INTAS/ FP6 ‘EU-NIS Partnering in Bio-Informatics’

Letter of Invitation for the
INTAS/ FP6 ‘EU-NIS Partnering in Bio-Informatics’ Event

  • Registration Form (doc)

    Introduction

    Finding a scientific or business partner with the right, often complementary, expertise is generally regarded as a major obstacle for establishing international collaboration. This seems also true for the initiatives taken in the area of bio-informatics as far as collaboration between European countries and the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union (NIS) is concerned.
    Once a partner has been allocated it often remains unclear what the funding opportunities are, which rules of participation apply and how to address the right topics.

    INTAS therefore would like to invite you to register for the INTAS/ FP6 ‘EU-NIS Partnering in Bio-Informatics’ Event that is held at the Fourth International Conference on Bioinformatics of Genome Regulation and Structure (BGRS 2004) in Novosibirsk, Russia from July 25-30, 2004.
    The Partnering Event is being organized by INTAS in close collaboration with the DG Research and Development of the European Commission, the National Information Points for the FP6 and the BGRS 2004 Organizing Committee. The purpose of the partnering event is to create a meeting point for science and technology, development and implementation and to raise awareness about the current funding opportunities within the European Community. It will offer a forum for meeting experts from European institutes and companies equally active in the above-mentioned fields who also value cooperation with institutes from the Russian Federation and other NIS countries and vise versa.

    INTAS is an independent International Association formed by the European Community, European Union’s Member States and like minded countries acting to preserve and promote the valuable scientific potential of the NIS partner countries through East-West Scientific co-operation.
    For the period 2002-2006, in the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), it is specified that co-operation activities with Russia and the other NIS countries will be carried out in particular through the INTAS structure set up jointly by the European Community and the Member States.

    Who should register?

    In order to make a careful selection of potentially matching partners we would like to attract everybody who is appealed by one or more of the following statements

  • You are interested in the latest development in the computational structural and functional genomics or proteomics, computational systems biology, computational evolutionary biology, methods for analysis and simulation of bio-molecular systems and processes, educational aspects of bio-informatics; please check at the conference site further details of the programme

  • You would like to exchange ideas with relevant partners within these areas;

  • You are working at an European university, institute or company and are interested in collaboration with high level scientists from the NIS within existing consortia or in the context of new applications to FP6 actions or otherwise;

  • You are working at a NIS university, institute or company and are looking for partners in science from the European Union’s Member States and like minded countries to jointly propose research-projects to the European Community’s FP6 or other funding organizations;

  • Innovation and R&D are important to your business and you are interested in identifying opportunities for international cooperation.

  • Even if you do not intend to travel to Russia and meet the people at the conference, it might be useful to register to the database to learn about the potential partners and to advertise your own skills and requests.

    If one or more of these profiles fit you, do not hesitate to submit the enclosed registration form.

    After receipt of all the registration-forms the profiles will be made available and you will be requested to select the best matching partners that you would like to meet at the event. On the basis of the total number of entries and proposals for appointments an appointment scheme will be sent to you.

    Submission

    Due to the limited space and duration of the event it might be necessary to make a selection of the requested appointments. So, please submit your registration as soon as possible but at the latest on
    June 1, 2004.

    In case your appointment could not be arranged during the meeting there is of course still plenty of opportunity to meet on another occasion. The organizers will be pleased to provide you with the necessary details to do so.

    What is on the programme?

    The preliminary programme of the event envisages the following items (the final programme will soon be available on the web:

  • A plenary opening session introducing the purpose of the event and presenting funding opportunities and a plenary closing session.

  • Bi-or multilateral discussions and matchmaking (‘partnering meetings’)

  • A knowledge market presenting information about European and NIS research and development programmes and technical poster presentations

  • (Workshops focusing on (funding)opportunities for EU-NIS scientific collaboration)

    Partnering meetings

    The participants will have ample opportunity throughout the event to discuss research and/ or business with other participants in a private setting. They will be invited to identify before and during the event those persons they would like to meet. Participants will be given the chance of liaising with one another during the partnering meetings. To this end they should study the profiles of their fellow participants and fill out the appointment forms. Subsequently the organizers will arrange the meetings to the extent possible in advance. The personal meeting schedules will be provided prior to the event. Of course it will also be possible to make additional appointments during the day.

    Knowledge market

    At the exhibition floor information will be available on the following items:

  • Technical poster presentations of all NIS participants

  • Representatives of INTAS will provide information about current funding opportunities

  • National Information Points of several EU and NIS countries will provide information about FP6 Actions

  • Institutes and Companies can present their R&D programmes

  • Other….. Practical Information

    Preliminary date of the event: 28 of July 2004 (will be confirmed by mail)

    Language
    English will be used as the current language

    Attendance-grant
    Attending the partnering event is for free. However if you want to attend also other sessions of the conference the usual attendance fee for the BGRS 2004 conference is due (see conference webpage for further instructions).

    To a limited number of participants from EU and NIS countries and invited speakers INTAS can offer an attendance grant that will cover the costs for travel, subsistence and attendance.

    Please tick the ‘yes’ box on your registration form if you want to apply for this grant. The INTAS/BGRS 2004 selection committee will select the grantees on the basis of best fit into the scope of the event.

    Location
    Akademgorodok , Novosibirsk, Russia

    Contact
    For further information about the partnering event, please contact the INTAS-office,

    Paul Beckers

    Scientific Officer for Life Sciences
    Avenue des Arts 58/8
    B-1000 Brussels, Belgium
    Tel. +32 2 549 01 35 / 39
    Fax. +32 2 549 01 56
    paul.beckers@intas.be

    Internet
    All information on this event will soon be available on https://conf.icgbio.ru/bgrs2004/

    Further details concerning the programme will be updated on the same websites.

    Registration procedure

  • If you are interested in registering to the data-base, please submit the registration form at the latest June 1, 2004 to INTAS.
  • After receipt of your registration form INTAS will contact you to discuss your participation and likelihood of finding suitable partners during the event.
  • After confirmation of your participation you will receive a personal appointment schedule.

  • In case you have applied for an attendance grant you will be informed about the outcome of the selection at the latest June 15, 2004.

  • Important!
    To obtain a Russian visa in time you have to e-mail a scanned copy of the passport pages containing your picture and personal data to bgrs2004@bionet.nsc.ru before the 19th of June. Also include your mailing-address. Preferably do this while registering to the Conference itself at this page.

  • Registration Form (doc)