An EU-funded project to develop a platform and smartphone app that will better connect science, government, the economy and the public during a pandemic is being coordinated at Bilkent University. A virtual meeting to kick off project activities took place on February 11 and 12, hosted by the Department of Communication and Design (COMD).
The international project, dubbed PandeVITA, has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. The PandeVITA consortium consists of seven partners from five countries: Bilkent University and Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University in Ankara, Turkey; VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd. in Oulu, Finland; Open Evidence in Barcelona, Spain; iserundschmidt GmbH in Bonn, Germany; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, in Spain; and the European Alliance for Medical and Biological Engineering and Science in Leuven, Belgium.
Approximately 90 guests attended the opening session of the kickoff meeting. After introductory remarks from Bilkent Rector Abdullah Atalar, Vice Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Ömer Fatih Sayan, European Commission Policy Officer Linden Farrer and TÜBİTAK President Hasan Mandal, consortium researchers immediately began work on the six areas designated for investigation.
The researchers’ goal is to promote a more efficient transfer of knowledge, at the global level, among scientists, members of the public, government officials and other actors in the political and economic spheres during pandemic-related crises through the development of a platform that will include a smartphone app. The results of the project will be published online at www.pandevita.eu