“My relationship with ERCIM is a long story. It started even before ERCIM’s birth and thus more than twenty years ago, when I was in charge of international relations for INRIA. At that time, three European research institutes in mathematics and computer science, INRIA, CWI and GMD (later merged with Fraunhofer Gesellschaft), used to cooperate in the framework of bilateral agreements. Once, instead of holding their annual bilateral meetings, their Directors decided to have a joint meeting at GMD headquarters in Sankt Augustin. After a morning of talks, they asked both my German and Dutch counterparts as well as me to provide them with the project of a trilateral agreement after lunch time. It was a sunny day. We sat around a table, forgot about our lunch, and were able to present a first draft two hours later. As far as I know this was the first step towards a European consortium in informatics and mathematics.
When I came back to INRIA, after a few years spent at the French Ministry of Research, ERCIM had been setup. It was a young and promising body of which I had the pleasure of being appointed as Manager. The team was small but very efficient. This was the first EEIG in the field of research and we felt participating in building something new. We were strongly supported by the Board of Directors and a proactive Executive Committee. We had the chance to win several European projects and we contributed to increase ERCIM’s visibility on the international scene. This was a challenging and most fruitful experience and I keep a very vivid memory of these two years within ERCIM.”

Jean-Michel Chasseriaux, ERCIM Manager from 1994 to 1996
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