"Nanotechnology in the new EU Member States and the Candidate Countries. Who`s who and Research Priorities"

From the Concluding Summary: "The European Union (EU) has been enlarged by ten candidate countries in 2004. It is believed that research is one of the fields in which enlargement can offer the greatest potential benefits - both to the Member States and to the candidate countries. European Commissioner Philippe Busquin and the responsible ministers from the EU´s candidate countries had signed an association agreement for the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) on 29 October 2002. As a result, at the end of October 2003 from a total of 106.000 participants in FP6 proposals, 40 % of proposals involved acceding/candidate countries. The highest participation of the acceding/candidate countries was found in Nanotechnologies (21.8%). For the first time the candidate countries get the same entitlements as Member States. Nanotechnology plays a prominent role in strengthening the R&D collaborations between established EU member states and the candidate countries, which have or will join the Union. Governments and the research communities in these countries themselves also emphasise the strategic importance of nanotechnology for their national economy and RTD scene. Therefore, most countries include nanotechnology or nanostructured materials among their national research priorities." Nanoforum Consortium, September, 2005. (Free registration required.)

View full text ››    Print     Email     Comment     Add content

Contributor: John Daly
Published Date: October 12, 2005