Bringing industry and academia together, European Microwave Week 2017 (EuMW 2017) was a six day event held in Nuremberg, Germany, October 8–13, including three cutting edge conferences and a trade and technology exhibition featuring leading players from across the globe. As one of world’s biggest technical events, EuMW 2017 grows far beyond the microwave technologies – it is a meeting place for young industry engineers and researchers, and a merging point of industry and academia. With 220 industrial exhibitors, 1600 registered participants and 4000 attendees, this is one of the largest technical events in the Region 8.
With months of organization in joining young people of diverse age, interest and professions, all the young initiatives and the success stories, whole mix of career, soft, entrepreneurship and professional skills, various cultures and nationalities of the world were all joined together and brought to fore at the EuMW 2017, as our Region 8 Young Professionals Signature Event, co-organized with Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTTS) Young Professionals.
Our main session, „Macrowave Your Career“, aimed for young professionals from industry and academia through topics where both of the areas meet together: soft skills. The focus was on improving the presentation level and self-confidence, put in frames of career improvement and work surroundings, performed by a team of professional public speech trainers Nuremberg Toastmasters. One of the biggest challenges that arises with rapid career improvement, the time and stress management topic, was held by the Speaker Program of IEEE Region 8 Professional Activities. The technical focus was put on the microwave community for comprehending work and research ambiance, and for creating a supportive atmosphere of team members as effective communicators. „Startups in Microwaves and Mobility Programs“ session, organized by MTTS Young Professionals, highlighted the successes stories of the microwave profession, both academic and industrial. The entrepreneurship topics were also put in the center as a popular trend among young professionals in the area. As a recognized best way of forming new contacts and collaboration, a networking event was held as a Meet-up at a local pub. With traditional Bavarian cultural ambience, new friendships and professional opportunities have emerged, supported by our six volunteers with direct discussions about possibilities of the IEEE Young Professionals program.
The exhibition area of the conference welcomed our reporting tradition of interviews performed with young professionals who present their company products and technologies. Many impressive demonstrations and success stories are captured on our camera and are being weekly distributed through our social networks channels. Companies were eager to say a few words about their areas and passionately present their work results. Finally, participation in the exhibition space itself was ensured at two IEEE stands: International Microwave Symposium (IMS2018) and IEEE MTTS.
This was a great event from various aspects: numbers, opportunities, positive energy, networking, technical depth, future trends and more. Make sure to catch us in Madrid in 2018!
