These are key insights from two EC funded initiatives, ProNano and Nanocom , which are joining their forces to tackle the issue of barriers to the commercialisation of European nanotechnologies .

Rebuilding bones out of wood, or cartilage out of algae and chitosan is the most spectacular aspect of this particular bioinspiration field.

You have just turned 89. What is the biggest satisfaction you have had until now? I don’t know what to say since I have had so many satisfactions with my job.

Dr. Mario Conte from the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development, is Coordinator of the EU research project ILHYPOS.

In the 21st century several countries have suffered great losses after terrorist attacks. Although the risk of bioterrorist attacks or accidental contamination of our water supply network is low, the consequences could be fatal.

The technology uses several nano-biological sensors to monitor the presence of several bioterrorism agents in drinking water.

The search for a new clean energy increases worldwide as the sources of natural energy diminish. The transport sector is especially vulnerable, by the decline in oil reserves, at the time when number of cars on our roads steadily increases.

The research team has redesigned the batteries which are now also able to store energy during braking and releasing it quickly during acceleration.

Italian and German researchers of the European Research Project MC-WAP have replaced the diesel engines with a propulsion system based on molten carbonate fuel cells.

Bologna is a fast growing city and has become a very important rail, highway and airport junction.

"We decided to close the city centre for traffic”, explains Fabio Cartolano the drastic measures to liberate the city of Bologna from unbearable traffic jams.

Within a project called Ticket to Kyoto five European public transport companies try to drastically reduce their CO2 emissions. These companies are Dutch RET, British GMPTE, German moBiel, French RATP and Belgian STIB.

Researchers have made great strides towards developing fruit and vegetable breeding tools, but they still have a long way to go, according to Dr. Daniel Sargent at East Malling Research in the UK.

The Istituto Agrario San Michele all`Adige is situated near Trento in the northern mountains of Italy. Here the team of Dr. Riccardo Velasco coordinated the apple genome project.

About three years ago 18 research institutions coordinated by FEM got their teeth into the well-known cultivar Golden Delicious’ genome sequence. Golden Delicious is one cultivar of the domesticated apple Malus x domestica.

What has been the biggest challenge during the apple genome sequencing and mapping? The real problem in our case was that the variety, Golden Delicious, we had chosen is heterozygous.

His aim was to develop a system that could capture the oil right at its source, before it disperses on the surface of the ocean.

Oil is less dense than water and therefore the oil escaping the sea bed travels up to the water surface. Dr. Fivos Andritsos and his colleagues from the Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy have now developed a reservoir which can be applied on top of the leakage.

The “ nano wrap ” that is being developed to be fitted around an amputee’s upper arm nerve bundle is the ambitious other part of the Smarthand’s robotic hand project.

More than half of all deaths in Europe are caused by cardiovascular disease, and 80% of all these are due to atherosclerosis.