SMEs in the New Instruments in Life Sciences
A briefing conference on the involvement of Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SME) in the new instruments of the 6th Framework Programme was held on 7 Febr. 2003 in Brussels. Jointly organised by the PARTNERS FOR LIFE consortium and the EuropaBio SME initiative with participation of the European Commission, the conference was targeted at coordinators preparing Integrated Projects and Networks of Excellence proposals to be submitted for the first calls in the Life Sciences,Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health and Food quality and safety. Some 140 participants representing more than 85 Integrated Projects and Networks of Excellence proposals under preparation used the opportunity to benefit from the information provided by Commission experts. ,Researchers from all over Europe, including several Candidate Countries, were eager to learn more about the practical aspects of involving SMEs into their proposals. Particularly Networks of Excellence, a project type presumed to relate more to basic research and represented with more than 30% of the proposals at the event, were intensively discussed in the light of integrating SMEs. The event not only provided theoretical information on how to involve SMEs into the New Instruments, but also presented practical sources for identifying relevant SMEs. Partner search catalogues and a CD Rom with SME profiles were distributed. Networks supporting SME participation in the 6th Framework Programme in the areas of Life Sciences:,PARTNERS FOR LIFE The European Life Sciences Network for SMEs: ,http://www.bit.ac.at/partners_for_life.htm EuropaBio SME Project:,http://www.bba-bio.be/smes/ ,Presentations held at the event and list of participants are available at http://www.bit.ac.at/partners_for_life.htm,For(opens in new window) further information:,Sabine Herlitschka, herlitschka@bit.ac.at,BIT Bureau for International Research and Technology Cooperation - AUSTRIA