Forum for Science, Industry and Business

Life Competence: the first global picture on the EU-funded health research

The data has been generated from an online webbased database of competences, supported through an EU specific support action.The project has been implemented by AVEDAS AG, Germany, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden and EuropaBio, Belgium.

It contains all the health related projects funded by the EU during the last Research Framework Programme, as well as the principal organisations participating in these projects. The aim of this database is to increase transparency and accessibility of research competences in Europe, both for Europeans (in a recent Eurobarometer, 70% of them expressed their interest in health research) but also for other nationalities interested in participating in the European Health Research effort.

In the European Research Programme going from 2001 to 2006 (FP6), the part of the programme focussing on health research was major with its budget of € 2.4 billion supporting 680 projects. It was shared between different research areas with about 50% of the projects and budget dedicated to disease oriented research areas. Cancer is the area receiving most support with 123 projects, about 18 % of projects partly or entirely focussed on cancer, with 22 % of the budget (€ 539 million). Other important research areas are AIDS/HIV, Stem Cell Research, Diabetes, Diagnostics, Vaccines and Drug design.

An important policy in the EU is to support competitiveness by encouraging cooperation of academia and clinicians with industry, and especially with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Out of 2.438 unique partners in health research projects, 853 are from the private sector, of which 365 SMEs (15%). It means that around 20 % of the total number of SMEs in the Health sector are participating in the EU programme. The majority of partners in the programme are academic.

Another important policy in European research is international cooperation. Participation from countries outside Europe and its associated states represents about 5% of partners of health projects. The highest number of participations are from China, Russia, US and South Africa. Within Europe, about 6% of the partners are from the 12 new EU-member states and 7% of the partners are from the states associated to the EU with science and technology cooperation agreements that involved contributing to the framework programme budget.

It is expected that the 'LifeCompetence' database will have many positive implications for the Health research society in Europe and for worldwide cooperations, e.g. increased knowledge transfer, better partnerships and more efficient management of research programmes and research organisations, as well as providing a transparent information on the resources invested in funding health research at the European level.

Mr. Torbjoern Ingemansson | alfa
Further information:
http://www.lifecompetence.eu
http://cordis.europa.eu/lifescihealth/
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/health/

Im Focus: Spider silk key to new bone-fixing composite

University of Connecticut researchers have created a biodegradable composite made of silk fibers that can be used to repair broken load-bearing bones without the complications sometimes presented by other materials.

Repairing major load-bearing bones such as those in the leg can be a long and uncomfortable process.

Im Focus: Writing and deleting magnets with lasers

Study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces is the outcome of an international effort that included teams from Dresden and Berlin in Germany, and the US.

Scientists at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) together with colleagues from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) and the University of Virginia...

Im Focus: Gamma-ray flashes from plasma filaments

Novel highly efficient and brilliant gamma-ray source: Based on model calculations, physicists of the Max PIanck Institute for Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg propose a novel method for an efficient high-brilliance gamma-ray source. A giant collimated gamma-ray pulse is generated from the interaction of a dense ultra-relativistic electron beam with a thin solid conductor. Energetic gamma-rays are copiously produced as the electron beam splits into filaments while propagating across the conductor. The resulting gamma-ray energy and flux enable novel experiments in nuclear and fundamental physics.

The typical wavelength of light interacting with an object of the microcosm scales with the size of this object. For atoms, this ranges from visible light to...

Im Focus: Basel researchers succeed in cultivating cartilage from stem cells

Stable joint cartilage can be produced from adult stem cells originating from bone marrow. This is made possible by inducing specific molecular processes occurring during embryonic cartilage formation, as researchers from the University and University Hospital of Basel report in the scientific journal PNAS.

Certain mesenchymal stem/stromal cells from the bone marrow of adults are considered extremely promising for skeletal tissue regeneration. These adult stem...

Im Focus: Like a wedge in a hinge

Researchers lay groundwork to tailor drugs for new targets in cancer therapy

In the fight against cancer, scientists are developing new drugs to hit tumor cells at so far unused weak points. Such a “sore spot” is the protein complex...