DG ITEC's Innovation Week at the European Parliament

To celebrate its first anniversary, the Innovation department opened its doors to colleagues and visitors at the EP, from 20 to 24 March, through a stand showcasing its projects and promoting an innovation culture inside the EP.

For 5 days, the Innovation team provided information and explanations on their activities and on the tools developed in their Innovation lab, a space used for testing, developing and analysing the latest trends in the technological field. Some of the main projects highlighted included:

• The INNOVATE! platform, an idea management platform that aims at collecting and promoting ICT innovative ideas inside the EP, where staff can share ideas for colleagues to vote and comment. The ideas with most votes are ultimately submitted to a working group for approval and decision on implementation.
• Augmented and virtual reality: a proof of concept using augmented reality showed how you can attend virtually a committee meeting, through an immersive, 360º experience, with extra interactive information available - check out this demo.
• Data Analytics: through sentiment and behaviour analysis we can have an insight into user's emotional perceptions, for example, simply by tracking a topic on social media.
• 3D printing, prototype and possible uses in the future.
• BotITEC (Robot ITEC), a mobile telepresence system, which drew a lot of attention to the stand, and actually allowed colleagues in other locations to take part.
• Demos and proof of concepts using different emerging technologies, such as geo-localisation and wireless chargers.

In its first year, the Innovation team has established a strong network with the major companies and starts-up around Europe to follow their latest offers.

Throughout the week, many people visited the stand, including the EP's President, Antonio Tajani, the first EP Vice-President, Mairead McGuinness, and the Vice-President in charge of ICT, Evelyn Gebhardt. For MEP Gebhardt, "the Innovation week is a window to let us glimpse a possible future working at the European Parliament". MEP McGuinness confessed: "DG ITEC is doing incredible work putting the European Parliament at the cutting edge of technology."

For the Innovation team this first experience reaching out to colleagues and MEPs directly and in person was very positive: "What has impressed us is the amount of feedback that we got from our visitors. Experimenting with different solutions pushes people to be more proactive and share ideas and thoughts", according to Dine Aouadi, Head of the Innovation Department.

Read more on the ITEC Innovation Week at the EP and get to know better the work of the ITEC innovation department.