The Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) is promoting knowledge about European project management with a dedicated forum taking place on April 23 and 24 at the IACTEC headquarters in Tenerife.
The 2025 ExGal-Twin Regional Workshop on European Project Management is an event organized by the ExGal-Twin project and the Office of Transfer and Institutional Actions (OTAI) of the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), under the title "Innovation in European Project Management: Challenges and Opportunities". The main objective of this workshop is to bring together R&D&I entities from all over the Canary Islands to promote the exchange of experiences, good practices and innovative approaches in the management of European projects.
Over the course of these two days, the approximately 40 participants had the opportunity to interact with experts from various institutions, addressing the main challenges and opportunities facing European project managers in the regional context. The program included presentations on project management within the Horizon Europe framework, the potential of Artificial Intelligence in project management, and lessons learned from regional and international experts. The event was organised by Laura Riba Costa, manager of the ExGal-Twin project.
The workshop began with welcoming remarks by Javier Franco Hormiga, director of the Canary Islands Agency for Research, Innovation and the Information Society (ACIISI), who underlined the importance of this type of initiative to strengthen and promote the management of European projects in the Canary Islands.
The ExGal-Twin project, acronym for Excellence in Galaxies - Twinning the IAC, is a European initiative within the Horizon Europe WIDERA programme, in the Twinning modality (HORIZON-WIDERA-2023-ACCESS-02-01). Its main objective is to strengthen the research capacity, profile and impact of the IAC in the field of galaxies by establishing strategic alliances with three internationally renowned partners: the University of Groningen (RUG), in the Netherlands; the CNRS - Observatoire Astronomique de Strasbourg (ObAS), in France; and the University of Durham (ICC), in the United Kingdom.
The project, coordinated by researcher Johan Knapen, involves 40 researchers from the IAC's extragalactic area and promotes collaborative research, developing strategies to increase competitiveness and ensure sustainable improvements. It also aims to strengthen the IAC's capabilities in key areas such as high-level project management, administration, and the development of strategic skills. Furthermore, it will promote advances in excellence and best practices, which will be shared with public and private entities in the Canary Islands.
Entities attending:
Agencia Canaria de Investigación, Innovación y Sociedad de la Información (ACIISI-Gobierno de Canarias)
Arquimea Research Center, S.L.U.
Instituto Español de Oceanografía (EOI)
Centro Oceanográfico de Canarias (COC)
Fundación General de La Universidad de La Laguna (FGULL)
Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias (ITC)
Instituto Tecnológico y de Energías Renovables (ITER)
La Palma Research Center (LPRC)
Parque Científico y Tecnológico de Tenerife, S.A. (PCTT)
Parque Tecnológico de Fuerteventura, SA (PTFSA)
Universidad de La Laguna (ULL)
