-eu-china-conference-organized-with-sigma%e2%80%99s-support-on-nov-15-16-in-beijing/feed/ 0 http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/10/19/sigma-orionis-organized-the-2012-nem-summit-in-istanbul-on-oct-16-18/ http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/10/19/sigma-orionis-organized-the-2012-nem-summit-in-istanbul-on-oct-16-18/#comments Fri, 19 Oct 2012 08:18:33 +0000 sigma-orionis.com http://sigma-orionis.com/?p=521 October 16, 2012October 18, 2012

Sigma Orionis, a member of the NEM Steering Board and of the NEM Executive Group, also chairs the NEM Summit Organising Committee, organized the fifth edition of the NEM Summit, which was successfully held from October 16 to 18 in Istanbul, Turkey on the theme “Implementing Future Internet towards new horizons”

It has attracted over 320 delegates and over 20 exhibitors from Europe, Turkey, and other regions of the world, and has been supported by over 25 sponsors. The conference features 40 speakers and authors selected following a competitive call for papers and 7 co-located parallel workshops organized by EU-funded projects and other initiatives.

Beyond the conference itself, the programme included the European MediaTech Investment Forum organised by Media Deals with the support of the European Commission, to connect SMEs and entrepreneurs to European investors.

It also included a NEMart contest, a recurrent (since 2010) high profile fixture in the NEM Summit programme, inviting applications for real demonstrators/proof of concepts, which clearly show the exciting opportunities which exist when technology and art/design conjoin.

To access further details on the event, including the final attendee list and a Photo gallery, please visit the Event report section of the NEM Summit web site.

Sigma Orionis has been selected by DANTE following a RFP aimed to support the efforts of DANTE’s TEIN3 initiative in Southeast Asia, promoting the development of RENs (Research & Education Networks) in the region, and their connection to GEANT2.

Building upon its longstanding experience of cooperation with Southeast Asia (gained in particular through SEACOOP), Sigma Orionis organized a series of cooperation workshops in Southeast Asia and Bhutan:

• In Myanmar, Cambodia and Lao PDR from May 25 to 28, 2012 – more information here
• In Thimphu, Bhutan on September 12, 2012 – more information here

These series of workshops aimed to develop the next steps in the cooperation process between TEIN3/4 in each of the four target countries including:

• Helping to establish and develop NRENs,
• Convincing local research and education communities of the potential of research and education networking,
• Promoting the connection of NRENs to TEIN3 and TEIN4 and use of the international connectivity.

The third generation of the Trans-Eurasia Information Network (TEIN) provides a dedicated high-capacity Internet network for research and education communities across Asia-Pacific. TEIN3 already connects researchers and academics in China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Australia. Bangladesh and Bhutan are also in the process of getting connected. -

Following the success of these events and thanks to the support brought by Sigma Orionis, it is expected that Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Bhutan will soon be officially added to this list.

This project, a “Support Action” funded by the European Commission under FP7 (FET programme) will officially start on October 1st, 2012 and will include the following activities:

• Establishment of a Scientific Panel bringing together leading experts in key scientific domains
• Organisation of two workshops bringing together key scientists and researchers in the most relevant disciplines,
• Organisation of a public event,
• Preparation and release of a set of recommendations for the European Commission.

For more information please contact us.

]]> http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/09/05/sigma-orionis-will-be-involved-in-a-new-fet-project-on-social-collective-intelligence/feed/ 0 http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/08/28/launch-of-2-new-integrated-projects-ips-involving-sigma-orionis/ http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/08/28/launch-of-2-new-integrated-projects-ips-involving-sigma-orionis/#comments Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:31:01 +0000 sigma-orionis.com http://sigma-orionis.com/?p=474 Sigma Orionis is very pleased to announce its involvement in 2 new Integrated Projects by the European Commission and to be officially launched in the last quarter of 2012.

These projects are:

RESILIENT (09/2012 to 08/2016): ‘Coupling renewable, storage and ICTs for low carbon intelligent energy management at district level’, coordinated by D’Appolonia SPA, Italy and including 14 partners from all around Europe.
FLAGSHIP (10/2012 to 09/2015): ‘Forward looking analysis of grand societal challenges and innovative policies’, coordinated by Istituto di Studi per l’Integrazione dei Sistemi (ISIS), Italy and including 16 partners from all around Europe.

Large scale integrating collaborative projects (IPs) are objective-driven (large) research projects, that aim at generating new knowledge, including new technology, or common resources for research in order to improve European competitiveness, or to address major societal needs. They have clearly defined scientific and technological objectives directed at obtaining specific results, which could be applicable in terms of development or improvement of products, processes, services or policy.

Do not hesitate to contact us for further details on these projects.

]]> http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/08/28/launch-of-2-new-integrated-projects-ips-involving-sigma-orionis/feed/ 0 http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/08/20/launch-of-3-new-e-infrastructure-projects-involving-sigma-orionis/ http://sigma-orionis.com/2012/08/20/launch-of-3-new-e-infrastructure-projects-involving-sigma-orionis/#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2012 07:29:30 +0000 sigma-orionis.com http://sigma-orionis.com/?p=470 Sigma Orionis is very pleased to announce its participation in 3 new e-Infrastructure projects supported by the European Commission and to be officially launched in the last quarter of 2012.

These 3 projects are:

• pro-iBiosphere (09/2012 to 08/2014): ‘Coordination and policy development in preparation for a European Open Biodiversity Knowledge Management’, coordinated by Naturalis, Netherlands and involving 8 partners from all around Europe,
• ei4Africa (11/2012 to 10/2014): ‘Teaming up for exploiting e-Infrastructures’ potential to boost RTDI in Africa’ coordinated by Sigma Orionis and involving 9 partners from Europe and Africa,
• CHAIN-REDS (12/2012 to 05/2015): ‘Coordination and harmonisation of advanced e-Infrastructures for research and education data sharing’ coordinated by Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Italy and involving 9 partners from Europe, South America and Asia.

The e-Infrastructures activity, as a part of the Research Infrastructures programme of the European Commission, focuses on ICT-based infrastructures and services that cut across a broad range of user disciplines. It aims at empowering researchers with an easy and controlled online access to facilities, resources and collaboration tools, bringing to them the power of ICT for computing, connectivity, storage and instrumentation.

For further information on these projects please contact us.

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