Meeting of scientists and agricultural biotechnology companies from all over Europe at the Centre for Research in Agrigenomics

10/04/2013

Getting agricultural biotechnology companies to learn about and apply the latest advances in plant biology: this is the objective of the meeting between scientists and businesses from all over Europe that took place on 15 April at the Centre for Research in Agrigenomics (CRAG), on the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona campus.

"The idea behind the meeting", explains Manuel Rodriguez-Concepció, a researcher with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and meeting coordinator, "is to forge links so that European investment in science and the results it obtains can be channelled towards applications that help plants adapt to constant environmental change, and thus raise the production, quality and safety of plant products".

The conference therefore focused on research projects. Also under discussion, however, were the ways by which companies learn about research findings, and the methods they find most efficient for getting information and detecting new development opportunities.

The meeting served to link up scientists from 10 research projects within the seventh European Union Framework Programme with representatives of 12 European agricultural biotechnology firms.

"This is a unique opportunity because companies can talk to scientists about projects that are still underway and get first-hand information on how the research is going. They can give ideas, keep tabs on the projects and even offer resources or research funding", points out Dr Rodríguez-Concepción. But above all, the aim is to find communication channels that can be kept up over time.

The meeting is an initiative of the TIMET project (Linking the Clock to Metabolism), on which the team led by Manuel Rodríguez-Concepción participates.
 

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