Participating Countries

3DLife is a project, which requires mobilization of researchers and integrative approach to research; it is a broad project demanding extensive resources and distribution of responsibilities; it is a scientific project, which is highly dependent on the expertise and experience of the partners involved; it is a cross-disciplinary project in need of a diversity of expertise; it is an application project which needs state-of-the-art technological support; it is a holistic project that thrives on synergy of collaborative activity; and it is a global project reliant on input from varied perspectives.

In this context, the key factors that make the 3DLife consortium capable of executing the planned tasks and reaching the posed objectives are reflected in the scientific quality of the participating partners and the diverse yet complementary research background they bring to the project. Those factors can be defined as follows:

• Technical excellence. The suitability and commitment of core partners can be explained based on their excellent research track record and reputation, their experience as leaders of research groups, national and EU-wide research projects, and their role in defining their national and EU strategic research agendas. All the partners are members of the boards in national funding bodies and three partners (QMUL, UNIGE and ITI) are members of EU task-forces.
• Complementarity and synergetic expertise of research groups. Consortium building was driven from the outset by looking for the expertise required to fulfill the integrative and technical research agenda of the project.
• Critical mass of equipment and research facilities. The holistic approach of 3DLife relies on synergy, collaboration and cross-disciplinary efforts from the core partners. More importantly it requires the use of costly and exclusive lab facilities and equipment available at partner’s premises. Sharing available equipment is not only instrumental to the success of the project but will also enable Pan-European integration of related research groups.