The Directorate of  Technical and Quality Management started this initiative in 2006 to increase and stimulate exchanges with universities, research institutes and industry to widen the access of ESA to new technologies and laboratory capabilities.
This initiative addresses the needs of the directorate of Technical and Quality Management  and complements other initiatives of ESA with universities, research institutes and industry. It is implemented through the financing or co-financing of PhD or Post-Doctoral research work in university laboratories or institutes with the goal to enhance research for space applications in general and to take advantage of potential spin-in for space from technologies initially intended for other application domains.
Now, after 3 years of operation, ESA provided the opportunity to present the activities and results hereof and exchange on experiences of the participants to the initiative.
Six oral presentations and nearly 40 poster presentations were given. After lunch there was a lively discussion with the participants on their experiences and possible improvements of the initiative.

The final programme of the day and the abstract book as well as the link to the oral and poster presentations can be found here