Ada-Europe Workplan 2026

1 Context

The year 2026 brings potential challenges to the ecosystem of Ada associations and, obviously, to Ada-Europe. On one hand, the dismiss of SIGAda, and the difficult emergence of the HILT technical committee inside SIGPLAN, and on the other hand the initial focus of the Ada User Society on the Ada standardization process, due to the urgent need for the global Ada community to stand united for the continuation of the Ada programming language as a living international standard.

This means that (i) Ada-Europe needs to continue with a proactive workplan to increase the awareness of Ada, and the related ecosystem, and (ii) Ada-Europe needs to continue its support to the Ada User Society, in its ramp up of activities.

These objectives reflect in the workplan presented in this document, which describes the principal lines of action that Ada-Europe proposes to carry out in the year 2026 in this context.

Further initiatives not specified in this workplan may still be contemplated on the basis of need and opportunity, as long as deemed within the remit of Ada-Europe’s charter, and viable financially and programmatically.

2 Activity Plan

International Liaisons

Objectives:

To support the Ada standardization process, such that Ada continues to be a technically advanced and sound language, meeting the expectations of its user base, with full transparency and independence.

Activities:

On account of the principal responsibility assigned to the Ada User Society, Ada-Europe will defer to the Ada User Society the lead role in the continuation of the Ada programming language as a living international standard. Nevertheless, Ada-Europe will maintain its liaison with all international organizations with bearing on Ada (in particular ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 9, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 22/WG 23, and the ACM). In assuming that responsibility, the Ada User Society will also assume any financial burden that will ensue from taking actions in that regard.

Due to the importance of this role of Ada User Society, the need for financial resources, and for a wide membership base, Ada-Europe plan is to discount its members the fee that they pay to the Ada User Society, if being simultaneously a member of both.

If that is not sufficient, as in the previous year, Ada-Europe may consider offering grants for the execution of some of those tasks, within the yearly budget approved by its General Assembly, if the Society own funds do not fully cover the costs.

Grants

Objectives:

To support activities that promote the use of Ada, directly or indirectly, through standing for Ada in international bodies, in technical and scientific discussion, and in the dissemination of information about the values and prospects of Ada.

Activities

The activities of this type will have two strands: one, if needed, that entails support for specific tasks to be undertaken by the Ada User Society in the attainment of its strategic objectives as outlined at the beginning of this document; the other that concerns technical and scientific initiatives promoted by direct or indirect members of Ada-Europe, such as technical days, workshops, and other special events.

As usual, the latter type of grant will require the beneficiaries to return value to Ada- Europe, including in the form of material publishable by the Ada User Journal.

Dissemination

Objectives:

To keep our membership abreast of events taking place and other matters of interest, which concern Ada, for publications, products, and standardization milestones and achievements.

Activities:

A judicious process of unification between the Ada User Journal (AUJ), the quarterly magazine of Ada-Europe, and Ada Letters, property of the ACM and currently under SIGPLAN has been running for some years. That process has two strands: one that concerns contents, and the other that regards the administrative and regulatory relations with the ACM where we want the unified publication to be housed too (that is to say, not exclusively). The content-side of the merger is effectively accomplished. The other side of it still needs careful and patient work, which will continue throughout the year 2026.

Once the merger will be fully accomplished, the new unified periodical may become a product of the Ada User Society, yet still curated by the well-oiled Ada-Europe machinery hopefully aided by new volunteers, and a benefit to all members of both associations.

Until that moment, the production of the Ada User Journal will remain a task of Ada- Europe in the current modality for responsibility, distribution schedule and means.

Conferences and Workshops

Objectives:

To organize conferences and workshops on topics related to the Ada-Europe charter, providing members and non-members with forums to acquire knowledge and discuss advances and practice on the use of Ada and/or reliable software technologies.

Activities:

Ada-Europe will continue to run its yearly international conference week series titled Ada- Europe International Conference on Reliable Software Technologies (AEiC) in the current, well-established format, with venues located in Europe.

The local hosting of the conference will continue to require generous volunteering from groups of Ada friends based at the target venue. A permanent call for volunteers is open to all members.

Direct and indirect members of Ada-Europe will continue to receive a discount at Ada- Europe’s conferences, with Associate Member Organizations advising Ada-Europe of their indirect membership base at the start of the membership year (1 April).

Support for Associate Member Organizations

Objectives:

To support associate member organizations in widening the reach of their national activities into the European Ada community.

Activities:

Ada-Europe always seeks and welcomes opportunities to collaborate with associate member organizations, for events and other initiatives of mutual interest.

Organizational Matters

Objectives:

To conduct the business of Ada-Europe so that it meets, in a cost-effective manner, the objectives specified in its yearly Workplan.

Activities:

Ada-Europe is run by a Board of volunteers, each of them elected for a two-year term of service. Board members are assigned specific non-overlapping delegated responsibilities. The functional composition of the Board therefore matches the roles established by the recurring elements of the yearly Workplan.

The Board conducts its business with utmost financial care, strictly within the bounds of the budget approved by the General Assembly. In normal circumstances, the Board meets twice per year in person, where possible at the candidate venue of the Ada-Europe conference of the following year, in Q1 of the preceding year, and at the yearly conference. In

3 Constraints

Ada-Europe’s financial balance continues to be solid, thanks to the build-up of the generous support of its numerous sponsors and the savings made by financially successful editions of the yearly conference. The last few years however have required considerable investments to keep alive the workplan initiatives in spite of extremely challenging circumstances. On account of that, the Board of Ada-Europe continues to study ways to secure the solidity of the association’s financial balance in the long term.

The cost of the production and distribution of the Ada User Journal has been steadily increasing in the last years, an increase that has been mitigated by the reduction of copy count, as some members have opt-ed out of the physical copy. The sustainability of the AUJ needs attention, therefore a plan is proposed to partly compensate the distribution costs, through a AUJ shipping specific fee for members that which to receive the physical copy.

Attention will continue to be paid to determining registration fees for the annual conference that be at one time attractive of attendees, especially to members, and capable of allowing the event to break even financially. Nevertheless, the financial sustainability of the conference needs to be addressed, as the current model is leading to yearly loss, which needs to be mitigated. The board will investigate ways to promote this sustainability, both on the cost reduction, as well as raising income.