Networks and advisory groups
The Commission's Contact Network with Member State Ministries for Competitiveness in Biotechnology
An informal network with Member States' officials responsible for competitiveness issues in biotechnology was established in 2002 in accordance with action 10a of the biotechnology Action Plan.
The network holds regular meetings to monitor the impact on European competitiveness of regulation, policies, funding, networking and other factors. The network also reflects on the further development of the European Strategy and Action Plan and coordinates the work at national level with biotechnology-specific policies and action programmes.
The members of the contact network are civil servants from the national governments.
In 2004-2005 one of the tasks of the network was to function as a monitoring group for the drafting and finalisation of the benchmarking study of European public biotechnology policies.
In 2006 the network was instrumental in identifying and describing the prevalent obstacles to competitiveness in biotechnology that Europe is facing, and formulate plausible policy recommendations.
These recommendations were used in the Commission's 2007 mid-term review of its biotechnology Strategy and Action Plan. The review puts an emphasis on measures to improve Europe's innovation capacity in biotechnology and reinforce public policies that can support this process. It was evident from this exercise that a close collaboration between Member States and the Commission is a very successful way of doing foresight activities and formulating balanced policy proposals.
The Competitiveness in Biotechnology Advisory Group with Industry and Academia
The Competitiveness in Biotechnology Advisory Group with Industry and Academia (CBAG) was appointed by the Commission in 2003 in accordance with Action 10b of the Strategy " Life sciences and biotechnology - A strategy for Europe 
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It gathers representatives from all the various industry segments and from companies at every stage of company development together with entrepreneurial academics and has the role of issuing recommendations to the Commission in the form of an annual report.
In its second report, the group reviews its first set of 2003 recommendations, the progress that has been made towards them in the last year and the remaining or new barriers to be tackled. The CBAG confirms its support to the 2002 Strategy.
At the same time, the CBAG notes that the implementation of the strategy has been patchy and there remain some serious concerns. In order to address those concerns, 10 key recommendations have been issued.
Conferences & workshops:
Useful readings:
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CBAG report 2005 [364 KB]
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CBAG report 2006 [445 KB]
The advisory group's reports were prepared for the use of the European Commission, but do not necessarily represent the Commission's official position.
For more information regarding clusters and regional networks, please consult our dedicated web page.
