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1 1 > Signature of a collaboration agreement targeting the exchange of researchers and the definition of joint RDI projects with the University of Aveiro in Portugal. In the photograph: Dr Claude Wehenkel, CEO of CRP Henri Tudor, and José Joacquim De Almeida Gràcio, Director of the Research at the University of Aveiro (27 June 2007) 2 > Visit of representatives of the University Badji Mokhtar of Annaba (Algeria) (8 June 2007) 3 > LuHF project Luxembourg Heart Failure selected from amongst 4,800 products from over 60 countries as one of the eight lighthouse projects for MEDICA (the world s largest biomedical technology and equipment trade fairs), held in Düsseldorf from 14 to 17 November > European BIC Network (EBN) annual congress in Canterbury (21 June 2007). Technoport is member of EBN since > Georges Bourscheid, new chairman of the Board of Directors, takes over from Jean de la Hamette (October 2007) 6 > In October 2007, a new Board of Directors has been nominated. From the left to the right : Pierre Decker, Patrick Nickels, Pascal Bouvry, Claude Wehenkel, Jean-Marie Haensel, Léon Diederich, Georges Bourscheid, Roger Thill, Lucien Schummer, Arthur Philippe (not present in the photograph: Pierre Hirtt) 7 > Signing of a partnership agreement with the Luxembourg section of the Conseillers du Commerce Extérieur de la France. The aim is to encourage the creation of innovative companies and their establishment in the area of the Grande Région and to collaborate within the framework of joint RDI projects and continuous post-graduate training. In the photograph from the left to the right : François Biltgen, Minister of Culture, Higher Education and Research, Bruno Théret, Chairman of the Luxembourg section of the Conseillers du Commerce Extérieur de la France, Dr Claude Wehenkel, CEO of CRP Henri Tudor, H.E. Charles-Henri de Bancalis Maurel d Aragon, Ambassador of France in Luxembourg (10 October 2007) 8 > Avareness-raising activities on Free and Open Source Software within the framework of the Science Club (29 October 2007) 9 > On the occasion of the presentation to the press of the Annual Report 2006 (12 April 2007), from the left to the right : Jean de la Hamette, Chairman of the Board of Directors (until October 2007), François Biltgen, Minister of Culture, Higher Education and Research, Pierre Decker, Conseiller de Gouvernement 1ère classe of the Ministry of Culture, Higher Education and Research, and Pierre Hirtt, Member of the Board of Directors 10 > The conference «When the mobile becomes a tourist guide» gathered 61 participants on 20 September > 32 new graduated students for the Master IT and Innovation (sessions 4, 5 and 6) (26 January 2007) 12 > CRP Henri Tudor s collaborators discovering new horizons (28 June 2007) 1 > 4 > 8 > 11 > ANNUAL REPORT > 2 > 5 > 9 > 12 > 6 > 7 > 10 >

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3 Subscribe online to our bimonthly newsletter dedicated to research and innovation in Luxembourg TUDOR NEWS! ANNUAL REPORT

4 Table of contents g g g g g Page 7 Page 8 Page 10 Page 16 Page 18 Editorial Cartography of CRP Henri Tudor Key Figures 2007 of CRP Henri Tudor Client Satisfaction Zoom on the Departments page 19 page 27 page 44 page 51 page 54 page 56 page 58 page 61 page 62 LTI - Laboratory for Industrial Technologies and Materials CITI - Centre for IT Innovation CRTE - Resource Centre for Environmental Technologies CR SANTEC - Resource Centre for Health Care Technologies CRTI-B - Resource Centre for Technologies and Innovation in Construction CVT - Technology Watch Centre SITec - Lifelong Learning for Technological Innovation FOSS - Free and Open Source software Innovation Platform Technoport - High-tech Business Incubator g g g g g Page 68 Page 73 Page 75 Page 79 Page 80 Main RDI Projects of CRP Henri Tudor in 2007 The 322 Contract Partners of CRP Henri Tudor s Projects in 2007 Scientific Publications in 2007 PhD Theses at CRP Henri Tudor in 2007 Administration & Finances ANNUAL REPORT

