Review: Vienna IT Enterprises (VITE) trip to Belgium 16th-18th of April, 2008

Published
by
Bernhard Schmid
  on  May 16, 2008
  in  About CITT, Austria and EU funding programmes
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I am very glad to have the opportunity to be a nowEurope contributer. With my first article I would like to greet and welcome all readers of this page warmly.

The Brussels office of the Vienna Business Agency (VBA) and VITE organised from the 16th to the 18th of April 2008 a business trip to Brussels and Leuven for IT enterprises from Austria and the CENTROPE region.

VITE members and also two representatives of the Slovak cluster BITERAP were among the participants. In the centre of this “business visit” stood the buildup of international contacts and cooperation, information about EU programs, exchange of experience and Networking.

The participants had within a matchmaking event the opportunity for personal conversations with Belgian enterprises and networks as well as to get to know institutions of the European Union.

“In particular the numerous talks, reports of experience and conversations about EU grants were helpful for me and a knowledge revitalisation for the future development of the SysConn. The business Matchmaking was an excellent initiative, very close to market where I could generate some very interesting contacts. I thank very much for the perfect organisation and realisation of the business Days in 2008 in Brussels” said Mr. Alexander Herzog of the company Connexio.

3-day program in Brussels and Flanders

The 3-day program included the visit of the internationally famous research centre IMEC (Interuniversity Mirco Electronics Centre) in Leuven. There the group also met representatives of the Belgian networks LSec (Leuvense Security Excellence Consortium), DSP Valley (Digitally signal Processing and embedded technolgies) and Leuven Inc (Leuven innovation Circle).

An evening reception in the “Vienna House” in Brussels with numerous guests from the European institutions, the regional connecting offices and enterprises richly offered opportunites for discussions and networking in an informal atmosphere.

The keynote speaker was Paul Rübig, member of the European Parliament. Specialized lectures came from Günther Krumpak of ITBeurope, and Günther Schneider of Microsoft.

A visit and exchanges of information in the European committee (DG INFSO) as well as a guided tour of the European Parliament closed the program.

Here are some photos of the Brussels trip.

Here is more information about the Brussels trip (in German)

  • Bernhard Schmid
    Thank you for your response, Steven. The trip was indeed very good, although it was a lot of work for preparation ;-) I hope, that some contacts might lead to concrete business, think we will evaluate it in about 6 month. But so far we had some interesting requests.
  • Steven Carlson
    Glad to see you at nowEurope, Bernhard! That sounds like an excellent trip. I always enjoy new people and stimulating ideas. Do you see that any of these contacts will result in new business relationships?
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