A word from the President
This is the winter edition of the ELA newsletter. Only six months have passed since my election as President, but I can already confirm what was previously announced. During these months, I have worked a lot on the theme of unity and inclusion, trying to pool everyone’s experiences and making sure that no one could feel excluded from the Association’s activities. ELA’s doors are always open to exchanges of views, to the contribution of all those who think they can enrich the important “store of knowledge” that we have been able to accumulate over the years. I have also taken important steps to seek the re-engagement of the Czech Republic Association with ELA. On the other hand, I have also established alliances with European Associations of similar or complementary sectors to ours. The new season of relations with the renewed European institutions could represent a testing ground for this type of alliance, a moment of sharing and representing strong ELA positions to the outside world.
In recent months, I have also tried to facilitate interaction between ELA’s internal committees and working groups, in the absolute conviction that strong knowledge, on specific topics, should be shared and available to all! In the last couple of months, I have had the opportunity to meet some of our members in Poland, as well as in the Netherlands. In the course of 2025, I already have other important meetings on the agenda. I am convinced that it is important to further deepen the knowledge and interaction between ELA Members, so I have decided that starting from the next ELA Board meeting, in turn and in rotation, all ELA Members will have the opportunity to introduce themselves, to share their strengths and the excellence of their work. Of course, in recent months I have also represented our Association in global contexts, particularly in the framework of the Europe/China dialogue. In 2025 I am already scheduled to chair the usual meeting of members of the World Elevator & Escalator Association.
We are now approaching Christmas, so let me conclude with a strong message of good wishes that I would like to address to you and your families. A very busy year comes to an end for all of us and a new one opens with the hope that we will continue, all together, to consolidate our role as the first and most representative association in this sector in Europe. I wish you all a successful 2025.
ELA General Assembly & Conference in Warsaw (21/22 May 2025)
ELA presentation at the 1st International Smart Readiness Indicator Conference 2024!
The conference was held in Karlsruhe, Germany on October 14-15, 2024.
The event aimed to give all the scientists the chance to share their SRI1) findings with anyone who’s interested.
Researchers from across Europe joined, and ELA had the privilege of hearing outstanding presentations from leading scientists, industry experts and EU policy makers. The discussions focused on how digital buildings are affecting people and the role of the SRI that opens new possibilities for the use of innovative technologies in the buildings.
The SRI is a policy initiative under EPBD2) to get people thinking about smart buildings and how these can be made more energy efficient and perform better overall.
ELA was also present at the conference, Alper CALISKAN (SRI WG3) convenor) and Claudio Donghi (SAEL4) WG convenor) delivered a presentation on the role and the contribution of the Lifts and Escalators in that area.
Main topics of their presentation were to highlight the benefits of the Smart Lifts and Escalators for valued SRI: Safety, Accessibility & Inclusiveness, Energy performance and Passenger experience.
Overall, ELA’s presentation was a success with an interactive Q&A session. The audience has now a better understanding of our solutions and is more convinced for inclusion of Lifts & Escalators into SRI metrics.
Further to the conference, a meeting was scheduled for December 2024 with one of the main EU policy contributors.
- SRI: Smart Readiness Indicator
- EPBD: Energy Performance of Buildings Directive
- WG: ELA Working Group
- SAEL: Safety Accessibility Energy Efficiency in existing Lifts
Education on standardization in Europe
On 17 June, the first conference organised by the European Commission on the subject of “Education on standardisation” was held in Delft (NL). ELA was present at the conference, which was attended by representatives from universities, industries and, of course standardisation bodies (CEN, ISO and ETSI but also DIN, BSI, AFNOR, UNI, etc.). A video by Commissioner Breton opened the conference by confirming the topic of European standardisation as a high priority for the European Commission’s action. The University of Eindhoven had a primary role and the involvement of CEN/CENELEC/ETSI was crucial.
Next to this, the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs was also strongly involved. The standardisation strategy will only be successful if the involvement of experts (from public administration, business…, civil society) is strong and convinced. The experts currently in place are close to retirement and the much-needed generational change is not visible on the horizon: a process must be created to stimulate the recruitment of new experts.
Standardisation training concerns everyone (citizens and companies) and must be at the centre of our action both in Europe and worldwide. But who trains the experts and at what level of education?
Education does not only come from universities but upstream and downstream from these as it often comes from a path within a company. There is also a need to provide a job perspective for those approaching the topic (market attractiveness). The important role of Industries clearly emerged. But who can provide the economic resources for training and issuing certificates? It is necessary to imagine what the incentives (not only economic) might be for both lecturers and students. The discussion will continue in 2025 taking into consideration three aspects of the topic
- Standardisation affects everyone, no one excluded
- Training at all levels to ensure generational change
- Success comes from exchanging national best practices
Visit to ELA by representatives of the China Academy of Building Research (CABR)
During the official visit of the prestigious Chinese representatives in Europe, a meeting was held in ELA on 29 November. President Wim Koster and the Secretary General of the China Elevator Association (CEA), Lexiang Zhang, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on cooperation in which the strong relationship between the two Associations and the common interest in promoting further synergetic actions for the benefit of the industrial sector they both represent were renewed. A follow-up meeting will be held in March 2025, in China.
New VSA Brochures
It is a pleasure to share that Verband Schweizerischer Aufzugsunternehmen (VSA) has published three informative brochures on « Working Safely on Lifts, » offering valuable insights on the topic.
These brochures are available on the VSA Website in:
Latest news from the EU Institutions
After the European elections (6-9 June 2024) the European Council has taken important decisions on the leadership of the EU institutions for the next years:
- electing Antonio Costa as the new President of the Council of the European Union for a 2.5 year term (12/24-5/27);
- electing Kaja Kallas as High Representative for Foreign Affairs & Security Policy to lead the European External Action Service for five years (she is also VP of the EC);
- “proposing” Ursula von der Leyen as candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission. In July she was then elected as President by the European Parliament for the next five years until 2029.
During the EP First Plenary (constitutive) session in Strasbourg (16-18 July) Roberta Metsola was re-elected for another term of office as President of the European Parliament until 2027. Also, the 14 VPs were elected. All of the Parliament’s 20 standing committees and the 4 subcommittees held their constitutive meetings to elect their Chair and Vice-Chairs for a two-and-a-half-year mandate.
On 23 July, the SG of ELA sent to all the ELA members the list of their representatives in the European Parliament.
Last September, the EC President announced the proposed new team of Commissioners (one for each Member State – names as proposed by the Governments) and their respective responsibilities.
In November, there was the Hearings of the candidate Commissioners (4-12 November): each candidate Commissioner was heard and its candidacy examined by the parliamentary committee responsible for his/her proposed portfolio (it is only once all nominees have been endorsed that the MEPs vote in plenary on whether or not to approve the entire College). All received individual approval.
In December, the PRESIDENT OF THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL took office and all the Institutions became fully operative (included also the election of the European Ombudsman)