5 «CRP Henri Tudor is by far the largest Public Research Centre in Luxembourg, not only in terms of the number of employees and the size of budget, but also regarding the range of activities, its internal complexity, and its relationships with the outside world. CRP Henri Tudor exhibits the strongest links to the private sector. Moreover, CRP Henri Tudor represents a broad concept of «innovation», which is not restricted to research and development, but also includes standards and thus measurement and testing, training and consulting, aimed at finding the right management approach or organisational set-up. CRP Henri Tudor can thus be considered a rich pool of resources, which provides both (technological) knowledge and required management capacity.» (OECD Review of Innovation Policy Luxembourg, 2007) ANNUAL REPORT Claude Wehenkel, CEO, President of the Management Board

6 EDITORIAL 2007 Dear Partner, We are delighted to present you our major achievements of 2007 in our twentieth Annual Report. What a wonderful anniversary! Twenty years of performing in an effective way research and innovation activities in a very small country. In that respect, CRP Henri Tudor has reached a high level of quality and maturity. The growth curve of CRP Henri Tudor is typically the one achieved by successful start-up companies. A founding team of 6 at the end of 1987, a staff of 335 twenty years later! Since the early 80s, the history of public research in Luxembourg is closely related to the story of our Centre, as it will be documented in CRP Henri Tudor s Almanac to be published in October In 2007, our Centre became full-fledged member of the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) defending the interests of the most famous innovation oriented research organisations of Europe, like FhG, CEA, VTT, SINTEF, TNO, VITO, Joanneum Research, among many other. International recognition has been achieved, based on scientific collaboration as well as on increasing interest for the innovation model that has been conceived and implemented step by step in the last twenty years. CRP Henri Tudor s commitment to do the best for you is summarised by the triplet Quality, Transparency and Accountability. Since 2005, the quality system set-up progressively over many years is ISO 9001:2000 certified. This means that client satisfaction, staff motivation and effective process management the three basic pillars of modern quality systems are constantly assessed and improved. Transparency and accountability are self-evident obligations for a RTO partly funded by public money. In 2007, the last year of our Fourth Development Plan *, all of our objectives have been fulfilled or even overtopped. The presence of the CRP Henri Tudor has been firmly reinforced in the financial sector, in construction and in health, as well as in the technological domains of materials, environment, and logistics. Increasing activity levels of continuous high-standard training and normative and technological watch can be added, as well as the start-up support for high-tech enterprises. Excellent results achieved in 2007 are shown in this report. With the Performance Contract *, CRP Henri Tudor is entering a new era. Performance based governance will be generalised in Luxembourg s research and innovation landscape. This was a major recommendation issued in the recent OECD Review on Luxembourg s innovation policy. In the frame of this novel approach, our research teams will offer powerful new business models aimed at sustainable collaboration with private and public partners, such as multi-annual strategic programmes or collaborative research projects where partners can share risks, results and IP. ** CRP Henri Tudor is ready for the next decade! Claude Wehenkel President and CEO * Downloadable from ** If you want to know more about our new business models and the related public aids, please contact us: martin.mus@tudor.lu ANNUAL REPORT

7 The Public Research Centre Henri Tudor is made up of eight departments: LTI Laboratory for Industrial Technologies and Materials CITI Centre for IT Innovation CRTE Resource Centre for Environmental Technologies CR SANTEC Resource Centre for Health Care Technologies CRTI-B Resource Centre for Technologies and Innovation in Construction SITec CVT Technoport SITec - Lifelong Learning for Technological Innovation Technology Watch Centre High-tech business incubator (EC-BIC) C R T I - B P F I Technologies and Innovation in Construction The Centre s departments are made up of: - Innovation platforms (PFI) P U B L I C R E S who have a common national strategic objective, a large panel of partners and numerous multidisciplinary activities of research and transfer; - Scientific and technological units (UST) A pronounced component of specialised research associated with RDI and valorization activities; - Innovation service units. One innovation platform is shared between two departments: «Free and Open Source software». S E R V I C E S T echnoport SITec CVT ANNUAL REPORT

