A European network for 3D collaboration
A European research network in 3D multimedia was initiated within the EU COST Association in 2012. Now four years later the researchers were gathered one last time to report their results. Professor Pedro Assunçao is chair of the Action and he is quite satisfied with the results from this network of researchers in 3D multimedia.
What was the goal of this Action?
The goal was to create a consortium of European researchers within the 3D multimedia field. Before this action there was just smaller collaborations between universities on an individual level. Today universities, research institutes and companies from 24 different countries have participated in the Action, collaborated in joint research and arranged meetings, workshops, training schools, organizing special sessions in conferences and research exchanges.
What is the main outcome?
The results are positive. We have created this new research network where we had arranged more than 20 short terms of scientific mission. This have resulted in several joint publications, joint research work and new joint research projects, so we have achieved both scientific and networking goals. This COST Action have created a group of people that know each other and each other’s research very well and there are already new ideas for potential joint research projects. This Action has made it much easier to collaborate in the future.
How has the cooperation worked out?
There have been some challenges during the way. One challenge for me, as chair, was to bring together all countries and all research areas in a quite diverse technological chain - from capturing to displaying 3D. It is a very broad research field and it has been quite challenging to bring it all together. But I think we achieved good results in joining the parts.
The other challenge was that there is no research funding within a COST Action, only funding for networking activities. The researchers have to find funding for their research at national level, but the results may be quite different because they all have different preconditions.
What is the next step?
We already started some new research cooperation’s within the network, for example the new Marie Curie project “European Training Network on Full-Parallax Imaging” that Mid Sweden University is a partner in. There are also partners that want to propose a new COST Action within a slightly different area. It is only one month left until the application need to be submitted so we will see quite soon how it goes.
Professor Pedro Assunçao chair of the EU COST Action