Retrospective: ETP Nanomedicine General Assembly and Annual Forum 2010

In a great location and with more than 30 high-quality presentations on industrial opportunities, regulatory issues, clinical aspects, funding opportunities and open innovation in Nanomedicine, 11 flash presentations and 130 participants, experts from research, industry and national and European Institutions the Annual Forum 2010 has to be considered as great success.

The presentations held in the course of the Forum are available under the following link.

The General Assembly of the ETPN, gathering ETPN members, representatives of the Executive Board as well as from the European Commission and the secretariat was dedicated to discussing internal issues of the platform and providing an overview of past activities. This assembly also proved to be a real discussion forum for strengthening the position of the platform in the European context and deciding on future strategies and actions. Numerous constructive suggestions have been made by the members and are now in the review process within the Executive Board.

The subsequent Annual Forum demonstrated the strong involvement and interest of the European Commission  and of National and European Institutions in the ETP Nanomedicine. Dr. Rudolf Strohmeier, Deputy Director-General of Research DG opened the forum outlining Europe’s Activities towards 2020 and highlighted in particular Nanomedicine and the position of Nanomedicine in the next European policy and programmes. In addition, Dr. Philippe Martin and Dr. Marisa Papaluca gave insights on the regulatory aspects of Nanomedicine within the Health & Consumers DG of the European Commission and the European Medicines Agency respectively.

Thematically, the forum was set to address a large spectrum of topics related to Nanomedicine, from regulatory issues to the open-innovation across industrial opportunities and challenges. Here, in particular two keynotes and one specific session were dedicated to this issue where several industry representative gave important insights into industrial priorities. Translation of research results is considered to be a key issue in Nanomedicine and fostering the link between research, industry and clinicians was another focus of the event in particular during the dedicated sessions on Clinical Needs related to Nanomedicine and on open-innovation applied in this field.

Additionally, a session consisting of flash presentations and a poster exhibition gave industrial and academic participants the opportunity to interact and search actively for partners for translation and European projects. Opportunities for funding of such projects where discussed in a specific session.

Furthermore, the Annual Forum was an the event that gave birth to the newly established Nanomedicine TV, an initiative launched and sponsored by the French SME Nanobiotix and co-sponsored by the ETP Nanomedicine. The TV channel, planned to be aired on a YouTube Channel will be constituted of shorts movies, podcasts and interviews from industrial and academic experts in Nanomedicine. The first programme of this TV will consist of presentations and interviews taped in Milan.

Nanomedicine has been identified to be a real opportunity for sustainable growth in Europe but further needs for structuring  and promotion are apparent. The Annual Forum of the ETP Nanomedicine is seen as a first milestone towards the acknowledgment of Nanomedicine as essential component in the future medicine and as factor of innovation and economical potential for Europe. Furthermore, the Annual Forum 2010 was judged as highly relevant for the development of the European network and community in Nanomedicine, which obviously is a key element to reach the ambitious goal the stakeholders of the ETP Nanomedicine are pursuing.