OPEN DAYS 2009... here we go!

"The largest event for the regions and cities of Europe". That's how people call it. And it is waiting for us. This is not the first year that we collect information about the OPEN DAYS. In 2008, we offered several pieces of news about OPEN DAYS, but in fact we have been reporting on the Week of Regions and Cities of Europe in our spanish version since 2006.

This year we want to go one step further,and so, some members of the Euroalert.net team are moving to Brussels from 5 to 8 October 2009 to see first hand whether is true or not that is the OPEN DAYS the most important event for European cities and regions.

Moreover, of course, we are going to Brussels to offer you the best coverage of what is about to happen there: workshops, conferences, round tables and cultural activities will take place in Brussels those days to celebrate the European Week of Regions and Cities, OPEN DAYS 2009.

We also know that many of our readers and subscribers will be around, so it's a great oportunity for us to meet you: just send us an e-mail and we will try to make an appointment with you.

We will go on telling you what will our agenda for those days. Meanwhile, we'd like you to send us suggestions on the items that you find more relevant, in order that we pay more attention to them among the many possibilities offered by OPEN DAYS 2009: we want to maximize our participation and to offer you what really interest you.

By the way! The title of the Open Days 2009 is "Global Challenges, European responses" ... In Euroalert.net, as you see, our bigger challenge offering you better information and services day after day.

Euroalert.net scores a goal!!!

We start the summer with an announcement that has little to do with the information from the European Union or the new features of Euroalert information widgets, but, anyway, we are very proud of it. For some months we have wanted to say you that this year Euroalert.net "has been in the courts" of the real world. Yes, yes, scoring goals for real! :-)

The truth is that in Euroalert.net we are completely convinced thatcorporate social responsibility (CSR)is a way to contribute to the community and further improve our competitive performance with a behaviour that goes beyond strict compliance with legal obligations. We believe that this is not a practice suitable only for large multinationals,so we have decided to act on what is closer to us, and we have tried to score a goal in the real world...

This season, handball team from La Salle College in Valladolid has begun to wear a sweatshirt sponsored by Euroalert.net. It is a small grain of sand with which we intend to support the basic sport, which almost always has limited resources, and we have all suffered that lack as we practised it.

We hope these guys get very far, and who knows...? perhaps this is the first step of a career which ends in a national team ..! ;-). In Euroalert.net we believe that there is no small challenge! but above all we wish that you enjoy training, competing and, overall, learning about teamwork.


We wish you all a happy summer. In Euroalert.net we don't close for holidays, and will continue offering you the best tools and informations on the European Union.

Euroalert.net at Seventh Framework Programme with the Future Internet

Last week we took part at the Information Day on Objective 1.2 of Seventh Framework Programme ICT Theme, with the objective to promote de participation of Euroalert.net in any of the consortia which are now being set up to submit proposals under Call 5.

The European Commission is betting high to boost the Future Internet, so European industry might have a key role in its creation thanks to the knowledge on new technologies which are to be developed under these ambitious R&D projects.

As you already know Euroalert.net has recently been a case study thanks to the innovative characteristics of its technology and business model, which combines some of the paradigms appeared under Web 2.0 wave of innovation. We are working on making our technology for digital contents distribution a relevant case in the so-called Internet of Services, so we think we might be an attractive real case for many projects. If any of you think that we might provide a valuable contribution from the point of view of a small company who competes globally in this Future Internet, don't hesitate and send us an email.

If something got clear after seeing the amount of participants and presentations that were made at the Info Day, is the great interest this call for proposals of the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013) is stirring up - and this, even a long time before the publication of ICT FP7 - Call 5 in the OJEU, what is due to happen by July 31st.

We also had the opportunity to meet a few old friends of us, some of them really by surprise like Ana Cidad and Tanja Vos from the Research Center on Software Production Methods from the UPV (Spain). As it is always the case in this type of events we met a lot of researchers with whom we shared interests and concerns, and with whom we expect to develop productive collaborations in a close future.

Here are some of the pictures we took at the event and, by the way, just apologize to our friends from GPM Factoría de Internet for having lost the picture of their presence at the Info Day. Good luck with your project for this call for proposals:

Crisis? What crisis?

Many of the contents Euroalert.net provides with to all our users and subscribers have lately been focused on the same burning issue, which is in fact one of the main concerns European citizens have expressed to their institutions: economic crisis. And the truth is that crisis is actually the talk of the town: it is in all newspapers front cover, opening all TV news and, of course, a new very common topic for chitchat...

In Euroalert.net we know crisis is there, that it is really serious and is probably going to be one of the historic events our grand-children will study at school. However, we would not like that a newcomer in conversations and news, makes anybody do without something that has already become an essential tool for our subscriber's work: Euroalert.net information widgets.