8 Quality and certification of IT services Information systems security Interoperability standards and e-business C R S A N T E C P F I Health Care Technologies C I T I U S T P F I E-learning, knowledge management and networked organisations Statistical studies and prospective in the knowledge economy Knowledge economy and innovation management Software engineering Engineering and management of ICT processes and services Valorisation of ICT innovation Reference systems for modelling and certification Free and Open Source software E A R C H C E N T R E H E N R I T U D O R C R T E P F I U S T Sustainable construction Cleaner production Energy Water L T I U S T Strategy and management Modelling and simulation Materials Situation as of 31 December 2007 UST : PFI : SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL UNIT I NNOVATI ON PLATFORM ANNUAL REPORT

9 Key Figures 2007 of CRP Henri Tudor g Financial Figures Income (in Euro): 29,088, ,876, of which: Grant for mission of public utility 30% 28% Activity based funding 70% 72% Budget for 2008 (in Euro): 31,200,000 g Human Resources Staff at the end of the year (headcount): of which: with a PhD: 14% 13% with a Master: 69% 70% Graduates, secretaries, technical staff and other: 17% 17% The mobility of researchers and engineers of the Centre contributes in a significant way to the transfer of competences and the spirit of innovation. In 2007, 31 persons found an attractive job mainly in the private sector, bringing the total to 370 since the Centre s creation. ANNUAL REPORT

10 g Research, Development and Innovation Projects in 2007 In 2007, CRP Henri Tudor participated in 147 projects (129 in 2006). Among these 147 projects, 52% are conducted in direct partnership with companies or groups of companies, 41% in partnership with public departments and bodies, and 37% with universities or research centres 1. Project results are various and numerous. Few are underlined below: Design of 22 trainings, among which 10 are available on e-learning platform in the field of IT, open source, IFC, project management, knowledge management, technology watch, business organisation and management, Supply Chain management More than 150 communications provided by the Centre s engineers in events or trainings organised by our partners or within the Centre 41 prototypes or tools were developed or experimented in co-operation with partners 31 methods or new services designed for our partners. 1 the total is higher than 100% given the same project may involve partners of various types. g Public/Private Partnership In 2007, 322 partners were involved contractually in the Centre s projects. More than half of them are located in Luxembourg. 196 other partners participated actively in the projects on a non-contractual basis. See the overall list of contract partners on page 73. ANNUAL REPORT

11 g European Activities 53 European projects undergoing in % of the CRP Henri Tudor s projects are conducted within the framework of European programmes, in particular FP6, ESA, Eureka ITEA, Leonardo, ERDF Interreg and Objective 2, ESF Objective 3. Within the 6 th European R&D Framework Programme (FP6), CRP Henri Tudor is co-ordinator of one Specific Target Research Project, CASSEM in the field of composite and adaptative structure, and has active responsibilities in 3 Networks of Excellence: INTEROP, in the field of information technologies inter-operability CMA, in the field of complex metallic alloys GA 2 LEN, in the field of allergy and health care. The Centre participates in 4 new projects launched in 2007 within the 6 th European R&D Framework Programme: TRIG TRI-generation CHP and Cooling with Integrated Flue Gas-condensation Based on Solid Biomass Fuels SEMS Sustainable Energy Management Systems NAVOBS+ Expanded and Competitive Network of GMES Service Providers and Customers IP4Inno Intellectual Property for Innovation. 3 other new projects were launched in 2007 within Eureka-ITEA clusters, in the field of mobile technologies, multimedia contents and trusted security platforms. The Centre is member of several European networks and committees: Member of the European BIC Network (EBN, member of the Board of Directors and mandated as expert to evaluate Business Innovation Centres), European Space Incubator Network (ESINET), Gate2Growth Incubator Forum Member of the European Association of Research and Technology Organisations (EARTO) Active participation to the European Research Consortium in Informatics and Mathematics, ERCIM (member of the Board of Directors and of several working groups) Several participations in COST (European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research) committees in the field of materials and information technologies. ANNUAL REPORT

