EU-CANADA twinning
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On 18 and 19 February 2008 4F CROPS participated in a joint Canada-EC workshop on Biorefineries: Biofuels and Bioproducts that took place in Montreal with the participation of 35 Canadian and European officials and scientific coordinators of the research projects. This event was organised as a starting meeting of a new initiative - Twinning of Research Projects, between the European Commission (FP7) and ABIP Canada using as pilot the projects on agricultural bioproducts with the aim to identify opportunities for the mutual benefit. The workshop provided the EC and Canadian coordinators with an opportunity to get in touch in an informal environment. The main results of this event can be summarised as follows: Twelve opportunities for the twinning research projects involving at least one research institution in Europe and in Canada were identified. Activities proposed in the twinning research projects include: exchange of research scientists and students, organization of scientific meetings, development of enzymatic material from the platforms related to the use of cell wall degrading enzymes and the enzymatic cocktail to degrade cellulose at reduced cost, exchange of analytical methods especially related to cellulose degradation used in the biorefinery process, joint publications, conducting common literature review, as well as participation in the workshops and scientific committees. With the aim to review the progress, participants recommended to convene the next meeting within 12 - 18 months. Prof. Lazzeri, the coordinator of Forbioplast, kindly proposed his availability to organise the next meeting in Pisa , Italy . In view of the successful results of the workshop, it was decided to extend this scientific cooperation to other areas of mutual interest such as food. Therefore we propose to define a list of activities that should be carried out by the Scientific Coordinators and Project Officers of the Commission in the next months: - During project meetings, the Scientific Officer in charge of the project will inform the people of the consortium about the possibilities to cooperate with the Canadian partners and will introduce the concept of Twinning. Special emphasis will be given to encourage the exchange of young scientists between Canada and Europe under the umbrella of the twinning concept. |
