Fifteen Years of Cooperation Between Passau and Lyon

The event in Lyon kicked off on 11 May with the IRIXYS General Assembly with the coordinators of the partner universities: Professor Lionel Brunie, Dr Nadia Bennani and Dr Elöd Egyed-Zgismond for INSA Lyon, Professor Harald Kosch, Alizée Bertrand and Ophélie Coueffé for the University of Passau, and Professors Stelvio Cimato and Gabriele Gianini for the University of Milan. Professor Christina Hansen, Vice President for International Affairs and Diversity at the University of Passau, and Roland Wossidlo, Managing Director of ATOS Munich, Passau's industrial partner, were also in attendance. From Lyon, Christelle Falconi of the Rectorat de région académique Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes , Marie-Christine Baietto and regional representative of Syntec Ingiénierie, Pascal Blachier, completed the assembly. The aim of the meeting was not only to look back at the results and successes achieved and obstacles overcome in these fifteen years, but above all to focus on the future of this collaboration.

On 12 May, the focus was on celebrating the 15th anniversary of the IRIXYS collaboration. The programme combined academic discussions with current political topics, especially on cybersecurity. After the opening remarks from Professors Lionel Brunie and Harald Kosch, whose long-standing friendship was at the origin of the IRIXYS project, the participants spoke about the importance of the network both as an opportunity for academic exchange and as personal and human enrichment.

This was followed by a presentation by Professor Ernesto Damiani on Security, Trust and Privacy in the age of Digital Transformation", a presentation on digital sovereignty by Pierre Brun-Murol, expert on the topic of cybersecurity at ATOS, and an open discussion on industrial and academic cooperation, research, innovation and education. The moderator was Axel Honsdorf, head of the Bavarian-French cooperation institution Bayfrance. The event concluded with speeches by German Consul General in Lyon, Ines Fernandes, President of the Franco-German University, Professor Philippe Gréciano, and Director of INSA Lyon, Professor Frédéric Fotiadu.

Special highlight of the IRIXYS workshop: With the defence of her doctoral thesis, cotutelle student Alaa Alhamzeh was awarded a doctorate in both France and Germany. She is thus the fifteenth doctoral candidate to be awarded a doctorate within the framework of the cotutelle de thèse programme of the PhD track jointly administered by the University of Passau and INSA Lyon.