13/12/2004
Transnational cooperation and scientific excellence is at the heart of the
Descartes Prize for collaborative research. In this year's Descartes Prize
competition, the European Commission had a difficult task to fulfill by
selecting the elite from numerous excellent research projects and
outstanding scientists. In the awards ceremony which took place at Prague
Castle of the Czech Republic on 2 December 2004, eight research teams from
17 countries were competing for Europe's ultimate scientific distinction.
This year's finalists were selected from a broad field of over 200
research teams from the 25 EU Member States and beyond, and from a
variety of scientific disciplines. They all share a fundamental
commitment to pooling together resources and talent across borders to
achieve scientific excellence and technological innovation. Many of the
projects selected are the result of long term cooperation with a broad
network of research partners across Europe and third countries. Since
its launch in 2000, a total of 33 projects have been short-listed as
finalists for the Descartes Prize.
Over the past four years, 9 projects involving 65 teams from 19 European
and non-European countries have received this prestigious prize. Prof.
Howard Trevor Jacobs, coordinator of the project MBAD (Mitochondrial
Biogenesis, Ageing and Disease) and Prof. Anders Karlsson, coordinator
of IST project QuComm (Long Distance Photonic Quantum Communication)
were the winners of Descartes Prize 2004 for research.
In addition to the Descartes Prize for research, a new EU Descartes
Prize for science communication was awarded for the first time. This new
prize recognizes individuals and organizations that have achieved
outstanding results in communicating science to the public. The new
Prize underlines the key role played by science communication in
building awareness and encouraging excellence in Europe.
The five winners who shared this new 250,000 euro Prize were
personalities from the worlds of science and the media. Dr Wolfgang
Heckl, from Germany, for his ability to communicate the complex issue of
nanotechnologies in an accessible manner and the British zoologist and
broadcaster Sir David Attenborough were awarded with the Descartes Prize.
Also, the Hungarian molecular biologist Peter Csermely, for his
initiative to help schoolchildren get involved in research, and the
Belgian material scientist Ignaas Verpoest were awarded for their
innovative activities in the science communication category. In
addition, the French producer Vincent Lamy received an award in the
"Scientific TV/Radio Programme" category for his TV documentary on
camouflaged insects.
Greece in EU R&D
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