Scanbalt Newsletter August 2004

CONTENTS:

• Become a member of ScanBalt
• 3rd ScanBalt Forum
• ScanBalt Interview with Christian Patermann, DG Research, European Commission
• BioCon Valley Conference – Life Science for the Future, 2004
• EU funded project “ScanBalt CompetenceRegion” to start in August
• Job Announcement for “ScanBalt CompetenceRegion”
• EU News

Become a member of ScanBalt
ScanBalt is from 1 August 2004 a membership based not for profit association. In particular ScanBalt is a tool for the members to:

– Create visibility for the ScanBalt BioRegion and members of ScanBalt
– Attract human resources and capital
– Initiate and facilitate the creation of critical mass
– Coordinate joint efforts in research, education and technology transfer
– Create a platform for collaboration between academia, hospitals, public authorities, private   companies and individuals
– Create a platform for dialog and collaboration between networks
– Create a platform for dialog with supra-national institutions

Members of ScanBalt will have exclusive access to the ScanBalt extranet currently being developed. ScanBalt will whenever possible negotiate reduced fees for selected conferences, events and subscriptions. Some of these services may be limited to founding and institutional members. See more information on membership of ScanBalt here.

3^rd ScanBalt Forum<_o3a_p />

We would like to invite you to the 3rd ScanBalt Forum – The Competence Region. The Forum will take place in Turku Science Park, Finland on 25th and 26th of August 2004. The Forum will create the future of the ScanBalt Competence region by establishing Scientific Platforms and Public-Private Partnerships. The aim of the Forum is to promote networking, to create new contacts and collaboration for mutual benefit and funding of activities within biotechnology in the ScanBalt Competence Region. The focus of the 3rd ScanBalt Forum is both scientific and entrepreneurial. The programme is built on the ScanBalt ongoing projects or project ideas with renowned speakers. See the announcement and registration details here.

ScanBalt Interview with Christian Patermann,Director for Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food, DG Research, European Commission.
Previously the Director for Environment and Sustainable Development in the European Commission Dr. Christian Patermann is now the Director for Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food within Directorate-General (DG) research. DG’s mission is to implement and develop research policy, with the main instrument being the Framework Programme. In this interview Dr. Patermann talks candidly about European Competiveness, metaregions and financial instruments. Read more here.

BioCon Valley – Life Science for the Future 2004, International Biennial Conference.
This meeting will provide the latest view of cutting edge technologies in Life Sciences. This year, the conference focuses on life science automation technologies, regenerative medicine, and bioinformatics. As the Competence Centre of Biogenic Resources will shortly open, a major theme of the conference will be a workshop on agrobiotechnology. Read more here.

EU Funded Project “ScanBalt CompetenceRegion” to start in August.
13 partners from ScanBalt member countries have received the contract for the project “ScanBalt CompetenceRegion” which is being funded out of the 6th Frame work programme. The basic objectives of the programme are to provide a comprehensive and structured mapping of the ScanBalt Bioregion, to identify core competencies and accelerate linkage and integration of the new EU countries. Read more here.

Job Announcement for “ScanBalt Competence Region”
BioCon Valley GmbH is looking for a project coordinator for the EU funded project “ScanBalt CompetenceRegion”. Read more here.

EU INFORMATION AND EVENTS

EU Focus
The future of European research policy – consultation open
The role of women in science in Eastern Europe
Biopattern project receives 6,4 million Euro
CellPROM (nanoscale) project receives 26 million Euro
EU Information
New Innovation service
Mitosis project
Invitation to participate in project on molecular diagnostics
Clinical trial partnerships
FP6 Project Information Service

EU Calls
Call for tender on Study on the design of national research programmes

EU Published Events
Genomics Momentum 2004
Frontiers in chemical biology: the chemical biology of cancer’
Baltic dynamics conference: Innovation and Development of Knowledge-Based Entrepreneurship
Commision conference on “Research, innovation and economic performance – what do we know and where are we heading?’
Innovact
Satellite conference on ‘A European strategy for biotechnology and life sciences’
The European society of gene therapy (ESGT)  12th annual congress
European Patent Office has announced that the third epoline annual conference

Deadline for the next issue of ScanBalt news is 25th August

<_o3a_p />

Editors: Peter Frank
John Wedderburn