The choice was left to the applicant who had to take into account several practical considerations. Over the 1994-1998 period the Biomedicine and Health awarded some 200 training grants while some 400 were financed by the Agriculture and Fisheries programme. All these areas were described in more detail in the training grants information package allowing thus prospective candidates to make the appropriate choice. In addition to the European Commission programmes several other international organizations offered training grants to work in another EU country. The EU training grants offer an opportunity not only to be trained in the most advanced European centers but also to gain a different, more open perspective, on how to tackle the global challenges of tomorrow.
Biotechnology is a relatively recent field of research and things are still moving in Europe.
There is a renewed interest for the establishment of start-ups and SMEs are more and more willing to move towards the more sophisticated high tech edge of research. Also in the educational system new interesting initiatives are pursued. We certainly feel that our training scheme is very much contributing to the transformation and evolution of Biotechnological research which we are witnessing in Europe in this end of the millennium.