List of Participants

Participants description

Participant 1, the co-ordinator (PPS-SP - Federal Public Planning Service – Science Policy, Belgium) more precisely, the BCCM - Belgian Coordinated Collections of Micro-organisms funded by PPS-SP, has been  BCCM will participate in the organisation of seminars, working groups meetings and electronic discussion forum. It will be involved in support activities of fact findings & monitoring, studies & analysis to the extent of its expertise gained in particular in the MOSAICC and WIPMICRO MOSAICC projects, as member of international scientific federations and as public administration for scientific affairs.

Participant 2 (CABI Bioscience, United Kingdom, Int’l) integrates four former international institutes, of Biological Control (IIBC), of Entomology (IIE), of Parasitology (IIP) and Mycology (IMI). It regroups scientists dedicated to agricultural sustainability and biological diversity. It operates from six centres worldwide, in Kenya, Malaysia, Trinidad, Pakistan, Switzerland and the UK, and offices in China, India and the USA. It has partnerships with many global organisations.

Participants 3 (CBS - Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures, Netherlands) is an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). It maintains a world-renowned collection of living filamentous fungi, yeasts and bacteria. The research programs focus on taxonomy and on functional aspects of fungal biology and ecology, with specific expertise in fermented food. It is a centre of expertise, advising on mycological problems of food or health-related nature..

Participant 4 (CNRST - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique, Morocco) is a public institute of the Ministry of Scientific Research. It has recently supervised the set up of the Moroccan micro-biological resources centre and contributed to the development of appropriate laws on ABS and IPR  in Morocco, with the support of BCCM. It hosts also the Moroccan internet facility “MARWAN”. In a synergetic effort with MOSAICS, it has hosted host an international training course in May 2004 where MOSAICS was be promoted in the context of legal framework development in southern countries.

Participant 5 (CUP - Catholic University of Peru, Peru), more specifically its School of Law has a unique expertise in ABS policy in Latin-America. The ANDEAN Pact laws concerning ABS represent one of the best structured legal frameworks on ABS, it must be taken into consideration when designing procedures and model documents for ABS. This participant was involved in the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations, as Andean representative, including for ABS matters.

Participant 6 (DSMZ - Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Germany) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the study and distribution of bacteria, archaea, fungi, plasmids, phages, human and animal cell lines, plant cell cultures and plant viruses. It is recognized by the European Commission as Large Scale Facility within the Framework of the "Human Potential Programme - Access to Infrastructures". It offers facilities for research and training financed by EC Grants available to scientists from member states of the European Union and Associated States.

Participant 7 (EFB - European Federation of Biotechnology,  Swiss, Int’l) will be active through its section on biodiversity that will relay information to and from EFB. The head of the Biodiversity section is also EFB executive board member. EFB counts presently 175 institutional members from 31 European and 7 Non-European countries. More than 3000 personal members from 37 European and 38 Non-European countries join EFB. Industry members will play an important role in all WP of EVa activity.

Participant 8 (FIRDI - Food Industry Research & Development Institute, R.O.C Taiwan) has expertise in agro-food industry; it is a key partner to help the consortium to focus on the specific needs of the Food Quality and Safety priority in the field of ABS.  FIRDI is a non-profit legal entity with financial support from private and public institutions. This Institute helps to establish the general policy of food industry development and execute R&D services to the food industry (development of new technology, sanitation and quality of processed foods, etc) including training programs and seminars.

Participant 9 (JBA - Japan Bioindustry Association, Japan). JBA has a membership of about 300 industrial companies, 100 public organizations and 1300 individuals from universities, making JBA a forum on bioscience and industry. JBA functions as a think tank and platform for communication between scientists, technologist, policymakers and managers.

Participant 10 (KIEP – Korean Institute for International Economic Policy, R. Korea) is an autonomous, government funded, non-profit economic research institute. It carries out economic, international policy and co-operation studies, including on socialist economies in transition. It is also a National Research Centre on WTO DDA (Doha Development Agenda, for its expertise in world economic trends and economic policy issues.

Participant 11 (UNESCO – MIRCEN Microbial Resources Centres, Int’l Organisation) is a network of 34 academic and research centres in developed and developing countries. These centres participate in a global effort in sustainable use of microbial resources for human progress, through international scientific co-operation. The global MIRCEN network programme embodies research and training programmes that are carried out within the framework of UNESCO's regular programme activities.

Participant 12 (TISTR – Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research, Thailand) is a public institution hosting the Bangkok MIRCEN (see Participant 12) that beside culture collections activities provides training courses and workshops. It has yet trained scientists from 11 countries and collaborates with the Asian Network on Microbial Research (ANMR) operating in 6 ASEAN countries. It has recently participated to the set up of the national mechanism for microbial diversity/collection management designed to facilitate access to, and dissemination/distribution of, microbial resources in and out the country.

Participant 13 (UL University of Ljubljana – Faculty of Natural Sciences & Engineering, Slovenia) hosts the Specialised Information Centre for Science (SICS) and the International Centre for Chemical Studies (ICCS). It is also a MIRCEN member. It has developed information methodology and its application in education and research. SICS is developing methodologies and tools for a co-ordinated data processing. ICCS is the focal point of an international network of more than 100 universities, private and public research institutes world-wide. It has yet organised more than 60 international expert meetings with participants from 80 countries. It has published numerous proceedings, including document “University-Industry-Government Co-operation: How to Make it Work?”.

Participants 14 (UNU- United Nation University, Int’l Organisation) is one of the twelve research and training centres within the UNU system. Its mission is to undertake research and postgraduate education on issues at the forefront of knowledge, policy development and learning. It has made several surveys on ABS policy and is familiar to the CBD forum.

Participant 15 (WFCC -World Federation for Cultures Collections, Int’l Union) is a Federation within the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS). WFCC is concerned with the study, maintenance and distribution of microbes and cultured cells. The WFCC pioneered the development of an international database on culture resources world-wide: the WFCC World Data Centre for Micro-organisms (WDCM). This data resource has records of 471 culture collections from 61 countries.