EIMID
European Initiative for basic research in
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

As a consequence of the long lasting professional relationships between world class scientists of five European centres of excellence (the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, the Centre for Molecular Microbiology and Infection at Imperial College in London, the Institut Pasteur in Paris, the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and Novartis in Siena), a plan was made in 2003 for creating a seed project that in future years could become an important component of the ERA (European Research Area): EIMID (European Initiative for basic research in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases). EIMID’s aim is to form a strong coalition and make an initiative in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases bringing together the five institutes that include a group of about 1500 scientists, including PhD students and post-docs, involved in research in Microbiology, Immunology and Biology of Infections. This sets the basis for a future no-wall European Institute of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. A major reason for this endeavour is the generally shared concern that, in spite of the high quality of Microbiology research in Europe, it may quickly lag behind North America. The US is currently investing massively in this topic through biodefence programmes and other channels. European competitiveness in basic research is especially threatened, running the risk that young European scientists either disregard Microbiology as a relevant discipline in the life sciences, or emigrate to North America to benefit from better working conditions. This brain-drain is currently observed in all disciplines in life sciences. The longer-term problem regards research applications, particularly in the areas of diagnostic, innovative anti-microbial drugs and vaccines, with the risk of a major switch of intellectual property and subsequent loss of competitiveness of our pharmaceutical industry. Last but not least, the strong position of Europe supporting the developing world, which is massively affected by infectious diseases, may also be threatened over the long term. The EIMID founders believe that this vicious cycle can only be reversed with innovative programmes and strong support for basic research in Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Based on this, there is a need for EIMID to set the highest possible research standards in this field and to initiate and provide momentum for a larger European initiative. The commitment to this programme by the participating organisations is demonstrated by the fact that a joint four-year PhD training programme has already been initiated supported by resources from the five institutions.
The high scientific and technological quality of EIMID project can be summarised in the following points which represent the long term objectives of EIMID:

	To bring coherence to research programmes at the European level to achieve a critical mass on relevant and cutting-edge topics.
	To allow quick and co-ordinated scientific reaction to emerging problems.
	To foster exchange of scientists, particularly at the doctoral and post-doctoral levels.
	To improve the visibility of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases as a discipline of key importance in Europe.
	To attract the best students and post-docs to Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.
	To revert the current brain drain of young European investigators to North America by improving their visibility in European laboratories and topics.