Joint Boards Meeting at ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich hosted the Joint Boards Meeting on 17 March 2008. The following issues were discussed.

I-New Excellence Cluster Mobility

It was decided that a new Excellence Cluster 'Mobility' will be added under the leadership of RWTH Aachen. This step brings the number of IDEA League Excellence Clusters to five: 'Health' under the leaderships of Imperial College London, 'Energy' under the leadership of TU Delft, 'Environment' under the leadership of ETH Zurich, 'ICT' under the leadership of ParisTech, and now – new – 'Mobility' under the leadership of RWTH Aachen.

II-Roadmap for IDEA League Excellence Clusters

The Heads of the IDEA League partner universities agreed on a roadmap for the Excellence Clusters. In order to provide the data on which the decision, how far each Excellence Cluster is to proceed, is made, each Cluster will provide a Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats (SWOT) - analysis. The possibilities of engagement range from taking the leadership in a KIC, down to applying only for FP7-funding. The Joint Board will make a decision on the Excellence Clusters in October 2008.

III-Collaborative PhD programmes

The IDEA League aims to establish collaborative PhD programmes in the areas of the Excellence Clusters. Rather than being structured centrally, these programmes will allow individual students to collaborate on their PhD thesis. 

IV-IDEA League Research Grant

From now on, each IDEA League partner has one grant of 10,000 € available for professors active in an Excellence Cluster to do research at another IDEA League partner university.