Details about a conference on scientific research collaboration that will be taking place in Brussels next March were announced today at European Parliament offices in Dublin. The event, which will take place during the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU, will bring together researchers from around the world to meet and explore collaboration opportunities with Irish researchers, the organisers said today.
The role of science in addressing global challenges will be the theme of the conference ‘EU Science: Global Challenges, Global Collaboration’, which will take place at the European Parliament in Brussels from 4-8 March 2013.
The event, which is taking place the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU, will be organised by Intelligence in Science.
Announcing details of the event this morning, Fine Gael MEP Seán Kelly described the conference as a great opportunity for Ireland.
“Science and technology-based universities, institutes, and industry in Ireland have an enormous contribution in terms of knowledge, knowhow and expertise and I want to support more and larger research collaborations with Ireland,” he said.
So far, the organisers of the conference said it had attracted participation from countries from five continents. One of its aims will be to focus on how international science collaboration can address global challenges such as healthcare, the bio-economy and energy.
In terms of researchers from Ireland, another aim will be to maximise the Irish drawdown from EU funding for research and development.
This will include supporting increased Irish participation in Horizon 2020, the EU’s next framework programme for research and innovation, which will launch in 2014, following on from the FP7 programme.
The organisers said that the event would also aim to highlight Ireland’s potential as a partner in global collaborative research.
Another topic that will be explored at the conference will be patents, looking at how growing global science collaboration has prompted an increasing demand for effective patent management and protection.
