Philippe Busquin participates in discussion about European Research Area

Brussels, 09 April 2002

Tomorrow, the German research organisation Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will organise a discussion and science show to outline how national research organisations could participate in the European Research Area that Commissioner Philippe Busquin proposed to create in February 2000.

The aim of this strategy is to network European centres of scientific excellence thus creating the critical mass in terms of knowledge and finance to make European science more competitive and attractive to scientists from the entire world.

The European Research Area is also part of the strategy to make Europe the most competitive knowledge society worldwide. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is a German, publicly funded organisation for applied research. Its 56 research institutes cover mainly applied research in various technology fields but also in other disciplines such as environment, energy, and economic studies.

The annual research budget of the organisation is €1 billion. A press conference with Commissioner Philippe Busquin and the president of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Hans-Jürgen Warnecke, will be held on Wednesday, 10 April, 17h00 at the Hotel Le Plaza, Bd. Adolphe Max 118-126, Brussels.

Midday Express http:///europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/mi dday.htm