To prepare the European Robotics Week 2019 (#ERW2019), ten National Coordinators met in Brussels on 7 June. The aim of the meeting was to foster networking between national coordinators and provide creative approaches for this year's activities.
The gathering of national coordinators from such a variety of European countries provided an opportunity to showcase national approaches and activities, to share ideas and encourage individual national coordinators.
This year’s workshop demonstrated once again the common concerns of national coordinators – funding, engagement with educators and the public, setting accurate perceptions about robots and robotics – and highlighted the differences in resourcing available to national coordinators. It also served to highlight the positive and powerful impact of the personal entrepreneurial drive of individuals in securing resources and getting things done. Indeed, the resourcefulness of individuals was a strong current in this year’s workshop. Through a change to the format used in previous years, delegates were able to generate perhaps a greater number of creative ideas and moments of inspiration this year.
As always, the brokerage and coordinating capabilities of euRobotics at the centre of the European robotics sector was recognised and appreciated. We thank all participants for their contributions at this year’s workshop and we wish them all well in their preparations for the next ERW.