Informatics Europe is an association of informatics departments in Europe founded in 2006. Its members (institutions rather than individuals) are PhD-granting departments of informatics, computer science, computing etc. in universities as well as public and industrial research centers in information and software technology etc. in Europe. As of September 2011, Informatics Europe had 62 members from 22 different European countries including e.g. Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

, Intel, and Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research

Microsoft Research is the research division of Microsoft created in 1991 for developing various computer science ideas and integrating them into Microsoft products. It currently employs Turing Award winners C.A.R. Hoare, Butler Lampson, and Charles P...

 as industrial members.

Informatics Europe is similar to the Computing Research Association

Computing Research Association

The Computing Research Association is an association of more than 220 North American academic departments of computer science, computer engineering, and related fields; laboratories and centers in industry, government, and academia engaging in basic computing research; and affiliated professional...

 (CRA) in North America, but unlike the CRA, it does not include informatics departments that are granting bachelor or master degrees only. Informatics Europe is also related to scientific organizations like
the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) and the ACM Europe Council of the Association for Computing Machinery

Association for Computing Machinery

The Association for Computing Machinery is a learned society for computing. It was founded in 1947 as the world's first scientific and educational computing society. Its membership is more than 92,000 as of 2009...

.

Mission

The charter of Informatics Europe is to "foster the development of quality research and teaching" in informatics

Informatics (academic field)

Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...

, which the association defines as "information and computing sciences".

Activities

Informatics

Informatics (academic field)

Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...

 is a very international academic discipline of research and high-level education. An association like Informatics Europe represents the interests of its member academic departments and research laboratories in the discipline at the European scientific and policy level, to foster the science of the field, its practice and professions. Activities include:

• regularly publishing reports on topics such as image of the Informatics discipline, attracting students, curriculum improvement, researcher evaluation and other topics of interest to the informatics community at large.

• supporting initiatives at the European level aimed at quality assurance for university research and education programs in Informatics
  Informatics (academic field)
  Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...
  
   such as EQANIE
  EQANIE
  EQANIE is a non-profit association seeking to enhance evaluation and quality assurance of informatics study programmes and education in Europe...
  
  , the European Quality Assurance Network for Informatics Education.

• passing on experiences in managing (academic) research and education institutions, to improve the leadership in European Informatics and strengthen the general awareness of common issues and challenges across boundaries e.g. by organizing an annual event for new heads of Informatics departments and new directors of research and/or education of Informatics programs.

• liaising with industries, companies, and organizations (like the European Union
  European Union
  The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
  
  ) in the ICT domain, to foster the development and importance of the scientific discipline for progress in information technology.

European Computer Science Summits

Through annual European Computer Science Summits (ECSS), the association brings relevant themes and trends in Informatics

Informatics (academic field)

Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...

 to the foreground, from a scientific, educational, strategic, professional or policy viewpoint. The Summits held since 2005 include:

• 1st ECSS, 2005, October 20–21, Zurich, Switzerland (ECSS 2005)
• 2nd ECSS, 2006, October 16–17, Zurich, Switzerland (ECSS 2006)
• 3rd ECSS, 2007, October 8–9, Berlin, Germany (ECSS 2007)
• 4th ECSS, 2008, October 9–10, Zurich, Switzerland (ECSS 2008)
• 5th ECSS, 2009, October 8–9, Paris, France (ECSS 2009)
• 6th ECSS, 2010, October 12–13, Prague, Czech Republic (ECSS 2010)
• 7th ECSS, 2011, November 7–9, Milan, Italy (ECSS 2011)

History

The initiative to establish Informatics Europe was taken in 2005 during the first ECSS, organized by Bertrand Meyer

Bertrand Meyer

Bertrand Meyer is an academic, author, and consultant in the field of computer languages. He created the Eiffel programming language.-Education and academic career:...

 (ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich

The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....

) and Willy Zwaenepoel (EPFL Lausanne) as part of the `150 years ETH' activities; see for a report in Communications of the ACM

Communications of the ACM

Communications of the ACM is the flagship monthly journal of the Association for Computing Machinery . First published in 1957, CACM is sent to all ACM members, currently numbering about 80,000. The articles are intended for readers with backgrounds in all areas of computer science and information...

. Informatics Europe was officially created in 2006 at the second ECSS, chaired by Christine Choppy (Universite Paris XIII) and Jan van Leeuwen

Jan van Leeuwen

Jan van Leeuwen is a Dutch computer scientist, a professor at the Department of Information and Computing Sciences at the Utrecht University....

(Utrecht University

Utrecht University

Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....

).