Porto, a city where tradition and innovation seamlessly intertwine, is proud to host the 2026 European Informatics Leaders Summit (ECSS). Celebrated for its UNESCO-listed Ribeira district and its legacy of forward-thinking research, this dynamic destination provides the perfect stage for advancing Informatics education and research across Europe.

Co-hosted by the Department of Informatics Engineering at the University of Porto, ECSS 2026 will gather visionary leaders to foster collaboration, explore cutting-edge ideas, and chart the future of the field. Set against the backdrop of Porto’s historic charm, the scenic Douro River, and its world-renowned gastronomy, the summit promises an environment where progress and inspiration flourish..

Find out more about Porto:

• Visit Porto – Official Tourism Guide to Porto City
• Visit Porto Region – Official Tourism Website
• Lonely Planet Guide to Porto

ECSS is Europe's only forum dedicated to addressing timely strategic issues in Informatics research and education. Open to all and typically gathering 100–150 participants each year, it brings together department heads, deans, and other academic and industry leaders who drive the connection between Informatics research, education, and policy in Europe.

Since 2005, ECSS has built a reputation for high-level dialogue, influential speakers, and meaningful community impact. Unlike a traditional scientific conference, ECSS focuses on the strategic and managerial challenges facing Informatics institutions today, providing a unique arena for reflection, exchange, and collective action at institutional and policy levels.

Participants benefit from thought-provoking discussions, practical insights, and valuable networking with peers from across Europe and beyond. 

Take a look at the 2025 closing statements (here) and save the date for ECSS 2026 in Porto, Portugal, from 26-28 October. We are working on a fantastic program for you!

About ECSS

Driving collaboration, visibility, and impact across Europe

Informatics Europe (IE) plays an active role in major European initiatives that strengthen Informatics research, education, and societal engagement. With 200 member institutions across 30+ countries, IE brings together a unique network of academic leaders, researchers, and organisations committed to advancing shared priorities at European scale.

Our Experience in European Projects

IE has a proven track record as both grant holder and specialist partner in EU-funded initiatives, contributing strategic coordination, community engagement, and high-quality dissemination.

Grant Holder: COST Action Leadership

Beyond submitting the proposal, IE successfully acted as Grant Holder for the EUGAIN COST Action (2020-2024), overseeing financial, administrative, and reporting responsibilities for a 160-participants and 45-country network committed to improving gender balance in Informatics. Our support ensured strong community cohesion, structured governance, and excellent project outcomes explicitly recognised by COST.

Communications & Networking Partner

IE’s pan-European reach makes us a natural partner for project communication, stakeholder engagement, and community-building.
We contribute to EU-funded projects through:

• Strategic communication plans
• High-visibility dissemination to the Informatics leadership community
• Networking and community building across Europe
• Support for sustainability and long-term uptake

Recent contributions include:

• AIM-Pro (Horizon Europe / Erasmus+, 2026-present) – Started in February 2026, strengthening AI literacy for multidisciplinary professionals
• Inclusion4EU (Erasmus+, 2023-2025) – Fostering inclusion and accessibility in Informatics education
• Ethics4EU (Erasmus+, 2019-2022) – Advancing ethical competencies in Informatics curricula
• Collaborations with IE Ethics, Green ICT, Education Research, and Diversity and Inclusion Working Groups on submitted proposals.

Why Partner with Informatics Europe?

• Support during proposal preparation, helping consortia refine concepts, identify gaps, and find suitable complementing partners.
• Unmatched access to decision makers in Informatics departments, labs, and national societies.
• Trusted reputation as the voice of academic Informatics in Europe.
• Established expertise in communication, dissemination, and stakeholder engagement.
• A vibrant community actively shaping policy, curricula, and research directions.
• Long-term sustainability pathways through IE programmes and events (ECSS, Working Groups, Awards).

Partnering with IE ensures your project’s outcomes are visible, relevant, and embraced by the European Informatics ecosystem.

