We were honored to host 14 European ministers responsible for competitiveness (research) (from Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Sweden, Slovenia, United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland) the 18th July 2016. They were greeted by the rector of our university, professor Robert Redhammer and by the dean of the faculty, professor Maria Bielikova. The ministers and heads of national delegations visited ESET lab and also our UXI Research Center. In UXI professor Bielikova explained why it is important to track users’ activity and gaze if 
we want to understand users’ behavior and design better applications that can be used effectively and with a pleasure, and also adapt to the users’ needs. She also discussed what sets UXI research centre apart, namely the group studies and analyses that are possible thanks to the unique infrastructure in our UX Group Lab. We also did a short live demonstration of the tracking possibilities in the lab with one of the ministers as a volunteer.
Director-General for Research and Innovation Robert-Jan Smits stressed the importance of providing the young researchers with research opportunities at the national level to build their careers and to be respected. This is what we strive for also in UXI@FIIT.
The visit was a part of the programme of the ministers’ informal meeting in Bratislava during Slovak presidency of the Council of European Union which continues today in Reduta. More information can be found out in the news coverage of RTVS (in Slovak, it starts from 00:19:05): http://www.rtvs.sk/televizia/archiv/9936/100449
