If you want to learn about anything to do with plant biotechnology research in Europe then talk to the people at University College Dublin. The National Agricultural and Veterinary Biotechnology Centre there has spent the past 12 months in charge of the EU's European Plant Biotechnology Network.
"The Network was launched to bring together 400 research labs that were involved in research under Framework Programme Four," explained Ms Ciara O'Shea who is based at UCD. It was designed to be a focus point for the great variety of research projects on plant biotech that have taken place since the Network was set up in June 1998.
It was originally run from the University of Ghent in Belgium and the centre at UCD, a branch of BioResearch Ireland, took charge a year ago. Its three aims were to promote networking between the research centres and the dissemination of results; to improve the co-ordination of research activity; and to raise public awareness of what plant biotechnology involves, Ms O'Shea said.
"The Network promoted communications between the research centres," she said. Ghent initiated a database that was added to throughout the life of the EPBN programme, which ended on December 31st. A web site was also started and although the Network programme has ended, the site and the database will remain in operation for another six months, Ms O'Shea said.
The Network "achieved its aims", she said, and what it accomplished would now be carried forward into new bodies including the European Plant Science Organisation, TerraUK, the European network in agriculture and related biotech research, and the European Plant Industrial Platform.
What was learned, however, will inform ongoing efforts by the Commission to establish a working "European Research Area", a network similar to the EPBN but encompassing all forms of research in the European Union.
Plans for the European Research Area (ERA) were launched in January 2000 and a series of studies and assessments are showing what needs to be done to accomplish an ERA. The EU's main research funding is done under the Framework Programmes, with the current Framework Six worth €14bn , more than £11bn. Yet this represents just five per cent of what the Community spends collectively on research.
The goal of the ERA is to coordinate this massive spend and to make the research findings available to others, much the same as the Network did for plant biotechnology.
Progress should be rapid, given that science policy is now formally on the agenda of every EU summit - and the new Swedish presidency which began on January 1st has stated its intention to bring achievement of the ERA along as quickly as possible.
The EPBN web site is: http:// www.epbn.org
The European Plant Science Organisation is at http:// www.epsoweb.org
The European Plant Industrial Platform is at http:// users.bart.nl/ pbp/pipfront.htm