European Co-operation
in the field of
Scientific and Technical Research
– COST –
|
Brussels, 13 October 2000 |
PRESS RELEASE
Subject :
|
141st MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF SENIOR OFFICIALS FOR SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL RESEARCH (COST) Brussels, 5/6 October 2000 |
The COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) held its 141st meeting in Brussels, chaired by Mr Gösta Diehl, Director at the Finnish Technology Development Centre (TEKES).
COST launches nine new Actions
The Committee agreed in principle to the launching of the following new Actions in the course of this year:
(a) Materials
COST 529: "Efficient lighting for the 21st Century"
The main objective of the action, at both the basic breakthrough and the pre-competitive research level, is to seek new concepts and materials for the lighting industry which avoid any known environmentally harmful substances through the study of the feasibility of high efficacy, novel, light source technologies.
COST 530: "Life-cycle inventories for environmentally-conscious manufacturing
processes"
The main objective of the action is to increase knowledge about the environmental impacts of manufacturing processes in order to develop and apply environmentally conscious processes, reduce environmental impacts and costs, and take knowledge based decisions.
(b) Environment
COST 628: "Life-cycle assessment of textile products, eco-efficiency and definition of best available technology (BAT) of textile processing"
The main objectives of the action are to expand multi-disciplinary life cycle assessments to cover the whole textile processing and textile product chain, as well as to develop indicators for evaluations of cleaner textile processing alternatives with respects to their ecological and economic performance.
(c) Agriculture and Biotechnology
COST 849: "Parasitic plant management in sustainable agriculture"
The main objective of the action is to increase our understanding of the interaction between parasitic plants and their hosts in order to implement sustainable means of control.
COST 850: "Bio-control symbioses (symbiotic complexes for biological control of pests)"
The main objective of the action is to develop a better understanding of the interactions taking place in those biocontrol symbioses that may be used against insect and slug pests in Europe.
(d) Social Sciences
COST A19: "Children's Welfare"
The main objective of the action is to enhance the knowledge of children's welfare in both private and public realms in terms of there assess to and use of income, service, space, and time by employing a generational and a comparative perspective.
COST A20: "The impact of the Internet on the mass media in Europe"
The main objective of the action is to develop knowledge in order to understand the various changes that mass media industries are undergoing now, and will in the future undergo, as a result of the development of the Internet.
(e) Medicine and Health
COST B18: "Corpus cavernosum EMG in erectile dysfunction"
The main objective of the action is to determine the value of cc EMG in the investigation and management of erectile dysfunction.
(f) Miscellaneous
COST G8 "Non-destructive analysis and testing of museum objects"
The main objective of the action is to achieve a better preservation and conservation of European cultural heritage by increasing the knowledge in museum objects and by improving the synergy between art, historians, archaeologists, conservators and natural scientists.
COST extends duration of one Action
The Committee approved extensions for the following Action:
COST G3 "Industrial ventilation" (15 months)
Committee followed the presentation of activities in the field of Chemistry
Professor Gerard van Koten, Debye Institute, University of Utrecht, NL, Chairman of the Chemistry Technical Committee, presented the activities and achievements in the field of Chemistry. At present, COST is co-ordinating, in 16 Chemistry COST Actions, 614 research laboratories, in 100 networks of working groups involving 3000 researchers. A COST Chemistry WEB site was presented. (http://www.unil.ch/cost/chem)
The activities in COST Chemistry are mainly basic science oriented but efforts with the involvement of Industries are promoted through joint activities with the SUSTECH programme developed by the CEFIC (Council of European Industries in Chemistry).
Committee creates a new Technical Committee
The Committee, after presentation of activities and achievements of the "ad hoc committee for medicine and health" by its Chairman Professor Luc Balant, University of Geneva, decided to create a new Technical Committee on Medicine and Health with a mandate of three years.
Preparation of COST Ministerial Conference in Copenhagen September 2002
The Committee endorsed several preparatory arrangements concerning the planning of the COST Ministerial Conference, which is scheduled to take place in Copenhagen in September 2002. Among other things, the assessment of COST activities and achievements as well as the promotion and dissemination of results obtained in the ongoing different COST Actions (around 200 yearly) will be performed before this Ministerial meeting.
Next CSO meeting at Brussels
The 142nd Meeting of the Senior Officials Committee on 14/15 December 2000 will take place at Brussels.
For further information call the COST Secretariat at 285.68.96/79.14
Or to Gérard Rivière 285 55 26 e-mail gerard.riviere@consilium.eu.int
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