EuMA President’s Address

The European Microwave Association (EuMA) is an international non-profit organisation founded in 1998 in Belgium. Its stated aim is to: promote European microwaves, networking and uniting microwave scientists and engineers in Europe, provide a single voice for European microwave scientists and engineers in Europe, attain full recognition of microwaves by the European Union, and circulate information among European microwave scientists and engineers.

Roberto Sorrentino
President
European Microwave Association

EuMW – a Key Initiative

Undoubtedly, the Association’s most important initiative is European Microwave Week (EuMW), Europe's premier microwave, RF, wireless and radar event, which started in Amsterdam in 1998 and is now in its ninth year. Originally, the EuMA was created to provide a stable legal entity for managing and promoting the European Microwave Conference (EuMC) — the prestigious European conference on microwave technology dating back to 1969.

Indeed, the creation of EuMW, with the inclusion of three additional conferences on related subjects: the Gallium Arsenide Application Symposium (GAAS), which has now evolved into the European Microwave Integrated Circuit Conference (EuMIC), the European Conference on Wireless Technologies (ECWT), and, since 2003, the European Radar Conference (EuRAD), in addition to the exhibition, which is the largest trade show dedicated to RF and microwaves in Europe, has been the most successful initiative undertaken by the EuMA.

Impressive Statistics

The importance of this event for academics, students and industrialists is clearly evidenced by EuMW 2006 figures: 1176 papers submitted from 51 countries, 546 oral presentations, 246 posters, more than 300 exhibiting companies, taking up 7500 m² of gross exhibition space and an estimated attendance of around 4000 visitors. Such statistics are the product of active promotion. Participation at EuMW conferences has been promoted by reduced fees for students and senior persons, student grants and grants for delegates from NIS and Russia, and best paper prizes (including student papers), some sponsored by industries (Raytheon and Sony) are awarded. The total value amounts to €24,000.

Emergence of Asia Pacific

With regards to participation it is worth stressing that, after the UK, the second largest contributor of submitted papers to the EuMC is Korea, followed by Germany and Japan. Overall, more than 25 percent of the contributions to EuMW come from the Asia Pacific region. This is a clear indication of the increasing interest that such countries are showing towards EuMW and generally towards EuMA. It is expected that Asia Pacific contributions will increase even further in future years and this will certainly have some impact on EuMW as well as on the European microwave industry and its market. Important first contacts have been established that will help to identify the most appropriate approach to collaboration for the mutual benefit of Europe and the Asia Pacific region.

EuMA’s Evolution

Although the most important initiative, EuMW is only a part of EuMA activities. Indeed, in the last three years the Association has evolved significantly. Originally limited to a small number of representatives constituting the General Assembly (the highest governing body of the EuMA), since 2004 the Association has been open to all qualified microwave experts, including students, not only from Europe but from all over the world. This fundamental change will increasingly affect not only the Association but also the whole European microwave community. At the same time, the General Assembly has been enlarged to 35 members in order to include more representatives of European countries or groups of countries. And, in the near future I expect the GA to include members from outside Europe.

Information on ongoing EuMA activities is distributed to all EuMA members through a quarterly electronic newsletter. The EuMC Proceedings Archive, a DVD containing all papers that appeared in the EuMC Proceedings from 1969 to 2003, has been produced and is available at a discounted price to EuMA members.

In order to increase the scope of the Association and specifically to circulate information among its members, a new journal, the Proceedings of the European Microwave Association (in short: the EuMA Proceedings), was launched in 2004. The journal provides information on scientific and technical innovation in areas of interest to the EuMA, namely in microwave technology, including antenna and device technologies for microwave and millimetre-waves up to optical frequency applications. Although it was recognized that there are already several outstanding technical journals in the area of microwave and radio frequency techniques, it was felt that a European Microwave journal was needed as the official voice of the EuMA, a communication link among microwave engineers in Europe and the world, between academy and industry, Western and Eastern countries, students and scientists.

Industrial Liaison

From the very beginning it was recognized that the EuMA had to represent the interests of both academia and industry (the founder members constituted four from academia and two from industry). Nevertheless, the majority of people involved in the management of EuMA activities are from universities. The transfer of academic results into commercial products is of vital interest for the economical benefit of the region and the feedback of emerging problems of industry into research is of vital importance too.

In order to enhance this mutual interaction and promote the involvement of industrial partners into EuMA activities, an Industrial Liaison Committee (ILC) has become established as an individual body of EuMW. Headed up by distinguished and experienced individuals from industry, representatives of all different sectors of high-frequency-related industry offer suggestions and opinions on new subjects and organisational format to the program committee and to the organizers of the conferences and the exhibition. As a result recent initiatives have seen the stronger involvement of the defence and homeland security industry and the encouragement of small and medium enterprises to participate through low rate exhibition space such as shared pavilions. This greater inclusivity and involvement is encouraging but affords room for further engagement.

EuMA – Future Challenges

In the few years since its creation, the EuMA has become a well established reality in Europe, having considerable visibility and being capable of entertaining relations and negotiating with the most important professional societies in our field. Nevertheless, in a constantly and rapidly changing world, EuMA will have to evolve too. On the one hand the Association will have to consolidate its role in Europe through the numerous initiatives it already undertakes. On the other hand, in the area of information and communication technologies, the European community needs to create its own identity and self-awareness and to strengthen and restructure its areas of research and improve the competitiveness of European industries. From this respect, EuMA can play an important role in the near future, by establishing cooperative links with companion associations in related areas or by stimulating the creation of such associations.

Finally, as already mentioned, the emergence of the Asia Pacific region in the world’s technology arena is going to constitute a new challenge that EuMA will accept in view of establishing extended co-operative relations at a global level, in order to achieve an even more significant role in the scientific and technical community worldwide.