Making competences more accessible
Although research projects are producing a steady stream of results and advances, which are also disseminated, the competences of those behind it all need to be made more accessible. For grants offices, project coordinators, researchers and even the European Commission, such meaningful information is key to setting up and benefitting from cutting-edge research projects. Also, information needs to be presented in a way that meets the specific needs of each target group. Previous efforts to meet these challenges often succumbed to difficulties in keeping information up to date and quality-assured, or to the burden of long-term costs. The 'Life science competence in Europe' (LifeCompetence) project set out to deliver state-of-the-art competence management tools and processes that address these issues, thereby providing access to the competences in ongoing and future projects in the 'Life sciences, genomics and biotechnology for health' (LSH) priority. Project partners aimed to provide a means of leveraging EC research investments by improving and increasing transparency in the research collaboration process between academia and industry. efforts focused on delivering an Internet-based competence platform that allows users to identify researchers, organisations and research projects with particular competences. Such a tool will also enable the EC to respond to policy-related questions and help administration on both sides of the project to better view their competences and ongoing activities. In turn, this will facilitate better research collaborations and proactive marketing at an international level, and strengthen EU research on the whole. LifeCompetence initially delivered a prototype for conducting searches and analyses, with feedback from user testing being used to update the data and functionality of the next release. The project's vision for the final product was for it to be the prime source of information about life science projects and research competences in Europe. This will prove especially beneficial for the EC, industry representatives, and university and regional managers.