Minutes of the 52nd CEPIS Council
Saturday 5 April 2014, 08:30 – 16:00
Warwick Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland
Chair: Jorg Ruegg, President
Attendees: There were 33 attendees from 21 countries representing 25 Member Societies,
including 4 represented by proxy.
Jorg Ruegg
Nello Scarabottolo
Declan Brady
Byron Nicolaides
Gerald Futschek
Robert McLaughlin
Djordje Dukic
President (SI), Switzerland
Past President, (AICA), Italy
Honorary Secretary, (ICS), Ireland
Honorary Treasurer, (HEPIS), Greece
Vice President, (OCG), Austria
Vice President, (BCS), United Kingdom
Vice President, (JISA), Serbia
Marijan Frkovic
Julius Stuller
Peter Federer
István Alföldi
Arnheiður Guðmundsdóttir
Roberto Bellini
Mara Jakobsone
Albert Vella
Stevan Ljumovic
Renny B. Amundsen
Vasile Baltac
Niko Schlamberger
Erik Hult
Irina Kulka
Bernhard Hämmerli
Sonja Hof
Jürg Gutknecht
Jos Timmermans
Harry J.J. de Breet
Erdem Erkul
Damien O'Sullivan
Prof. A. Repenning
CITA, Croatia
CSKI, Czech Republic
GI, Germany
NJSzT, Hungary
ISIP, Iceland
AICA, Italy
LIKTA, Latvia
CSM, Malta
DICG, Montenegro
DND, Norway
ATIC, Romania
SSI, Slovenia
DFS, Sweden
Hasler Foundation, Switzerland
SI, Switzerland
SI, Switzerland
SI, Switzerland
VRI/NGI, The Netherlands
VRI/NGI, The Netherlands
IAT, Turkey
ECDL Foundation
University of Colorado
Fiona Fanning
Michel Krmek
Andrea Leroux Paez
Matthias Stoerk
CEPIS Secretariat
CEPIS Secretariat
CEPIS Secretariat
CEPIS Secretariat
Apologies
Dirk Deschoolmeester
Mensura Beganovic
Radoslav Yoshinov
FBVI-FAIB, Belgium
AI, Bosnia & Herzegovina
UAI, Bulgaria
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Panicos Masouras
Per Andersen
Robert Seren
Volker Schanz
Saulius Maskeliunas
Carlo Frissing
Branislav Rovan
Luis Fernandez
CCS, Cyprus
Dansk IT, Denmark
FIPA, Finland
VDE, Germany
LIKS, Lithuania
ALI, Luxembourg
SSCS, Slovakia
ATI, Spain
Opening Address and Welcome
The President, Jorg Ruegg, opened the meeting and welcomed the delegates to the 52nd
Council, the first paperless Council. He extended a particular welcome to the following
guests: Prof. Alexander Repenning, the keynote speaker, and Irina Kulka from the Hasler
Foundation.
Proxies have been appointed as follows:
 UAI (Bulgaria) - appointed proxy to Djordje Dukic
 LIKS (Lithuania) - appointed proxy to Mara Jakobsone
 ALI (Luxembourg) - appointed proxy to Peter Federer
 PTI-PIPS (Poland) - appointed proxy to Niko Schlamberger
Meeting Agenda
The meeting agenda was approved.
Minutes from the 51st Council Meeting
The minutes of the 51st Council Meeting were reviewed and approved.
Secretary General Address
CEPIS Secretary General, Fiona Fanning, presented the main strategy and activities for
2014 in the fields of Governance, Member Relations & Communication and the Thematic
Areas. She outlined achievements to date in each thematic area. The CEPIS e-Competence
Benchmark has recently reached the goal of 2,000 assessments and country reports as well
as a European report are being created. The Secretariat will evaluate the future of the tool in
the coming months.
Fiona explained that CEPIS undertakes activities that are of interest to members. To ensure
that CEPIS continues to focus on the right topics, the Executive Committee has started a
strategy audit and all delegates are invited to consult their societies and gather feedback on
strategy. Based on delegate feedback a new strategy will be proposed at the November
Council meeting. The CEPIS Secretariat will send further information to each delegate. Each
delegate is kindly asked to meet with their president or CEO to provide input on this.
Financial Matters
 Independent Report of 2013 Accounts
Byron Nicolaides, Honorary Treasurer, presented the CEPIS accounts for 2013 and the final
report from the independent accountant review, the result of which was:
EUR

