Poles honour most active FP6 participants
The most successful Polish participants of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) were honoured at an award ceremony, held during the country's FP7 launch conference in Warsaw on 16 November. Since 2001, the Crystal Brussels Prize has been awarded to the most active Polish participants in the EU's research framework programmes. There are five institutional categories: universities, Polish Academy of Sciences, research institutes, big enterprises and small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Entries are judged on the basis of number of proposals submitted; number of proposals approved; type of projects; amount of EU co-financing and number of projects coordinated. The 2006 winner in the university category was the Jagiellonian University, which is involved in 44 FP6 projects, mostly in the fields of biomedical, chemical and physical sciences, as well as the humanities. Meanwhile the prize for best SME went to Instytut Technik Telekomunikacyjnych i Informatycznych (ITTI). Most of ITTI's FP6 projects are in the information society technologies (IST) field, and include studies of practical aspects of innovative mobile technologies and applications, and stimulating rural development through information and communication technologies (ICT). Among the other institutional categories, the Institute of Nuclear Physics won the award for Best Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, while the Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine won the Best Research Institute award and ComArch won the Best Big Enterprise category. There was also an individual award, judged on the basis of active project participation and coordination, participation in Programme Committees and expert groups, contribution to promoting research programmes and own initiatives. The 2006 winner was Tomasz Golec of the Institute of Power Engineering in Warsaw. He is based in the Thermal Processes Department, where he and his team carry out research on thermal processes in steam boilers. Since 2004, Mr Golec has been coordinator of the Scientific Network of Balanced Energy Systems, which brings together 58 national research teams. Thanks to his extensive international cooperation, he has made 13 successful proposals for research projects. The ceremony ended with the awarding of a Special Crystal Brussels Prize to Marek Darecki, President of the Coordination Committee of the Polish Technology Platforms, 'for the pioneering actions strengthening the cooperation between science and industry'. The awards are judged by a panel appointed by the Polish Minister of Science and Higher Education, which includes representatives of the government and media.
Countries
Poland