The annual conference of the European Construction Technology Platform (ECTP) was realized this year in Amsterdam-Netherlands, RAI Convention Centre on 19-20 November 2007. This year’s conference focused on activities and initiatives in the EU to coordinate and improve research in the construction sector. On behalf of the Turkish Construction Technology Platform (TCTP), representatives from the Chamber of Architects of Turkey (CAT), the Middle East Technical University (METU) Department of Archtiecture and the Building Information Centre (YEM), which are core-group members of the Turkish platform, have attended the conference.

The agenda of the conference included presentations about the current situation of the Strategic Research Agenda (SRA) for the European construction sector, the Joint Technology Initiative on Energy Efficiency in Buildings (JTI E2B) as a recently developed initiative that is about to be operational in the coming days, and current project calls in the framework of the 7th Framework Programme of the EU. The program of the conference had half-day brokerage events in both of the two days, which brought together researchers from different countries with common interest. In the second day, there was also a session that brought together representatives from national platforms, which provided networking among the platform work of the different countries. TCTP found the opportunity to present itself during this session and therefore briefed other participants about its current work, which paved way for future cooperations.

TCTP is now trying to establish relations with as much EU programs and initiatives related to construction sector (such as Erabuild, Eracobuild, Eureka etc.) as possible. With the coordination of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK), which is the operator of many national funding programmes and as well the contact point for the EU FP 7 Programme, the TCTP will work for further participation of Turkey in the European programs and initiatives related with the sector to create new opportunities.
With no doubt, the mission of the TCTP is not limited with the EU research coordination; it aims to define needs specific to the Turkish construction sector and accordingly look for opportunities within the country, in Europe and in the other parts of the world. In this respect, the TCTP is currently working on a database of researchers (individuals, companies and institutions) working for the construction sector in Turkey. This database will help individuals, companies and institutions to find right partners for research and innovation. This database can also be taken as a step towards developing an inventory of the construction sector of Turkey and creating future strategies for the sector.

For information about ECTP and presentations of the Amsterdam Conference:
www.ectp.org
For further information about the TCTP:
www.tctp.org