By 2020, 25% of the EU's population will be over 65. To respond to this growing demographic challenge, the Council of Ministers approved today a Commission plan to make Europe a hub for developing digital technologies designed to help older people to continue living independently at home.

The European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), located in Vienna, Austria, has taken over the coordination of a European large-scale research project. An international research group from 10 countries will develop imaging technologies and methods in the area of cell therapy. The project, entitled ENCITE (European Network for Cell Imaging and Tracking Expertise), started June 1, 2008.

At the occasion of AUTOMATICA 2008, one of the leading international trade fairs in robotics and automation held this year in Munich/Germany, the European Commission has announced a policy to boost European robotics. The European Union will double its investments between 2007 and 2010 with almost € 400 million to support European robotics research.

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, GE Healthcare, a division of the General Electric Company (NYSE: GE) and a Consortium of leading research institutions across Europe today announced the PredictAD project, a research collaboration aimed at developing new diagnostic procedures for patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Patients across the EU and associated states suffering from genetic conditions are already benefitting from work conducted within the framework of the EU-funded EuroGentest network of excellence (NoE), according to the network's coordinator and president elect of the European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG), Professor Jean-Jacques Cassiman.

Health Atlas Ireland, an Open Source application to analyse health related datasets using geographical information systems (GIS) and statistical software, was one of twenty projects that were given the 'Prime Minister Public Service Excellence Award'. The awards were handed out last month by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.

All biobanks (collections of human biological samples) should be given a unique identification code, EU-funded scientists suggest. Writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), they argue that such a scheme would optimise the use of these resources and open up new avenues for genetics studies.