Get Involved

Invite IE to Join Your EU Project

If you are preparing a proposal and seek a trusted partner for dissemination, networking, stakeholder engagement, or grant management, Informatics Europe is ready to collaborate.

Join an IE Working Group

Become part of the community where new ideas, collaborations, and project proposals take shape. Transform community priorities into high-impact actions. Several successful projects, such as the EUGAIN COST Action, originated from WG discussions and collaborations. IE working Groups are open to academics from all member institutions.

We warmly acknowledge the following institutions and associations whose representatives took part in ECSS 2025.

Austria

• Informatik Austria
• Johannes Kepler University Linz, Department of Business Informatics
• TU Wien, Faculty of Informatics
• University of Klagenfurt, Faculty of Technical Sciences

Belgium

• Université catholique de Louvain, Computer Science Department (INGI)
• University of Namur, Faculty of Computer Science

Bulgaria

• Sofia University, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics

Czechia

• Czech Technical University in Prague, Faculty of Information Technology
• University of West Bohemia, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Denmark

• University of Southern Denmark, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science

Estonia

• Tallinn University, School of Digital Technologies

Finland

• Aalto University, Department of Computer Science

France

• ENS de Lyon
• Inria - National Institute for Research in Digital Science and Technology
• PHGD
• SIF - Societé Informatique de France
• Université Grenoble-Alpes
• Université de Montpellier - CNRS, Laboratoire d'Informatique, de Robotique, de Micro-électronique de Montpellier (LIRMM)
• University of Nantes, Laboratory of Digital Sciences of Nantes, LS2N
• Université de Rennes, Institut de Recherche en Informatique et Systèmes Aléatoires (IRISA)
• Université Toulouse - Jean Jaurès

Germany

• Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI)
• Hasso Plattner Institute
• Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Computer Science
• Paderborn University, Department of Computer Science
• Technical University of Munich, School of Computation, Information and Technology
• Technische Universität Berlin, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• University of the Bundeswehr Munich
• University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute for Computer Science and Business Information Systems
• University of Münster, Computer Science Department
• University of Regensburg
• University of Stuttgart, Faculty of Computer Science Electrical Engineering and Information Technology

Greece

• Athens University of Economics and Business, Department of Management Science and Technology
• National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Hungary

• Eötvös Loránd University, Faculty of Informatics
• University of Szeged, Institute of Informatics

Ireland

• Technological University Dublin, School of Computer Science

Italy

• Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria
• Roma Informatics
  • Sapienza Università di Roma,  Department of Computer, Control, and Management Engineering Antonio Ruberti
  • Sapienza Università di Roma, Department of Computer Science
  • Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Sezione di Informatica e Automazione
  • University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Civil Engineering and Computer Science Engineering
  • University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Mathematics
• University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Informatics, Systems and Communication (DISCo)

Latvia

• Informatics Latvija:
  • Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Faculty of Information Technologies
  • Riga Technical University, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology
  • Transport and Telecommunication Institute
  • University of Latvia, Faculty of Computing
  • University of Latvia, Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science

Lithuania

• Kaunas University of Technology, Faculty of Informatics
• Vilnius University, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics

Luxembourg

• University of Luxembourg, SnT Centre

Netherlands

• Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI)
• Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science
• IPN - ICT-Research Platform Netherlands
• TU Delft, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science
• University of Amsterdam, Informatics Institute
• University of Groningen, Bernoulli Institute for Mathematics, Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
• Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Computer Science

Norway

• NTNU, Department of Computer Science
• UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Department of Computer Science

Portugal

• University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico
• University of Porto, Department of Informatics Engineering

Romania

• Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Faculty of Computer Science
• Babeş-Bolyai University, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
• Ovidius University of Constanta, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics
• University of Bucharest, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
• West University of Timisoara, Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science

Slovenia

• University of Maribor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Spain

