The RadioNet3 project has been officially opened by the successful Kick-off on February 28, 2012 held at the Max-Planck-Institut fuer Radioastronomie in Bonn, Germany. 63 participants from 24 key players in radio astronomy from Europe, Australia, South Africa and South Korea met together to discuss the course of action. All Board members and all work package leaders, as well as the EC Project Officer - Elena Righi Steele were present among the attendees.
The Scientific session scheduled in the morning hours, was devoted to an overview of the Networking Activities, the Joint Research Activities and to the last but most important Transnational Activities (TNAs). Through the TNA, RadioNet3 project will offer an access to 18 state-of-the-art radio astronomy facilities for more than 1000 users by providing more than 4000 observing hours. The RadioNet3 project scheduled more than 130 deliverables in form of meetings, workshops, publications & prototypes for the total project duration of 48 months.
The afternoon session was dedicated to the discussion on the project governance. Additionally, a landscape of the radio astronomical activities was reviewed. Guests from ASTRONET, a consortium of the largest funding agencies for astronomy in Europe, and SKA, an international partnership established to design and build the world's largest and most sensitive radio telescope, were invited to ensure a close cooperation towards common goals and future astronomy facilities. This should be done following the vision of the EC Framework Programme FP8 "Horizon 2020", which aims once more at the research infrastructures, not only at their innovation potential and their human capital, but also at their potential suppliers and industries.
Participants left Bonn with good resolutions for successful project accomplishment.
