EMERGE "kick off meeting" in Berlin

Begin:

11.01.2016

End:

12.01.2016

The first EMERGE meeting was held at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin on 11 and 12 January 2016. Representatives of all partner institutes but one were present (66 participants from 25 Member States) as well as 2 representatives from the European Commission’s Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA) and 1 representative from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

EMERGE partners in front of the Robert Koch Institute

This meeting was a good opportunity to exchange on a number of subjects, in particular the EMERGE objectives, the project timeline, the communication strategy, the launch of the new website, the EMERGE approach for selection of (re-)emerging risk group 4 viruses and risk group 3 bacteria with the potential for cross border outbreaks and the capacities set up.

For new members of the consortium, it was also a great opportunity to meet for the first time in person, and to seize the full potential of EMERGE.

The new consortium of EMERGE comprises a European network with about 40 diagnostic laboratories focused on risk group 3 bacteria and risk groups 3 and 4 viruses. EMERGE aims to provide a common, coordinated and effective response to infectious disease outbreaks at EU level and abroad.
The first EMERGE meeting objective was also to present the role to be played by each partner during the course of the project.

In this view:

• Each work-package has been described;
• Each task has been identified with a group of partners in charge of it;
• Deliverables and their specific deadlines have been listed.

The next meeting will take place in Thessaloniki in Greece, 5-7 October 2016. It will be a technical meeting dedicated to the progress made concerning different work packages and tasks of the EMERGE project.