We all agree that information has become an essential item, at it is not a luxury thing one might do without in hard times. For that reason, Euroalert.net will not change tariffs for widgets this year, therefore maintaining the same pricing lists as for year 2008.

From Euroalert.net we aim not only to provide contents, but also solutions and tools to get out of the economic turn-down. Public procurement, as well as being one more source of wealth and employment for countries, is also a secure and reliable opportunity for businesses. EU Programmes boost many different areas such as research, training, culture or business support, and there are constantly calls for proposals which may be of great help in such fields. Euroalert.net offers them every day.

All these essential resources will keep on being available for everybody browsing our web to be informed about the European Union, as well as through Euroalert.net free widgets. And for all those wishing to enjoy a service adapted to their own needs, we will continue to provide Euroalert.net personalised widgets in the same conditions as we did last year.

So, quoting Vinton Cerf, one of the “fathers” of the Internet who happened to be with our friends from CTIC at the end of April: there are still people who “take a great deal of pleasure in providing information to others who can use it”... We like that!

The “most aware” Europe's Ear

A complete success, that's what's making Macarena Rodríguez with her blog La Oreja de Europa (Europe's Ear). Just a couple of days ago, we knew about La Oreja de Europa being elected as the Spanish representative in the Internet category for the 2009 European Parliament Prize for Journalism.

The European Parliament Prize for Journalism, which the EP awards for the second time in 2009, is a public reward for all those journalists who cover EU issues and contribute to a better understanding and image of Europe among its citizens. It is in the first phase of the EP Prize of Journalism, where La Oreja de Europa has been shortlisted as the Spanish representative in its category.

Euroalert.net has been in luck having Macarena as a contributor sending us some articles from the very heart of Brussels for the current news from the European Union section, and we are, of course, very happy for her nomination. Congratulations Macarena!, you are The most aware Europe's Ear ;-) All Euroalert.net Team wishes you the best for the finals!!!

Gateway S.C.S. will be one of the first 9 authorised consultants for the ILI Programme

It seems that Euroalert.net Official blog has lately become specialised in making important announcements... If last week we were posting on Euroalert.net as a case study for a book about Web 2.0 business models, what we have for you today are more good news: The company owner of Euroalert.net, Gateway S.C.S. has been qualified by the Spanish National Council of Chambers of Commerce to provide services within the Introductory Programme to International Competitive Bidding, the so-called "ILI Programme".

By the end of last year we talked about the the need to find new and imaginative solutions to tackle the crisis situation we are facing, and international public procurement and competitive bidding seems to be one of the most outstanding business opportunities, both for big or small companies, in the current uncertain scenario. It is within this same context, that the European Commission has decided to promote best practices to facilitate access of SMEs to public procurement contracts. This strategy involves, among other things, to provide companies with access to information about tender opportunities and offering them the tools they require in order to succeed in a highly competitive market.

Following this approach, the ILI Programme comes up as a means to bring Spanish companies, especially SMEs, closer to the business opportunities international competitive bidding market can offer them. Companies taking part in the ILI Programme will get familiar with the procedures and mechanisms for international competitive bidding. For that purpose, they will count on the advice from an authorised specialist appointed by the Spanish National Council of Chambers of Commerce, who will guide their first steps. Therefore, a consultant from Gateway S.C.S. has been one of the first nine authorised consultants to be appointed within the ILI Programme.

This will be one more good opportunity to share the knowledge Euroalert.net has gained in public procurement issues with its service of daily publication of Calls for Tenders from the European Union and some International Multilateral Organizations.

The experience you all, our subscribers, provide us with your suggestions, allowing us to improve our technology to automatically display and distribute these business opportunities using Euroalert.net widgets and web services, have with no doubt contributed to the appointment of Gateway S.C.S. to the ILI Programme.

We are now looking forward to getting started and transform all the knowledge that our participation in this new initiative will bring us, into new services and improvements for Euroalert.net, so all the community can benefit from them.

Euroalert.net as a case study

We want all of you to be part of a small but significant achievement for Euroalert.net, which is also due to its community, in other words, to all of you.

A few months ago, the particular and innovative features held by Euroalert.net, made us being invited to describe them and contribute a chapter for a book about Web 2.0 business models. The book has now been published by US publisher Springer under the title Web 2.0: The Business Model, which has been made up with different contributions from prestigious researchers from universities and companies worldwide.

Euroalert.net is the case study for chapter 6 entitled "Doing business by selling free services", where some of the business models which have emerged in the Internet's Web 2.0 era are characterized. Euroalert.net mixes their characteristics in order to offer you every day free and updated contents about the European Union, namely, Calls for proposals to fund projects, EU Programmes and initiatives, EU News and Public Procurement opportunities. If you can read in Spanish you will also find out a little bit more about the book in the blog Open Economy.

This a shared success from all Euroalert.net community, so... many thanks to all of you for making it possible!!!