German Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan presented the Descartes Prizes for Research and Science Communication together with EU Research Commissioner Janez Potočnik in Brussels on Wednesday. "These prizes are attracting increasing attention", said Schavan. "They have become a kind of European Nobel Prize". The Minister emphasized that excellence in research was important for making Europe the most competitive region within a few years. And she added: "We need outstanding young researchers today in order to produce the innovations of tomorrow".
This year's candidates for the Descartes Prizes included project groups from 20 countries. The jury selected five winners for both prizes who share the prize money of one million euro for the Descartes research prize and the 275,000 euro for the science communication prize. The Descartes Prizes are awarded to top-class researchers and honour outstanding services rendered to European research cooperation. They demonstrate the enormous potential of outstanding European researchers and enhance their motivation. The Descartes Prize for Science Communication honours special initiatives which raise public awareness of research.
The Descartes Prizes were presented within the framework of the "Today is the future" event, which focused on the start of the EU's Seventh Research Framework Programme. RFP 7 was launched in January and covers the period 2007 through 2013. It has an overall budget of 54.4 billion euro, which means that the European Union is making approximately 60 percent more funding available to research projects than it did under RFP 6 between 2002 and 2006. The Seventh Research Framework Programme is the largest research funding programme in the world.
The "Today is the future" event also included the opening of the Helmholtz Association's KUNSTWERK ERDE (The Earth as a Work of Art) exhibition and of the Max Planck Society's Science Tunnel. Both exhibitions provide impressive insights into the world of science. The visitors to KUNSTWERK ERDE can view the Blue Planet from a distance and learn, for example, how changes in the ozone layer are measured or how deserts spread. The Science Tunnel enables visitors to watch tremendous sun storms or the fusion of entire galaxies. It also provides an insight into the mysteries of the human body and shows the visitor how the body steers billions of cells.
For further information about European education policy and the German EU Council Presidency please visit www.bmbf.de and www.eu2007.de.
