The last General Assembly of EMIRI was held on March 31 with the presence of our special guest the EU Commissioner Peter Dröll and more than 60 attendees.
The session started with a brief welcoming and introduction session by Egbert Lox, the former Chairman of EMIRI and was followed by the presentation of the news on the Horizon EU launch by Peter Dröll, Director of Prosperity at the European Commission – DG Research and Innovation. After his presentation, the attendees had the opportunity to resolve any doubts on the new Horizon programme with a Q&A session.
Coming back from a quick coffee break, Philippe Jacques, EMIRI’s Managing Director, updated all the members on the activities and achievements of the past year 2020, as well as the 2020 financials and accounts that were approved during the same meeting. He went through the strategy and activities planned for the current year 2021 and he also presented this year’s budget that was also approved by the EMIRI members. In addition to that, the Managing Director used this opportunity to introduce the new Communication Officer, Gemma Garcia, who presented the EMIRI Communication Plan for 2021.
To conclude the session, an election was held to renew the one available seat for Research Director. The members had to choose between Karim Sidi Ali Cherif from CEA and Luggi Mozzochi from RSE. With 74% of the votes, Karim won the seat and entered as a new member of the Steering Committee. Currently the Steering Committee is structured as it follows:
- Chairman: Eric Peeters – Dow
- Vice-Chair – Research: Karim Sidi Ali Cherif – CEA
- Vice-Chair – Treasurer: Philippe Thibaux – ArcelorMittal
- Vice-Chair: Tine Naerland – IFE, Institute for Energy Technology
- Director: Hans Aage Hjuler – Blue World Technologies
- Director: Thomas Soller – Siemens
- Director: Ludovic Odoni – Solvay
- Director: Fabrice Stassin – Umicore
- Director: John Oakey – Cranfield University
- Observer: Rodrigo Martins – E-MRS, European Materials Research Society
- Observer: Klaus Peters – ESTEP, European Steel Technology Platform
- Observer: Amaya Igartua – Eumat
- Observer: Anne-Chloé Devic – Suschem