18 Dec SMARTWORK HOLDS SECOND PLENARY MEETING IN ENSCHEDE, NETHERLANDS, 27-28 NOVEMBER 2019

SmartWork partners met recently in Enschede, Netherlands, for the second plenary meeting of the Consortium. This followed a successful consortium meeting in June 2019 in Coimbra, Portugal and the initial kick-off meeting in Athens in January 2019.

Warmly welcomed by SmartWork partner Roessingh Research and Development (RRD) to their offices in Enschede, partners took the opportunity to reflect on the significant progress made in Year 1, review the status of deliverables due in December 2019, and plan for the next phase of the SmartWork project as it moves into Year 2.

On Day One, the morning discussion reflected on the progress made by partners since the first Technical Meeting in September 2019. Partners discussed the current state of SmartWork technological achievements and outcomes, as well as technical issues and blocking points, relating to the system specification and architecture. There was a short working session on intervention strategies and their impact on the technical progress and behaviour of the SmartWork system, and Raising the Floor led a wireframes walkthrough related to the different services and tools in an integrated workflow.

The afternoon session focused on WP9, with highlights presented from Year 1 communication and dissemination activities. Partners looked ahead to Year 2, with discussion around the initial exploitation plan for SmartWork and a constellation analysis to identify potential links, projects and partners to be included in upcoming standardisation and concertation activities.

Day Two opened with a detailed presentation of the latest updates on developing sensors, artificial intelligence (AI) and Global Public Inclusive Infrastructure (GPII). Partners also heard about the current status of work on ubiquitous workplace and accessible personalized interaction interfaces, work flexibility tools and on-demand training. There followed an open discussion on the upcoming field trials, particularly with regard to their organisation, inclusion, technical developments, risks and establishing an evaluation framework.

The plenary concluded with an overview of plans for the next six months and partners agreed that there would be a Technical meeting in London in February, with the next Plenary to follow in Barcelona in May 2020.

After the official end of the plenary, the technical partners spent the afternoon together to discuss the outcomes of the plenary and implications for future technical developments, integration and piloting.