European researchers have forged a partnership with counterparts in the Western Balkans, North Africa and Latin America to strengthen cooperation in the fields of biomedical informatics (BMI), grid technologies and nanoinformatics. Their work is being carried out through ACTION-Grid, a project supported by the EU's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) with funding totalling some €1 million.

Using a Blue Gene supercomputer, scientists of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH) and the IBM (NYSE: IBM) Zurich Research Laboratory demonstrated the most extensive simulation yet of real human bone structures, providing doctors a "high definition" view of the strength and fragility of bones they never had before.

The SOS project is a first step in addressing problems faced by doctors treating patients who seek health treatment when abroad. These problems include re-supplying essential medication that a patient has lost or forgotten, communicating medical situations to foreign-language doctors, diagnosing illness and prescribing proper medication with little knowledge of patient history.

The French have set the construction of the European Research Area (ERA) as the main research priority for their presidency of the EU. Other priorities include boosting Europe's role in space and making progress towards a Community patent. The French took over the EU Council Presidency from Slovenia on 1 July.

The European Commission today launched two initiatives to improve the safety and quality of care to people who require medical assistance while travelling or living abroad: a Recommendation on cross-border interoperability of electronic health record (EHR) systems and the Smart Open Services (SOS) project.

European researchers have developed a computer system designed to give health care professionals access to a broader range of medical information. However the system, which was meant to allow them to share medical information across a network, highlighted the limits of computer 'understanding'. Unlike humans, computers can't yet make the connecting leaps among various bits of information.

Europe has started doing better in high-tech research but still has a lot more to do, particularly to capitalise on the results. This is the conclusion of the independent expert report, chaired by former Finnish Prime Minister Esko Aho, that analysed the effectiveness of Information Society research under the EU's 6th Framework Programme for Research and Development.