12 g Scientific and Academic Activities In 2007, CRP Henri Tudor s researchers published 72 scientific articles in peer reviewed international journals or conference proceedings. Engineers of the Centre are member of review committees in 11 international journals. 31 PhD students are trained within the Centre in partnership with foreign universities: 16 in the field of material structure simulation and modelling, 10 in information technologies and organisation, 3 in environmental technologies, 1 in health care technologies, and 1 in Supply Chain management. Eight students defended their thesis with success in 2007: Gateau Benjamin, Le Loirec Cindy, Solvi Anne-Marie, Abbadi Ahmed, Azaouzi Mohamed, Boudaoud Hakim, Minea Alexandru, Humbert Jean-Philippe. Several engineers of the Centre participated in research evaluation : as evaluators for research programmes at national level (Belgian and Slovak National Research Funds) and European level (7 th European R&D Framework Programme, COST) as member of the jury of doctoral thesis at the universities of Twente (NL), KU Leuven (B), Hasselt (NL), Genève (CH), Namur (B), Strasbourg (F), and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines (ENSM) of Saint-Etienne (F). 28 engineers of the Centre gave more than 500 hours of teaching in European universities in students are following the three international Master courses co-organised with partner universities: The Master IT and Innovation opened its 9 th session, gathering 39 attendees in the three ongoing sessions, and having 7 students graduated in It is organised in partnership with the University of Nancy 2 (F) and the Facultés Notre Dame de la Paix of Namur (B); The Master Management Sciences with a Specialization in Quality 3 rd session was launched, gathering 14 attendees, and 10 graduated in It is organised in partnership with Paul Verlaine University of Metz and the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières; The Master Management of Information Systems Security opened its 2 nd session. Gathering in the two ongoing sessions 27 attendees. It is organised in partnership with the University of Luxembourg. g Incubator Activities 55 new contacts were made, with the final acceptance of one new business in the incubator (GentleSecurity active in the field of computer security) and the support for the creation of two further businesses, one of which was set for final approval in January This brings the number of businesses accepted since Technoport s creation in June 1998 to 41. Two more companies joined the already 8 grown out success stories : Conostix and EPURAMAT (see details on pages 64-65). ANNUAL REPORT

13 g Training and Dissemination Activities In 2007, the Centre Henri Tudor organised 145 qualifying trainings gathering 1,450 attendees. Altogether, 196 days of qualifying trainings and 97 days of Master courses have been organised. The Centre organised, in co-operation with local and international partners, 51 conferences, attended by 1,909 people. The main ones are: L outsourcing informatique dans le secteur financier (94 attendees) 21 March 2007, in partnership with the Association des Banques et Banquiers Luxembourg (ABBL) Congrès annuel 2007 GestionDeProjet.lu (93 attendees) 24 October 2007, in partnership with SPIRAL network REACH information seminar (83 attendees) 10 May 2007, in partnership with the Chambre de Commerce and the Fédération des Industriels Luxembourgeois (FEDIL) RSSI : Le BANQUIER de vos informations (79 attendees) 19 December 2007, in partnership with CLUSSIL and SPIRAL network Journée de la Qualité dans le Secteur Public (79 attendees) 11 July 2007, in partnership with the Ministère de la Fonction Publique et de la Réforme Administrative Evaluation et Efficacité des Politiques Publiques (78 attendees) 27 April 2007, in partnership with the Ministry of the Economy and Foreign Trade, STATEC and the Observatoire de la Compétitivité Pour un meilleur échange d information dans les projets de construction (78 attendees) 29 March 2007, in partnership with the Ministère des Travaux Publics, the Administration des Bâtiments Publics, the Administration des Ponts et Chaussées, the Ordre des Architectes et des Ingénieurs-conseils (OAI), the Chambre des Métiers and the Fédération des Artisans. LinuxDays 2007 (71 participants) 1-2 February 2007, in collaboration with the University of Luxembourg, Restena, Lilux, the National Research Fund (FNR) YaJuG : Rich Internet Applications & Java (69 attendees) 28 Februar 2007, in partnership with YaJuG Quand le Mobile se fait guide touristique (61 attendees) 20 September 2007, with the financial participation of the European ERDF programme Carnet Radiologique Electronique (50 attendees) 29 March 2007 LuSI Day - Luxembourg Safer Internet Day (46 attendees) 8 November 2007, in partnership with Luxembourg Safer Internet, Telindus, Kanner Jugendtelefon, and with the financial contribution of the European Commission and the National Research Fund (FNR) ANNUAL REPORT

