Yesterday was finally the day: After personal meetings had been restricted by Covid for a long time, our project team was finally able to meet in person again.
All participants were welcomed warmly and with French charm by the host, the University of Lorraine. Introductory words were first spoken by Thierry Divoux CRAN Associated Director and Eric Rondeau, University of Lorraine. The hosts extended a warm welcome to all project partners and were visibly pleased to come together.
The dynamic continued with a presentation entitled "RED WoLF: State of affairs and perspectives" by the project leader Giuseppe Colantuono of Leeds Becket University. He described the growing dynamism of the project and introduced all the newcomers. "I keep noticing that a wide variety of people from outside are enjoying working with the RED WoLF project team. That's a nice development!" praised the project manager and passed the floor to the speakers from the pilot sites.
Brian Cassidy from Cork City Council reported on the progress of the pilots in Ireland. Ana Ospina added to the discussion, stating that many tenants are now under pressure from energy poverty and would rather not heat at all than think about installing a smart control system. It became clear that there are still some hurdles to be addressed in the project. The development of awareness meetings to raise consciousness was born as an idea. Ben Hill from OMBC added to the situation of pilots in Oldham. His presentation was followed by colleagues Pascal Dalicieux and David Wiszniewski, who are complementing the project for the French electricity producer EDF.
After the informative start, things got creative. Kerstin Köhler, communication manger of the project, threw ideas into the room about what components of future marketing could look like and involved everyone present in a creative dialogue. Some heads smoked, others bubbled over with ideas: The complexity and interdisciplinary competences of the project participants, which enrich the project, became particularly clear.
After lunch, Dave Cathedrall from OMBC reported on the Long Term Strategy, which was accompanied by a lively discussion.
A special highlight was the keynote speech by Inge Keymeulen, who rounded off the meeting as Interreg NWE representative.
After a short presentation of the "Mini-Pilot", the scientific part of the meeting continued with the discussion on "Research results and future initiatives", led by Sylvain Kubler. At the end of the first day, the project leader took the floor once again and introduced the closing.