Profit of the accounting year
Profit carried forward

Profit to be carried forward

40.178,33
462.327,88
____________
502.506,21
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The Honorary Treasurer reminded Council of the legal requirement to formally approve the
2013 annual accounts and to discharge Execom from liability with regard to the accounts.
The Council unanimously voted by a show of hands to approve the CEPIS financial accounts
for 2013. The Council unanimously voted to discharge Execom members from liability for the
2013 CEPIS financial accounts, also by a show of hands.
 YTD Management Accounts
Byron also presented the year to date management accounts for 2014, which were found to
be in order.
 Finance Committee
As Robert McLaughlin has deferred his role in the Finance Committee due to his position on
Execom, a call for a new volunteer to join the Finance Committee took place. It was noted
that the finance committee has a limited role due to the independent accountants. Julius
Stuller and Harry de Breet volunteered to join the group.
CEPIS Elections
The Honorary Secretary, Declan Brady, announced that five positions will be vacant at the
53(14) Council in November this year and presented the procedure for election, the positions
available, and the associated term and responsibilities. One position of President Elect,
Honorary Secretary, and Honorary Treasurer and two positions as Vice Presidents will
become available.
It was noted that the responsibilities of Execom members include:
 Attending all Execom meetings
 Acting in the best interest of CEPIS, above personal and national interest
 Supporting the decisions of the CEPIS Execom and Council, even in the event of
disagreement
 Fulfilling all other obligations as agreed with the Executive Committee
The Honorary Secretary will invite Members to propose candidates for election several
months prior to the 53rd Council. Candidates are to be proposed before 27th September 2014
(2 months prior to the 53rd Council). Confirmations and biographies can be sent by 27th
October 2014 (1 month prior to the 53rd Council).
CEPIS Administration – Review of SINs
The Honorary Secretary, Declan Brady, indicated that in accordance with our Standing
Order, Special Interest Networks (SINs) are obliged to provide reports on their activities. He
noted that there are two inactive SINs: ‘Informatics Students and Young Professionals’ and
‘Software Quality’ and asked for volunteers to reactivate these SINs. No volunteers came
forward to re-activate the Software Quality SIN. A number of members expressed an interest
in a young students SIN, however it was decided that any decision should be taken within the
context of the strategy audit. Interest in this group will be evaluated as part of the strategy
audit process and a decision taken at the 53(14) Council meeting in November.
Keynote Speaker: Prof. Alexander Repenning
Prof. Alexander Repenning from the University of Colorado gave a presentation about the
project ‘Programming Goes Back to School - Broadening participation by integrating game
design into public school curricula’. The developed Scalable Game Design framework
includes a curriculum of increasingly advanced game design activities that range from classic
1980s arcade games to more contemporary games.
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He explained that the essence of Scalable Game Design is that programming challenges and
skills should be balanced and that there are different paths, some better suited than others
for broadening participation, along which students can advance their skills and tackle more
advanced challenges. The four main goals and approaches of the Scalable Game Design
framework are: exposure, motivation, education, and pedagogy.
He also stated that one key point of the success of the project was the way of promotion:
Microsoft, Apple and even the US President supported the campaign which resulted in 1
million users within the first week after launch of the event.
Breakout Discussion: ICT Professionalism: Views on Operating Model for ICT
Professionalism / Foundational Body of Knowledge for the ICT Profession
The breakout discussions provided the opportunity to address the expectations of members
for a common foundational level European body of knowledge, what it should contain, how it
should be presented and what, if any, role there is for professional societies therein.
The discussions included a debate on the need for a European body of knowledge (BoK),
and its practical application in various countries. There was some concern, given the
broadness of the IT Profession, and the wide number of different disciplines it contains, that
a centralised BoK could be universally accepted; for example, could every member of every
IT discipline, be expected to know the contents of the BoK, and if so, what purpose could that
serve? The e-CF was noted as an important companion to any EU level BoK, particularly in
supporting the need for lifelong learning and an understanding of current competence; the eCF would also serve as a useful structure for compartmentalising a BoK into domain-specific
and role-specific areas. An agile dynamic framework would be key to keeping any BoK up to
date, and of lowering the burden associated with its maintenance and management.
Iceland’s Effort to Get Young People into ICT
Arnheiður Guðmundsdóttir of the Icelandic Society for Information Processing (ISIP)
presented Iceland’s successful work in getting young people into ICT. They organise an
annual two-day event to highlight the importance of information technology in general, to
increase the number of students which choose computer science and to encourage young
people to consider ICT as their future career. This year 2.8% of the country’s population
attended this event. Since the start of the fair in 2011, there has been a significant increase
in third-level enrolment of ICT students in Iceland.
Good Practice Panel and Q&A
The good practice panel enables delegates to present good practices and share
experiences:
 Māra Jākobsone, from LIKTA, outlined her experience of developing a local coalition
for Digital Jobs. She stressed the positive outcome so far, and talked also about the
different speeds in the public and private sector. She highlighted the positive impact
of coordinating the Coalition.

Jos Timmermans from VRI/NGI talked about the merge of VRI and NGI and outlined
the challenges and opportunities which came along with this fusion along with what
are the expectations of the future.

Erdem Erkul from IAT presented the Public ITU Working Group at Informatics
Association of Turkey which is a best practice for the active participation of NGOs into
Public Policies in Turkey. He talked about the positive side effects which are resulting
of the private (e.g. associations) and public memberships in the working group.
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Host Society President Address
Bernhard Hämmerli and Jürg Gutknecht presented the strategic thoughts of the Swiss
Informatics Society. Bernhard gave proposals of possible CEPIS activities such as
promoting a survey on ICT. He also addressed the serious impact of and potential reaction to
cyber-attacks. Jürg spoke about IT visions and the excellent innovation sector which Europe
is. He also mentioned that Europe should regain its leadership of IT research and innovation.
Strategy Area: e-Skills and Professionalism
Declan Brady discussed the work of the Task Force on ICT Professionalism, their recent
meetings and actions in 2014 so far. The e-Skills International Project held its final
dissemination workshop at which the results of CEPIS’ work on European policy were
presented. The Task Force also organised an international micro conference on professional
ethics, which brought together experts from 8 European countries as well as a well-known
expert from the US. The videos from this event are available on the CEPIS website.
Strategy Area: Education
Robert McLaughlin gave an update on the SIN on Computing in Schools. He stressed the
importance of government and how to influence them, reminding delegates of the advocacy
paper and letter that the SIN produced for this purpose. He encouraged delegates to make
use of these materials and provide feedback. Robert noted that the SIN will take advantage
of any synergies between the Grand Coalition for Digital Jobs and their work, in particular for
regional workshops where members could participate. CEPIS will provide a platform for
member societies to showcase their initiatives in this area.
Closing Statements
The President announced that the 53rd Council will take place on Thursday November 27th
2014, in Brussels, Belgium.
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