14 g Standardisation and Normalisation Activities In 2007, 12 engineers of the Centre were members of ANSIL (Association de Normalisation pour la Société de l Information Luxembourg) and participated in two of its expert committees: CNLSI (Comité de Normalisation Luxembourgeois pour la Sécurité de l Information) CNLQSI (Comité de Normalisation pour la Qualité des Systèmes d Information) At international level, 21 engineers of the Centre are involved in Luxembourg representation into ISO JTC 1 (Joint Technical Committee) in the field of Information Technologies, for several Sub Committees (SC) SC6 on Telecommunications and Information Exchange between Systems, SC7 Software & Systems Engineering : head of delegation, editor for ISO/IEC (IT Service management process reference model) and co-editor of a new standard (IT Service management incremental approach), which was accepted after the ballot, participation in the working groups on Software Lifecycle Profiles for very Small Enterprises, ICT Governance and Process Assessment ISO/IEC 15504, SC27 IT Security techniques : participation in the working groups on Information Security Management System, Security Controls and Services and Identity Management and Privacy Technologies, SC29 Coding of Audio, Picture, Multimedia and Hypermedia Information : participation in working group Coding of Moving Pictures and Audio, SC34 Document Description and Processing Language : co-ordinator for Luxembourg, SC36 IT for Learning, Education and Training : participation in working groups on Mobile learning and Quality in e-learning. The Centre also participates in ISO/TC164/SC 3 on Mechanical testing of metals / Hardness testing. g International Relations In 2007, the following agreements deserve some particular attention: The signing of a collaboration agreement with the University Badji Mokhtar of Annaba in Algeria aiming at the supervision of PhD theses guided by both institutions, the exchange of researchers, as well as the submission of joint RDI projects, in particular in the field of modelling and simulation. A first result of this agreement was the welcoming in Luxembourg of an Algerian researcher and the publication of a joint article in a renowned scientific journal, The signing of a collaboration agreement with the University of Aveiro in Portugal, in presence of the ambassador of Portugal. The agreement targets the exchange of researchers and the definition of joint RDI projects, The signing of a strategic co-operation agreement between the CITI and the Centre d Excellence en Technologies de l Information et de la Communication (CETIC) located in the Walloon Region. This synergy will give rise to a European centre of excellence in the quality of software services and products, The signing of a partnership agreement with the Luxembourg section of the Conseillers du Commerce Extérieur de la France. The main objectives are to encourage the creation of innovative companies and their establishment in the area of the Grande Région and to collaborate within the framework of joint RDI projects and post-graduate training. Furthermore, CRP Henri Tudor has initiated a collaboration with the University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy of Sofia in Bulgaria. First common European projects will be submitted in Of note is the renewal of the contacts with the Centre International des Technologies de l Environnement de Tunisie (CITET) in Tunis, too. ANNUAL REPORT

