Publications Cell Factory - Community funded projects

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Publications : Background Information : Quality of Life - 3. The Cell Factory




Cell Factory - Community funded projects

A two volume catalogue of projects, published by Quality of Life, European Commission, DG Research, B-1049 Brussels, 2002. Reference:

Vol 1: EUR 19991, ISBN 92 894 1574 6 - View Online
Vol 2: EUR 20362, ISBN 92 894 3828 2 - View Online

Contents

Volume 1.

• Foreword
• General Introduction
• 3.1. Improving the diagnostic and therapeutic arsenal for health care
• 3.2. Inproving environmental sustainability
• 3.3. New biological and biotechnological products and processes for agro-industry, agri-food and high added value chemicals
• Indexes
• Project numbers
• Partners
• Keywords

Volume 2.

• Foreword
• Trends in cell factory
• International dimension
• SME Special measures
• Accompanying measures
• Marie Curie Fellowships
• 3.1. Improving the diagnostic and therapeutic arsenal for health care
• 3.2. Inproving environmental sustainability
• 3.3. New biological and biotechnological products and processes for agro-industry, agri-food and high added value chemicals
• Indexes
• Project numbers
• Partners
• Keywords

Introduction

Linking the ability to discover to the ability to exploit, The Cell Factory is one of the six Key Actions of the Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Programme 1. This programme is a part of the Fifth Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities of the European Community (1998-2002). This book contains the summaries of the 126 RTD projects that have been selected in the calls for proposals launched in 1999 and 2000.

With a budget of 400 million euro, the objective of the Cell Factory is to support research activities that aim at the integration of innovative research and technologies with their exploitation by industry and/or other socio-economic entities in the fields of health, environment, agro-industry, agri-food and high value added chemicals. Particular attention is given to strengthening European industrial competitiveness by improving the potential for creation of small research-based biotechnology firms and entrepreneurial initiatives. These knowledge-based new industries are a reservoir of industrial competitiveness, scientific and technological innovation, opportunities for investors, and job creation, which are under-exploited in Europe.

The Cell Factory promotes an environment in which scientific results can be rapidly exploited and transformed into products and processes of interest to society. This approach is facilitated through integrating the whole innovation process from advanced fundamental research, through technological development to practical demonstration. Such an integrated innovation approach is considered a prerequisite for projects in the Cell Factory key action. The exploitation phase may take place in the industrial sector, but in certain cases may also be a non-industrial one, depending on the particular socio-economic environment associated with a given scientific and technological area. Examples include biosafety research to be used by public-interest organisations, in vitro alternative testing to replace animal experimentation, research results to be used by clinicians and in hospitals, etc.

The Cell factory has made a particular effort to reach this goal by mobilising the necessary operators (e.g scientists, industrialists start-up incubators, consumer and patient's associations, public-interest groups) to address the research objectives in a co-ordinated and convergent way, linking the ability to discover and the ability to exploit. The following aspects should be reflected in any successful project: the use of innovative science and technologies and the exploitation of the results of innovative technologies.

New knowledge will be generated on the functioning of cells, including GMOs, as biological factories, by advanced research such as functional and structural qenomics, proteomics, patterns of metabolites, combinatorial biochemistry, high-throughput screening, nanobiotechnology. structural biology, molecular evolution, bio-informatics, genetics and biochemical engineering. These multi-disciplinary technologies applicable to many fields of the cell factories will provide new processes and molecules, for implementing the priorities given in the work programme, with exploitation strategies focussing on the research fields addressed in three different areas:

• health - Improving the diagnostic and therapeutic arsenal for health care
• environmental biotechnology - Improving environmental sustainability
• bioproducts and bioprocesses - new biological and biotechnological products and processes for agro-industry, agri-food and high value added chemicals