National consortium Building Blocks of Life to be established
Researchers and representatives from industry and healthcare are coming together to determine the course for a national consortium Building Blocks of Life. During a workshop that will be held in Utrecht the participants will work on a vision for the next ten years.
Building Blocks of Life (BBoL) is a long-term, multidisciplinary research programme from NWO into the molecular basis of life. Following a first call in December 2016, NWO awarded funding to 16 research projects. On 23 May 2017, the public and private partners from these research projects will come together in a closed workshop with stakeholders from participating top sectors and relevant routes from the Dutch National Research Agenda. During this workshop they will lay the basis for a national consortium as well as for a joint agenda for the programme Building Blocks of Life.
Building Blocks of Life
The aim of the research programme Building Blocks of Life is to develop new products, smarter product chains and new key technology based on our understanding of the molecular basis of life. Knowledge of the molecular basis of life has increased spectacularly thanks to technological breakthroughs in physics, chemistry, biology, ICT and the system analysis of enormous databases. With a ten-year programme, Building Blocks of Life is consolidating Dutch expertise in this field. The programme will ensure new connections between disciplines and sectors to provide a stronger basis for tackling scientific and societal challenges such as clean energy, sustainable food production and the ageing population.
Building Blocks of Life is a programme of the NWO Domains Science, Applied and Engineering Sciences and ZonMw together with the participating Top Sectors Agri & Food, Chemistry, High Tech Systems and Materials, Life Sciences & Health, and Horticulture & Propagation Materials. As this field concerns not only technical but also societal and ethical questions, the Responsible Innovation programme (NWI) of the NWO Domain Social Sciences and Humanities is also participating in this consortium.