• IMDEA Software Institute, Spain
• Universidad de Castilla - La Mancha
  • Escuela Superior de Informática (Ciudad Real)
  • Escuela Superior de Ingeniería Informática (Albacete)
• Universidad de Málaga, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Informática
• Universidad de Sevilla, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Informática
• Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED), Computer Science School of Engineering
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Informáticos
• Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Facultat d'Informatica de Barcelona
• Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Higher Technical School of Computer Engineering
• Universidad Salamanca, Department of Computer Science and Automation

Sweden

• Mälardalen University, School of Innovation Design and Engineering
• RISE Research Institutes of Sweden

Switzerland

• BeNeFri Computer Science
  • University of Bern, Institute of Computer Science
  • University of Fribourg, Department of Informatics
  • University of Neuchâtel, Computer Science Department
• Università della Svizzera italiana, Faculty of Informatics

Türkiye

• Bahcesehir University

UK

• University College London, Department of Computer Science
• University of Glasgow, School of Computing Science
• University of Leicester, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences

pan-European

• ACM Europe
• Eclipse Foundation
• ERCIM, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics
• Software Heritage
• The European Centre for Algorithmic Transparency (ECAT) of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission

Supported by IE's Ethics and Diversity & Inclusion Working Groups, this Workshop was held on Tuesday afternoon, 29 October and chaired by  Dympna O'Sullivan, TU Dublin (Ireland) and Simona Motogna, Babeş-Bolyai University (Romania).

In today's interconnected and diverse world, it is imperative that Informatics programmes embrace diversity and promote inclusion. This workshop offered a comprehensive examination of how diversity and inclusion are taught as integral components of Informatics disciplines along with an exploration of potential avenues for further enhancement.

Focusing on the findings from the Inclusion4EU and EUGAIN projects, the workshop focused on the following crucial aspects of cultivating diversity in Informatics disciplines:

1. Understanding Diversity and Inclusion Concepts: Participants delved into the significance of diversity and inclusion within the realms of Informatics education.
2. Curriculum Design: Participants explored methods for integrating diversity and inclusion into existing Informatics processes and curricula, ensuring exposure to diverse perspectives and experiences for students.
3. Interactive co-design session: Engaging in a collaborative task with other workshop participants, attendees assessed existing technologies, confronted challenges, and considered how such methods can be used to better promote diversity and inclusion in Informatics education.

Inclusion4EU Erasmus+ project and EUGAIN COST Action are co-funded by the European Commission. The research of these projects has been collated in dedicated research reports that will be presented during the workshop. Informatics Europe is a partner in both projects and the grant holder manager of EUGAIN.

*Please note that the photos below are better viewed when applying zoom out.

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ECSS (European Informatics Leaders Summit) is the main event organized by Informatics Europe yearly. Informatics Europe welcomes proposals from its members to co-organise future editions of the conference. Interested members can submit bids following the guidelines described on this page and positively contribute to the development of the European informatics research community while boosting their international visibility. More information about the summit's history, target audience and purpose can be found here.

We are currently seeking bids to host summit editions from 2027 onwards. The deadline to submit a bid for the 2027 edition is 3 May 2026, but proposals will be reviewed on a rolling basis.. Bids submitted after this date will be considered for the following editions of the summit.

Guidelines for submitting bids: 

Members of Informatics Europe may submit bids considering the ECSS General Organizational Guidelines and containing at least the following information:

• Description of conference venue and facilities, ideally with a couple of pictures;
• Travel time/options from the closest well-served international airport;
• Estimate of accommodation options and costs;
• Rough planned budget for the event;
• A description of who will be the General Chair and other members of the organising committee, including information about the previous conference organising experience;
• Statements of support from the proposed hosting institutions and/or locals.

The Informatics Europe Board may ask the bid authors to provide additional or more detailed information before a decision is taken. Pre-selected bids shall be presented at one of the Informatics Europe Board meetings by a member of the proposed organizing committee, preferably the proposed General Chair.

Frequently asked questions:

Looking for a targeted and impactful approach to engage with the leaders in the European informatics research community?

