The European Robotics Week 2019 (#ERW2019) is on its way. 

euRobotics invites National Coordinators and event organisers to start organising #ERW2019, and already sign-up their events on the dedicated map. National coordinators actively promote the Week in their country among robotics organizations and encourage them to organise various robotics events for the public. euRobotics has an enhanced page on the website to promote the national coordinators and show gratitude for their involvement. Suggestions for coordinators at national or regional levels can be sent at secretariat@eu-robotics.net.

To ensure a smooth preparation, euRobotics drafted the event report of ERW2018 and a set of recommendations following the National Coordinators Meeting 2018, held in Gent. Taking the key points identified by delegates under the three themes of the National Coordinators Meeting 2018, Outreach, Sponsorship and Education, together with subsequent discussion, several recommendations have been drawn (read the summary prepared by Stephen Doswell for euRobotics).

The ERW2018 workshop demonstrated the common concerns of national coordinators – funding, engagement with educators and the public, setting accurate perceptions about robots and robotics – and accentuated the differences in resourcing available to national coordinators. As always, the workshop provided examples of a rich variety of ERW activities in countries across Europe. It also served to highlight the positive and powerful impact of the personal entrepreneurial drive of individuals in securing resources and getting things done.

Moreover, and perhaps to a greater extent than in previous years, the 2018 workshop was itself a powerful collaborative forum. Genuine connections were made, insights were generated and collectively, participants gave a clear sense of coming together as a functioning network and perhaps in some cases even as a team, with the brokerage and coordinating capabilities of euRobotics at the centre.

On the evidence in Gent in 2018, ERW continues to gain strength as an institution. The ERW2019 National Coordinators Meeting is taking place on 7 June, in Brussels (Belgium). Its aim is to foster networking between national coordinators and provide creative approaches for this year's activities. Let’s make #ERW2019 an even greater success and get to 1200 events organised all over Europe this year!