A total of 68 registered participants from across the European Union and Israel followed the programme of 28 scientific and technical topics presented at the conference. The participants represented a range of academic institutions, research and technical development organisations, commercial enterprises and public bodies. Specifically, the academic institutions were represented by 29 attendants; research organizations and public bodies were represented by 25 attendants; whilst commercial organisations accounted for 14 members of the audience.

The topics of the conference covered the whole range of scientific developments in the field of dynamic analysis, simulation and testing applied to the energy and environmental performance of buildings and in particular the following conclusions were drawn from the scope and depth of ongoing research in the field:

•  Dynamic analysis, simulation and testing remains an area of high scientific interest.

•  The combined (globally encompassing) activities of testing, analysis and simulation remain necessary for development of innovative building components and the study of their integration within the built environment. This suggests the requirement for both the development of virtual laboratories for analysis and simulation, but also for the consolidation and maintenance of the hardware of research infrastructures existing in this scientific field.

• Researchers from across the EU and further were present at the conference during a time of limited availability of research funds and with no specific research activity to finance their participation.

• On a national level in the host country, eight academic institutions were represented from across Greece and this is particularly encouraging.

• An upturn in research can be expected in the medium term in order to meet the requirements of security of energy supply and environmental impact in EU.

Particular attention was given by several speakers to simulation and analysis of energy flows of renewable energies integrated in the built environment. In addition, the final session of the conference concerned applications to the energy performance assessment of buildings, wherein the link between the scientific aspects of the study of building performance using dynamic methods and the requirements for more simplified performance assessment approaches to building certification became evident. As such, it is obvious that directives such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive act as a driving force for incorporating the outcome of research into daily practice.

A full report on the outcome of the conference will be available on this website in the near future.