Explore our sponsorship packages that enable you to enhance your brand's visibility, showcase your products and services, and cultivate valuable collaborations with informatics partners of all kinds. This extends beyond the European Informatics Leaders Summit - ECSS and empowers a wide range of Informatics Europe activities!

Our prestigious ECSS sponsors and partners over the years:

Joining the Esteemed Informatics Europe Sponsorship Hall of Fame

As sponsors, your vital involvement enables us to deliver an exceptional experience for ECSS attendees and push the advancement of informatics research and education to new heights. Your support extends beyond ECSS, encompassing all Informatics Europe activities, benefiting a community of nearly 200 informatics institutions in over 30 European countries. You will gain visibility to a network of 50,000+ informatics researchers and over half a million informatics students! Seize this unique sponsorship opportunity that yields lasting and significant outcomes - join us in building a promising future for the field of informatics and beyond!

Contact

To customize your sponsorship opportunities, please reach out to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. We look forward to creating a mutually beneficial sponsorship plan with you.

As an exclusive benefit to our members, we offered the possibility to include some printouts about your institution free-of-charge in the ECSS 2022 participant packages. We also offered members the possibility to publish these materials virtually on a special section of our ECSS 2022 website, called Members Spotlight.

Examples of materials include:

• a flyer describing an academic program
• an announcement of a conference, seminar series, summer school...
• a call for papers
• an announcement of a new book or other publication
• a call for joint proposals
• generally anything that fits within the mission and goals of Informatics Europe and can be of interest to ECSS participants.

In order to take advantage of this benefit, we accepted submission according to the following instructions:

(for virtual materials, by Oct 16th)

• a PDF document, for publish and download on our ECSS website section Members Spotlight, AND
• a JPG/PNG image of the cover, as the front image of your document on the gallery; it must have the following dimensions: 500 (horizontal) x 625 (vertical) pixels.

Important note: these two files must have a concise self-referring name consisting of maximum 7 words (e.g.UZH-Informatics-Department-Flyer; UCLouvain-CS-Master-Program-Flyer, etc.)

(for physical materials to be distributed at the ECSS 2022 venue in Hamburg)

• By Oct 2nd:  an electronic copy (PDF/JPG) of the material you’d like to include. The materials should be a single sheet, A4 or smaller unless otherwise agreed.
• By Oct 18th: no more than 150 printed copies of the document delivered to Germany by post, with exact amount required and delivery address confirmed by email.

You can find first examples of how your materials would be published from our previous Members Spotlight.

Thank you for taking the advantage of this offer to advertise your activities to the ECSS 2022 participants.

The 1st call for participation has been released for the ECSS 2021. The 17th European Computer Science Summit will be held as a hybrid event in Madrid, October 25-27, 2021.

Read more

The European Computer Science Summit has been organised annually by Informatics Europe since 2005. In fact, the origins of Informatics Europe date back to the first ECSS held at ETH Zurich in 2005, when for the first time, heads of Informatics departments throughout Europe met to discuss critical issues and common concerns related to their discipline. Informatics Europe continues to organize the summit since then

Today, ECSS still gathers deans, department chairs, and heads of research groups of leading European Computer Science and Informatics faculties, departments as well as public and private research institutes. Additional workshops and sessions in recent years have broadened the scope of the discussions to include all leaders and decision-makers in Informatics in Europe.

The Summit is devoted to all aspects of Informatics: education, research, funding, entrepreneurship, management, career development, and policies.

The high calibre of the speakers, since the very first Summit in 2005, has established the ECSS as one of the most prominent meetings of the European Informatics community.

Purpose of ECSS

• Debate the future of informatics, its role, and influence in both academy and society.
• Expand the international network of deans, heads of departments, and group-leading researchers in informatics.
• Provide a forum for discussion and exchange of solutions and best practices on common issues.
• Examine ways in which deans, department heads, and group-leading researchers in informatics can work together to improve teaching and research, implement the Bologna process, can influence the policies of their universities, governments and the EU, and take joint initiatives on common issues.
• Provide opportunities for liaisons with other groups pursuing common interests.