The Council of the ITACET Foundation met in Paris, France, on 9th Februray 2018 to discuss recent Foundation activities and current organizational, financial and strategic issues.

The meeting kicked off with discussions on the plan to relocate the Foundation's headquarters to the ITA's premises in Geneva, following ITA's proposal. An agreement with ITA will be drafted shortly.

The events organized since the last Foundation Council meeting in October 2017 were presented, with a particularly impressive turnout of 300 participants for the training session on Flood Control in Shanghai, China, on 25th November 2017 and over 90 participants for the session on "Control and Monitoring" in Thimphu, Bhutan on 27th-28th November 2017.

The Council members then went on to discuss ITACET Foundation scholarships. For the year 2017 - 2018, two candidates were accepted by the Council:

 - Priscilla Antoniazzi (Brazil) - Master's in Tunnels and Underground Structures - Lyon - France

 - John Paul Ramirez (Colombia) - Master's in Tunnelling and Underground Space - Warwick - UK

For the year 2018-2019, it has been decided to award a scholarship to Swetna Nemani, from India, to follow the Specialized Master's in Tunnels and Tunnel Boring Machines at the Politecnico di Torino in Italy.

The Memorandom of Understanding between the IRF and the ITACET Foudnation, signed in Dubai in October 2017, should enter into application at the occasion of the IRF congress in Las Vegas in November 2018. IRF is planning a specific session on tunnelling.

The Foundation's communication activities were also examined during the meeting. Between October 2017 and February 2018, the  visitors to the Foundation's web site came from France, India, USA, Ecuador, UK, China, Germany, Singapore and Brazil.

The Foundation's Linkedin page has been active since May 2017 and articles are regularly posted. This tool has met with considerable success. As an example,  over 250 visitors reacted to the 7 posts published between October and December 2017.

The meeting rounded off with a validation of the proposed budget for 2018 -2019 and the decision to update the Foundation's Action and Business Plan, following the agreement to be signed with ITA.

The next Council meeting will take place in Dubai at the occasion of the WTC 2018.