March 2000

May 2000

July 2000

Publications &
Conferences

P U B L I C A T I O N S  

PTS Futures project reports

Information and communications technologies, life sciences, the single currency, proposed enlargement of the EU, demographic change, globalisation, sustainable development are key drivers of change, representing major challenges for Europe's technology, competitiveness and employment policies.

The Futures project of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre has analysed these central policy challenges up to 2010, assisted by 195 experts from industry, academia and policy making.

The main results were presented at the IPTS Futures Conference in Brussels on 10-11 February. They are now also available as a series of reports, downloadable in PDF format from the website of the Futures project. Each offers a comprehensive and authoritative overview of the area covered, which will provide a baseline for industrial and political strategic thinking in the coming years.

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RC Publications Bulletin 1999

The bulletin lists the scientific and technical publications produced by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) during 1998. It gives full references for reports, journal articles, special publications and conference presentations produced by the JRC's scientific institutes and its JRC central services, distinguishing between refereed and non-refereed publications. A list of patents granted to JRC researchers during the year and some other information, including an index of authors, is also provided.

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ustainable workplaces in the Information Society

The Information Society DG has recently published a report on a meeting, jointly organised with the Research DG to consult the wider industrial and research community on actions in the revised work programme which address future research requirements for sustainable workplaces.

The meeting concluded that efforts should not be limited to improving business efficiency and effectiveness and human and social aspects. They should also take into consideration the materials and energy consumption and wider societal and environmental impacts.

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ualitative aspects of Swedish participation in EU R&D

This report is now available in print and may also shortly be available in electronic form. It summarises the results of a study of the scientific quality of Swedish participation in the EU's Research Framework Programmes, intended to supplement earlier national studies which focused on quantitative analyses of Swedish EU research and not on its basic scientific quality.

One of the main conclusions is that the EU Framework Programmes are very heterogeneous, and only certain parts can be characterised as constituting basic research. "It is possible to divide Swedish participation in EU research into two separate research cultures", say the authors. The IT and industry-technology community has low basic research relevance and strong links to industry and sectoral bodies, while bioscience, social sciences, environment and human capital have a high degree of basic research relevance as well as great interest from the academic scientific community and links to Swedish Research Council funding. An overwhelming majority of Swedish researchers consider that their EU projects can be classified as targeted basic research or applied research.

iobiz training workshops

A series of intensive three-day training workshops for biotechnology entrepreneurs is being run until the end of the year. Designed to equip bioscience researchers with the practical tools they need to prepare business plans for new spin-off companies, the cost of attending one of the workshops is only 800, thanks largely to the support of the European Commission's Quality of Life programme.

The remaining workshops will take place:

• 6-8 June, Stockholm (Sweden)
• 20-22 June, Dublin (Ireland)
• 4-6 July, London (United Kingdom)
• 18-20 July, Berlin (Germany)
• 1-3 August, Cambridge (United Kingdom)
• 5-7 September, Tel Aviv (Israel)
• 19-21 September, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
• 3-5 October, Lyon (France)
• 17-19 October, Lisbon (Portugal)
• 21-23 November, Vienna (Austria)

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iomass for Energy and Industry

5-9 June, Sevilla (Spain)

The most important Biomass sector meeting world-wide during 2000, the first world conference merges the traditional European and American events, offering a unique opportunity for debate and the transfer of knowledge and experience among scientists, policy-makers and technologists. By fostering the emergence of new strategies, projects and good practice rules, the conference aims to make a major contribution to sustainable development.

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uropean Business Summit - Innovation and Creativity

9-11 June, Brussels (Belgium)

This high-level summit meeting is organised by the European employers confederation (UNICE) and the European Commission. It will bring together around 1,500 senior political and industrial decision-makers to discuss means to accelerate the development within the European Union of a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, as a source of economic growth.

The opening session will be addressed by, among others, Steve Ballmer, President and CEO of Microsoft, and Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission for Enterprise and the Information Society. Four parallel workshop series will examine the organisational requirements for innovation in companies, methods for opening or reinventing markets, legal and regulatory barriers to innovation, and ways of mobilising the key innovation inputs of people and money. Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, will address the closing session. In the accompanying exhibition, the Innovation Directorate of the Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise will present key activities of FP5's Innovation and SMEs programme.

The programme, registration form and list of speakers are on the conference website.

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ransnational Technology Transfer Days

13-14 June, Poznan (Poland)

Designed to facilitate the spread of technology to eastern Europe in particular, this event will run concurrently with the 'Industrial technologies and investment goods' international fair. New technologies, research units and technology transfer will be on show at a special exhibition. The participation of exhibitors and technology recipients in the TTTDays event is free.

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nnovating Regions in Europe - Second Plenary Meeting

15-16 June, Madrid (Spain)

The IRE network links all the RIS/RITTS (Regional Innovation and Technology Transfer Strategies) and transregional innovation projects - which aim to strengthen regional innovation systems through needs assessment, strategic planning and co-operation between firms, public administrations and agencies.

This event will bring together the project managers and representatives of regional authorities of all regions involved, to exchange views on issues such as tools and methods, funding, and project evaluation. Senior European Commission officials will present the Enterprise DG's new regional innovation actions, for which a call will be launched in June, and the new generation of European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) Innovative Actions 2000-2006. A 'Regiopartenariat' partnering event will facilitate bilateral meetings between actors from different regions to explore partnership and co-operation opportunities.

Registration for the event is available on-line at the IRE website (see contact).

Contact
J. Lostao, Innovating Regions in Europe
Tl. +44 2920 373 656
Fx. +44 2920 373 633
E-m. jlcmi.uk@virgin.net
http://www.innovating-regions.org

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ti 2000

10-12 July, London (United Kingdom)

The 'Technology transfer and innovation' conference aims to stimulate knowledge transfer and skills development for business growth by presenting new thinking from around the world. Speakers include Sir Robert May, Chief Scientific Officer to the UK government, the Vice-Rector of Moscow State Aviation Technology University, and the Vice-Chairman of Motorola.

Contact
TTI Secretariat
Tl. +44 1367 245210
Fx. +44 1367 242831
E-m tti@tcd.co.uk
http://www.tcd.co.uk/