Final Report Summary - EXPERTISSUES (Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Tissue Engineering of Bone and Cartilage Using Second Generation Biomimetic Scaffolds) The main goal of EXPERTISSUES was to combat and overcome fragmentation of European research on the field of tissue engineering of bone and cartilage and joint Europe's leading academic centres and several complementary industrial players in a multi-disciplinary consortium to conduct and structure research that is able to compete in the international arena, namely with United States and Japan. This was foreseen throughout the creation of a sustainable and durable institute, which was achieved.EXPERTISSUES European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine EEIG is an European economic interest grouping with headquarters at Universidade do Minho, Grupo de Investigação 3B's (Biomateriais, Materiais Biodegradáveis e Biomiméticos), Avepark - Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia, Guimarães, Portugal and branches in all member institutions.The major goal of the EXPERTISSUES Network of Excellence (NoE) was to integrate in an efficient and long-lasting manner, several European institutions from academia and industry, with recognised expertise in tissue engineering research in order to achieve the creation of a virtual European centre of excellence in tissue engineering, leading the way in European Union (EU) for achieving a more competitive European research in this research field and contributing in the creation of the European Research Area (ERA).The Network activities were organised through a Joint programme of activities (JPA) structured in three levels: research (JPR), integration (JPI), spreading (JPS) and management.As far as the size of the network is concerned, the EXPERTISSUES NoE brought together 20 partners from 13 countries. The size of the network and the selection of its original members, was designed in order to join together the critical mass and all the expertises needed to be an unavoidable world reference on the topic of tissue engineering of bone and cartilage.In order to achieve that, the network also incorporated, as part of an international advisory board (not funded by the European Union (EU)), academic (but not industrial) partners of leading institutions in the United States, Canada and Singapore. These partners, leaded in most cases by researchers of EU nationality, agreed to join the network bringing in a specific expertise that would help to move European research on that particular topic. This NoE aimed to provide new tissue engineering technologies for therapeutic treatments, which would ultimately have a major social impact by contributing to the challenge of providing lifelong health for our society at an affordable cost. Related documents Final Report - EXPERTISSUES (Novel Therapeutic Strategies for Tissue Engineering of Bone and Cartilage Using Second Generation Biomimetic Scaffolds)
