PACK double debut at CERIS
The past two months have been quite eventful for project PACK. As the Concept of operations took shape, so did the need arise to validate it with various stakeholders to be able to formulate it into a design document.
On April 28, our coordinators Zoltán and Géza paid a visit to the CERIS event CERIS Workshop on Innovative Approaches to Combating the Trafficking of Goods as a start.
Together they were invited to give an introductory presentation about PACK to the panel “Presentation of innovative solutions against illegal trafficking”, focusing on customs processes at the border. After that, they participated at a workshop with really exciting topics, such as how these customs solutions can be useful to fight against wildlife trafficking, or if it’s possible to use any kind of sensors to detect fake clothes.
To double the fun, the beginning of June brought the annual Projects to Policy meeting, where freshman projects (the ones that got granted the previous year) are invited to introduce themselves to the funders, the policymakers, and of course, to each other. PACK was proudly represented by our two coordinators and Orsolya, our CDE manager.
The first day’s morning started with some plenary presentations and a panel discussion, where SFC, our CDE partner, was invited to talk about the nits and grits of communication, dissemination and exploitation in security projects.
After that, projects were grouped into thematic areas according to their call topics, so naturally we headed for the border management room. Each of us got to introduce our project and get to know the others. After a short presentation, there were Q&A sessions to help us be more informed about each others’ work and identify possible synergies. We may have been competing at the proposal stage, but after being granted, we become allies, ultimately working for a common goal.
The second day started off similarly as the first ended – projects working in groups – only this time it was shuffled into cross-cutting topics, each with a moderator. Interesting discussions followed! The afternoon brought the two days into a nice conclusion back in the plenary sessions, giving a summary and some food for thought for the way back home.
PACK is still a relatively new project, but we can clearly see that in order to realize our goals, policy change is inevitable. Challenge accepted!