15 Client Satisfaction Client satisfaction contact: Cécile Cavalade, phone: , The measurement of customer satisfaction is done by an external company to ensure neutrality of the survey. It is carried out in two stages: A quantitative measure of satisfaction by telephone from clients who closed their contract to establish the barometer below An analysis with several qualitative interview to deepen the dissatisfaction and the topics of improvement About 71 customers contacted, 51 responded, representing a return rate of 72%. And 12 interviews were carried out. ANNUAL REPORT

16 g Satisfaction towards CRP Henri Tudor s trainings and events SITec evaluates the satisfaction of attendees towards the organised trainings, through paper or Internet surveys. Conferences return rate is much lower as the attendees are much more mobile than in a classic training session. In the Master trainings, each course is evaluated separately. Activities Return rate Satisfaction rate Qualifying trainings 69% 89% Conferences 44% 93% Diploma trainings (Master) 72% 80% ANNUAL REPORT

17 Zoom on the Departments Some of the following activities and projects benefitted from the financial support of the National Research Fund (FNR), the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF). ANNUAL REPORT

18 LTI Laboratory for Industrial Technologies and Materials Staff at the end of 2007: 70.5 Key competences: Activities: Modelling and piloting of Supply Chains, organisational standards and management, constraint management, enterprise modelling (flow/process duality), new forms of organisations, project management, computational mechanics, data analysis, physical measurement systems, studies, material trials and characterization, materials synthesis, nanocomposite materials, metrology, customer relationship management and relational marketing R&D, doctoral research, expertise, technological assistance, ongoing post-graduate training, animation of innovation platforms, specialist services: material trials, metrology and calibration Number of RDI projects: 32 Units: Strategy and management scientific and technological unit Modelling and simulation scientific and technological unit Materials scientific and technological unit Main partners: ArcelorMittal, Guardian Automotive, Netzsch, Ceratizit, Service de l Energie de l Etat (SEE - standards committees), Ministère des Travaux Publics, Office Luxembourgeois d Accréditation et de Surveillance (OLAS), Agence de l Energie SA (AEL), Mouvement Luxembourgeois pour la Qualité (MLQ), Vlaamse Instelling voor Technologisch Onderzoek (VITO), Husky, Imatec, e2v, Amer-sil, Mondo, Guardian, Gottscholl-Alcuilux SA, Rotarex, Ministère de la Fonction Publique et de la Réforme Administrative, DuPont de Nemours, Eurocomposites, IEPERBAND N.V., Fidet Sàrl, Defontaine SA, Vitha Travaux SA, ERICO, Luxspace (ESA project), Cegecom, Inlingua, Compass, Hôpital Kirchberg, Glaverbel, ArcelorMittal-Distribution (AMD), Bernard Massard, Congrégation des Soeurs de Sainte Elisabeth (CSSE) Contact: Pr Dr Jos Schaefers, Director, jos.schaefers@tudor.lu, phone: Further information: Pr Dr JOS SCHAEFERS ANNUAL REPORT

