May 27, 2008 — The MINOS-EURONET (Micro-NanOSystems EUROpean NETwork) project, which concludes this month, says it has combined novel methods with traditional ones to help organizations from European Union new member states gain visibility within European research in micro nano technologies (MNT).

The project started three years ago with the development of knowledge databases, combined with organizing workshops and brokerage events and publicizing through the website, an e-newsletter and the printed MNT Bulletin. To increase the visible outcome of these actions, MINOS-EURONET decided in 2007 to combine different actions into a unified database that now contains profiles of European specialists, research centers, projects and networks related to micro and nanotechnologies, with a special emphasis on profiles from Central and Eastern Europe. The database aims to reveal and promote the research competences from the new member states (NMS) at European scale and to facilitate the participation of these organizations to EC programs and other activities in the field of micro-nanosystems. The unified database is also the backbone for online brokerage activities. For the preparation of proposals in EC FP7 this tool has been extensively used in addition to face-to-face brokerage events.

Going on now, a “road show” aims to forge strong partnerships between East and West in order to utilize the Western expertise and improve the chances of Eastern partners successfully receiving EC funding.