The ERCOM Meeting 2022 took place on 25 and 26 March in Bilbao organised by BCAM

The meeting brought together the different ERCOM members in person and online

On 25 and 26 March, the annual ERCOM meeting took place at the Bizkaia Aretoa in
Bilbao and virtually. Organised by the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics – BCAM,
the event brought together professionals from the different European mathematical
centres that are part of ERCOM and invited speakers. This annual meeting aims to carry
out discussion on the situation of mathematics in Europe and seeks synergies between
the member centres in order to establish common strategies.

On Friday, the day began with a welcome address by Adam Skalski, President of
ERCOM, and Jose A. Lozano, scientific director of BCAM, which continued with
presentation of BCAM, the organisation of the centre and the presentation of the
Knowledge Transfer Unit (KTU). This was followed by a presentation of the Alfréd Rényi
Institute of Mathematics by its director András Stipsicz, who explained the organisation
of the centre and its activities.

Sylvie Benzoni, director of Institut Henri Poincaré, presented the results of the survey
sent to the mathematical community of ERCOM. Under the title On the future of scientific
exchange, ideas were collected on how future scientific events will be carried out, where
the idea of maintaining the hybrid format in the future was highlighted. In addition, several
discussion groups were created to launch ideas for improvement on different topics such
as gender, events, synergies, etc.

In parallel, a meeting was held with representatives from the administration of the centres
to discuss relevant issues, such as telework and gender, and to share ideas for
improvement.

Friday ended with the participation of David Abrahams, professor at the University of
Cambridge and former scientific director of the Isaac Newton Institute for the
Mathematical Sciences, who presented the UK Academy of Mathematical Sciences
initiative which aims to promote and ensure the health of the mathematical sciences in
the UK.

The second day of the ERCOM meeting began with a presentation on the conflict in
Ukraine and how it has affected the mathematical community. Tomas Vejchodsky,
director of the del Institute of Mathematics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, explained
the measures taken by ERCOM, the presentation of the new website for refugee aid
https://ercom.org/help-for-refugees.html and the situation of different countries in relation
to refugees. In addition, initiatives, such as the possibility of welcoming mathematicians
to European centres through different programmes and job offers were presented.

The meeting continued with several sessions on industrial mathematics where Zoltán
Horváth, president of Eu-math-in, spoke about the initiative to boost mathematics for
industry in Europe. Will Schilders, president-elect of the International Council for
Industrial and Applied Mathematics, presented ICIAM, a worldwide organisation for
professional societies of applied mathematics, and for other societies with a significant
interest in industrial or applied mathematics, and their organization, ICIAM 2023
congress and other initiatives. To conclude the presentation of entities related to
industrial mathematics, Nataša Krejić, president of the European Consortium for
Mathematics in Industry, spoke about ECMI’s structure and activities in research,
education and dissemination.

This was followed by presentations by several centres on how they approach industrial
mathematics in their centres, as well as concrete examples of applications. The first
From Steel to Stellar Imaging – Mathematics for Industrial Applications, was given by
Ronny Ramlau, Scientific Director – Managing Director of the Johann Radon Institute for
Computational and Applied Mathematics. The following speakers from the Weierstrass
Institute (WIAS) Torsten Koehler (Knowledge Transfer) and Matthias Liero (Researcher),
discussed the impact of mathematical modelling, analysis and simulation in
understanding and improving nano- and optoelectronics using the example of organic
semiconductor devices used for new lighting applications.

Last but not least, Lluís Alsedà, scientific director of the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica,
and David Romero, from the Knowledge and Technology Transfer unit, presented three
ways of tackling industrial challenges. The ERCOM Meeting 2022 ended with the words
of Adam Skalski, President of ERCOM.

About ERCOM

ERCOM is an European Mathematical Society (EMS) committee consisting of Scientific
Directors and Administrators of European Research Centres in the Mathematical
Sciences, or their chosen representatives. Only European centres which are institutional
members of the EMS, predominantly research oriented, with an international scientific
board and a large international visiting programme, covering a broad area of the
Mathematical Sciences are eligible for representation in ERCOM.

BCAM Communication
BCAM – Basque Center for Applied Mathematics
Alameda de Mazarredo, 14
E-48009 Bilbao, Basque Country – Spain
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