19 2007 highlights for the department as a whole: The following factors have contributed most to the department s reputation: The SC-CONSTRUCT Sustainable and Competitive Construction project has made it possible to federate all the key actors in construction around the theme of the Supply Chain within the field of construction and within a large construction project, namely the project owner, the project manager, contractors and subcontractors. The overall success of this project lies in the involvement of three major public project owners: the Adminstration des Bâtiments Publics, the City of Luxembourg and the City of Esch-sur-Alzette. The project has thus led to the design of a five-year collaborative research programme starting up in Within the framework of this programme, the model developed in SC-CONSTRUCT will be used in medium- and large-scale construction projects in order to increase the value for the customer and the user whilst at the same time reducing delays and costs and generating higher profits for organisations. There is an increased quality awareness on the part of administrations and public services, thanks in particular to the LPO Lean Public Organisation project, implemented in the spirit of improving the state of Luxembourg s productivity and competitiveness. The LTI has thus raised awareness amongst the management of most administrations and public services about the issue of quality and performance. Several events were organised, including a one-day event devoted entirely to quality in the public sector; each occasion attracted around a hundred participants from the said sector. The LPO project has also induced the Ministère de la Fonction Publique et de la Réforme Administrative to think about defining a collaborative research programme that will run for several years within the field of public service improvement. The laboratory is participating in a new project of the Seventh European Framework Programme on the development of a methodology and the assessment of the impact of FP5 and FP6 projects in the field of Transport. The strategy for developing activities related to scientific research into materials has produced its first results. From among many other results, we must emphasize in particular the acceptance of a patent in the field of PVC stabilization. In addition, a new section of the laboratory dedicated to the creation of new materials and to prototypes of analytical instruments was unveiled in September The new section allows researchers to work on the entire life cycle of the materials, from design to recyclability, including studies on their functionality. It is now possible to anticipate the lifespan of a material and forecast its recyclability. The new section also allows researchers to design new manufacturing processes and improve current processes. Finally, by using the project management method based on the Theory of Constraints for the first time in a microelectronic engineering environment (200 engineers), it was possible to reduce the duration of projects by 30% in six months and to improve compliance with deadlines by between 15 and 50%. ANNUAL REPORT

20 g Transfer and dissemination activities of LTI Training and teaching Qualifying training organised : 58 days of training; 541 attendees Master Management Sciences with a Specialization in Quality, organised in partnership with Paul-Verlaine University of Metz (F) and the University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières (CND) rd 14 attendees to the 3 session, 10 graduate students in hours of teaching in university Master cursus Scientific publications 13 scientific peer-reviewed publications published in journals or conference proceedings PhDs 17 ongoing PhDs, 3 successfully defended in 2007 Conferences 5 conferences gathered 134 attendees for a cumulated duration of 22 hours, including : Journée de la Qualité dans le Secteur Public (79 attendees) 11 July 2007, in partnership with the Ministère de la Fonction Publique et de la Réforme Adminsitrative 3 Supply Chain meetings (46 attendees participants) Events 6 scientific seminars in the field of materials gathered 228 attendees for a cumulated duration of 7.5 days 3 professional seminars in the fields of quality and productivity gathered 85 attendees for a cumulated duration of 2 days g 2007 Highlights by unit Strategy and management scientific and technological unit The unit s aim is to develop and maintain skills in order to improve business productivity and competitiveness through management system and business organisation performance as well as Supply Chain synchronization Highlights: The unit can pride itself on tangible impacts on the economy in Thus, the LPO Lean Public Organisation project on quality in administrations and public services made possible the assembly of some 80 professionals for the one-day Quality in the Public Sector event held on 11 July 2007, which was supported by the Ministère de la Fonction Publique et de la Réforme Administrative. A number of training sessions and events targeting public administrations with the aim of continuous improvement in public administrations, have allowed LTI to train 70 people and raise awareness among a hundred or so. A dozen administrations have started up improvement programmes and obtained convincing first results. A tool for measuring customer/citizen satisfaction was developed and implemented in two administrations. Feedback on this project was presented at the EIPA conference on quality in public services in Europe held on 11 and 12 October 2007 in Lisbon. The SC-CONSTRUCT Sustainable and Competitive Construction project aimed at improving the competitiveness and perenniality of the construction sector, enabled public project owners to become aware of productivity losses in their sector. A collaborative model capable of producing considerable gains in productivity and value creation was developed and applied in a pilot project financed by the private sector. Two other pilot projects are currently being drawn up. Nine workshops were organised bringing together 25 organisations (public project managers, companies, architects, engineers and suppliers). Forty people participated in the workshop held on 10 May 2007, during which British experiences with new models of PPP collaboration were presented. Lastly, about 40 people from the Ministère des Travaux Publics attended awareness raising activities. ANNUAL REPORT