The Third Bi-Regional EU-SEA S&T Stakeholders’ Conference, the so called Budapest Conference with the overriding theme of “Sharing the Benefits of Joint Research” was held from 24-25 November, 2010 in the prestigious Buda castle in Budapest, Hungary.

Prof. Sirirurg Songsivilai, Executive Director NANOTEC attended the Steering Committee meeting as a participating member. The Steering Committee oversees the development and implementation of the SEA-EU-NET program. The FP7 research grant is a good example of one of the initiatives initiated by the Steering Committee. In recent years the increase in FP7 research projects involving Southeast Asia partners are on the rise. For Thailand, the number of projects and the amount of funds for Thailand in FP7 is already equal to those in the entire 5 years of FP6.  The success rate of Thai proposals is also doubled – from 13.7% to 27% – higher than the overall success rate of 19.6%. This is certainly a very encouraging sign for Thailand and helps to promote global visibility for the nation.

At the conference, Prof. Sirirurg was invited to give a Keynote Remarks at the Opening Ceremony of the Conference, together with Prof Andrew Sors (Rector of Collegium Budapest) and Dr Robert Burmanjer (Head of Unit, DG Research of the European Commission). He also gave a presentation on “Biomedical Research in Thailand” and participated in a TV interview program on the strength of S&T in Thailand and the opportunity for collaboration between Europe and Southeast Asia.

The primary objective of the conference is to bring scientific experts and policymakers together from Europe and South East Asia to facilitate exchange of views on the outcomes and benefits of research activities both in EU and SEA regions. Thematic workshops, presentations, a poster session and several roundtable discussions are planned for participants with various scientific and institutional background to serve this goal.