Research

Commission launches consultation on transnational research cooperation

On 17 May the European Commission launched a public consultation on possible actions to improve transnational research cooperation and knowledge transfer between public research organisations (PRO) and industry.

Views are sought on the existing knowledge transfer system in Europe, and the changes needed to facilitate interactions between public research organisations and industry. Such improved interactions may also require clarification of the missions of public research organisations and industry regarding research and its exploitation for and by society.

ICT for growth and jobs: most EU Member States need to be more ambitious

To get the full benefits from information and communication technologies (ICT), EU Member States need more ambitious plans to exploit them, says the Commission in its first annual progress report on i2010 â the digital economy part of the EUâs revised "Lisbon" strategy for growth and jobs. To help get growth back on track, Member States need to step up their efforts to improve access to broadband internet connections, facilitate the EU-wide circulation of digital content, free up radio spectrum for new applications, integrate research and innovation and modernise public services.

Online portal helps build IST partnerships

Navigating Europe's maze of research organisations to find the right partner is no easy task. A new portal aims to lower the barriers to collaboration by raising the visibility of organisations, researchers and projects to facilitate community partnership building.

Getting all stakeholders on the same track is the key to success

The European Commission used to concentrate primarily on funding research topics related to eHealth such as medical informatics and telemedicine. The EU's eHealth office has now expanded its eHealth repertoire to include deployment strategies and policies that support citizen-centered health systems across Europe. The Commission's eHealth vision is laid out in a Communication published in April 2004. A first crucial stepping-stone towards the planâs achievement has already taken place: regional eHealth networks are functional and many examples can be found all over the EU. Today's focus is on interoperability and certification issues, according to European Commission official, Ilias Iakovidis, Deputy Head of the ICT for Health Unit of the Information Society and Media Directorate-General.

European Commission launches new Health Portal

In 2005 at least one third of the European adult population, 130 million EU citizens, browsed the web in search of information on health. However, searching for health-related information is not always easy. Researchers can be confronted with thousands of sites, many of them complex, and it can be hard to know which are reliable or up to date. To help European citizens answer their health questions, the Commission has today launched the "Health-EU Portal". The launch event took place in Malaga, Spain, within the Commission-sponsored "eHealth" conference.

Start of the Test Phase for the Health Card in Germany

"It was a good idea, perfectly clear and so obvious. Many dangerous side effects could be prevented if each physician knew all drugs his patients are currently taking. So many unnecessary examinations could be avoided if physicians could inform themselves about all the examination results their colleagues obtained before them." These are the arguments of the electronic health card's advocates, and they are right. "If this health care data were collected and transmitted electronically and in a standardized way, millions of people could receive better and less expensive treatment" , is what the Financial Times Deutschland wrote in an otherwise critical comment on the introduction of the electronic health card in Germany.

Bioinformatics Grid Application for life science

The European Commission promotes the Bioinformatics Grid Application for life science (BioinfoGRID) project. The project aims to connect many European computer centres in order to carry out Bioinformatics research and to develop new applications in the sector using a network of services based on futuristic Grid networking technology that represents the natural evolution of the Web.

More specifically the BioinfoGRID project will make research in the fields of Genomics, Proteomics, Transcriptomics and applications in Molecular Dynamics much easier, reducing data calculation times thanks to the distribution of the calculation at any one time on thousands of computers across Europe and the world.

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