The Finnish Council Presidency and Innovation webservice
Finland will take over the Presidency of the Council of the EU from Germany at the beginning of July 1999. CORDIS is therefore hosting the new Finnish Council Presidency and Innovation webservice, a specialised information gateway to regularly updated information about important developments in research and innovation during Finland's Presidential term (1 July to 31 December 1999). In a recent interview with CORDIS, Erkki Tuomioja, Finland's Minister for Trade and Industry outlined the Finnish Presidency's priorities for research and innovation. Firstly, he said, Finland will continue discussions on the EU's future research priorities, which are expected to be reflected in the Sixth Framework Programme, for the period from 2003 onwards. At the same time Finland will pay particular attention to ensuring that the Fifth Framework Programme, launched at the beginning of this year, continues to be implemented smoothly. To ensure success for FP5, Mr Tuomioja says the Finnish Presidency will be looking at ways to raise awareness of the opportunities raised by EU research programmes for companies, research institutes, universities and other potential participants. Specifically, Finland is especially keen to promote the exploitation of results from EU-funded research and the exploitation of innovation in the social decision-making process. It will also aim to further implementation of the European Commission's First Action Plan on Innovation, as well as initiate debate on space research and the space industry. The webservice will be updated weekly, and is published in English and Finnish. It is designed to help users broaden their understanding of the many research and innovation-related activities and initiatives supported by the European Union and implemented in the Member States. The service will provide timely information to Europe's scientific, academic, and business communities. It will cover the range of policy issues being considered by the EU Research Council, as well as research-related developments in Finland. CORDIS has developed the service in collaboration with the Finnish Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Finnish Technology Development Centre (TEKES). It can be found on CORDIS at: http://cordis.europa.eu/finland/(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie) The service will include comprehensive coverage of: - Research and innovation activities discussed by the Council; - Innovation in Finland; - Finland in EU research and development; - Contacts. Additionally, there will be features on projects, people and innovation in Finland in the monthly 'Spotlights' section, a news service and archive, and coverage of the Asia-Europe (ASEM) Science and Technology Ministers' conference, which will be held in Beijing, China, in October 1999. The EU Council Presidency rotates between Member States every six months. This is the seventh CORDIS Council Presidency service, which began under the Irish Council Presidency (1 July to 31 December 1996). The Finnish service will be followed by the Portuguese Council Presidency RTD Information Service (1 January to 30 June 2000).
Kraje
Finland