Partnership and Structure

ERCIM hosted the European headquarters of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) from 2003 until the formation of W3C Incorporated in January 2023, and has served as its European Partner since then. ERCIM and W3C aim to strengthen relationships throughout Europe to better support the development of Web technology and to jointly share the results of their collaboration.

Two of the European Chapters are currently based at ERCIM institutes, namely at FORTH (Greece) and SZTAKI (Hungary). Originally, W3C Offices were located at the ERCIM institutes CWI, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, FORTH, SZTAKI, CNR, RISE/SICS and STFC.

W3C Chapters in Europe work with their regional Web communities to promote W3C technologies in local languages, broaden W3C’s geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C activities.

Strategic Impact and Collaboration

As a consortium of members from many European countries, ERCIM builds bridges between different cultures and facilitates the movement of technical ideas within academia and across borders. W3C is steered by its members with interests in Web technologies such as HTML, Web Privacy and Security, Web Payments, and the Web of Things.

ERCIM brings together research communities across disciplines where Web standards are not yet widely used, helping to connect these communities and foster collaboration.

ERCIM members also maintain strong ties with industrial partners and start-ups. This provides opportunities for W3C to expand cooperation with European industry and broaden participation in the development and adoption of standards.

Hosting W3C has allowed ERCIM members to benefit from the expertise of the W3C team and to increase visibility through W3C’s global reputation. The joint efforts of ERCIM and W3C continue to strengthen Web research cooperation in Europe.