"To play the leading role as a partner both of the most advanced and of emerging countries, Europe must take priority action on three fronts: rationalisation of human and financial resources, concentrating on great programmes and projects of transnational interest; more effective interaction between politics, research and industry; realisation of research and development projects in technological innovation with a strong economic impact and important increases in competitiveness."

These are the proposals of on. Antonio Cancian, a member of the Industry, Research and Energy Committee of the European Parliament, speaking at the final conference of the European project "SynBIOsis - Maximizing Synergies for Central European Biotech Research Infrastructures" which was held on 29^th May in Brussels, at the Committee of the Regions.

The results of SynBIOsis were discussed with experts from various European regions and presented to the policy makers of the Committee, the European Parliament and the Committee of Regions and to the representatives of the respective national Governments with the European Union. The project involved collaboration between the Molecular Biomedicine Technological District of Friuli Venezia Giulia and CEITEC - Central European Institute of Technology, active in South Moravia (Czech Republic) on themes such as access to research infrastructures and to companies, transfer of technology, internationalisation, especially in the sectors of the life sciences and ICT. The phase that is now beginning contemplates lasting collaboration which will result in a Joint Action Plan over several years.

"I congratulate the two regions for having promptly and successfully tackled such important issues for the current context ," said Agnieszka Kudlinska, Director of Consultative Works of the Committee of Regions, which hosted the conference. "I appreciated the fact that many of these issues are currently being discussed at the Competitiveness Council," stressed Jakub Dürr, Deputy Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic at the European Union. In particular, the scientific and technologic areas addressed by the project are transverse to the growth of the continent, while tools for collaboration such as public-private partnerships are key driving forces for sustainable growth."

Italy too has taken up these challenges: "The Europe 2020 strategy is an integral part of the Italian agenda," said Marco Peronaci, Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy at the European Union. However, at the same time Europe must provide the most suitable framework for making reforms effective. In this sense the Italian government is working proactively to make a substantial contribution to the definition of community policies and especially to make growth the focal point of the European agenda." Taking part in the conference were about 50 speakers and experts on regional and community innovation policies.

The partners of the Synbiosis project are: South Moravian Innovation Centre (Coordinator); Masarykova univerzita, CEITEC Cluster - bioinformatics, z.s.p.o; Consortium for the AREA Science and Technology Park of Trieste; Consortium for the Molecular Biomedicine Centre S.c.r.l. (Cluster in Biomedicine); Elettra - Sincrotrone Trieste SCpA; APE - APE Research Srl.