MARBIOTEC*EU-CN* · European-Chinese Research Staff Exchange Cluster on Marine Biotechnology

Marine biotechnology is one of the most exciting emerging fields of technology. It becomes more and more important in many areas of application such as the production of new drugs, food ingredients, agrochemicals, and cosmetics. More recently, it was found that some products of marine organisms are also of extreme importance in the rapidly growing field of nano(bio)technology, another technology of the future. These developments have been recognized by the European Commission as well as by national funding organizations in Europe and in China, which included marine biotechnology and nano(bio)technology in their priority research programmes. Both the European Research Area (ERA) and China as one of the main players in the Asian-Pacific Research Area (APRA) are in the worldwide lead in marine biotechnology and nano(bio)technology regarding to the number of publications and patent applications. However, different sectors of these technologies are differently developed in Europe and China, suggesting that a combination of the complementary expertise in these sectors will be of benefit to both partners. The proposed international staff exchange programme is based on three institutions in Europe and four institutions in China (universities and research organizations including marine stations) with a number of top-ranked research groups in the field of marine biotechnology, drug discovery/natural products chemistry, biomineralization and material sciences / nanotechnology. The objective of the project is to create an efficient and successful programme for the transfer of knowledge between the partners by the exchange and training of staff (both early-stage researchers and experienced researchers) of the participating institutions. The goal is a lasting integration of the research capacities in the European Union and China in the multidisciplinary field of marine biotechnology/nano(bio)technology.