Progress Report
European Umbrella Organisation

Since the last progress report two months ago three things have happened. First, we have appointed an additional member to the Protem group in accordance with the Vienna decisions. He is Prof. Jan Wojcicki and comes from Poland.

Status with endorsements

21 IFMBE affiliated organisations in Europe have now endorsed the Vienna resolution. These are:

Belgium
Czech Republic
Denmark
ESEM
Estonia
Finland
France (SFGBM)
Germany
Hungary
IEEE-EMBS
Israel
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
The Netherlands
UK
Yugoslavia

The target set in Vienna was to have a majority by the end of the year. The total number of societies on our Vienna list was 35. For majority we need 18. So, we are now well above the target set in Vienna.

A few of the endorsements have expressed concerns or reservations. Some relate to the financing of this new organisation and express concern that we need to find ways to finance it so that it does not need much funding from its members. This is something that was already expressed in Vienna and the reason for establishing a business plan WG (see later in this report). Some were concerned that the new organisation may not be in competition with existing ones. Again this was discussed and agreed and included into the Vienna resolution. Summarising, it seems that we all share the same concerns. Solving these is another thing and is a task and challenge to us all.

Work assignments for the Protem group

Some of the Protem group members (Hutten, Magjarevic, Nagel, Wojcicki and Saranummi) met in connection with the BME education conference organised by the Eindhoven Technical University at the end of October to discuss progress and to decide on work assignments. As a result the following working groups have been established:

• Constitution and Bylaws: To suggest an organisational structure for the Alliance, to produce a draft for the C&BL of the Alliance including C&BL for the two initial "conventions" on national societies and European transnational societies, and to suggest a name for the Alliance. Chaired by Joe Barbenel.
• Business Plan (including relations with European bodies): To develop a business plan for the Alliance, to investigate means to finance the activities of the Alliance, to contact European organisations such as COST, ESF and EU in order to establish contacts and to apply for initial funding for the activities, and to make a plan and prepare the First European MBE forum (to take place in connection of the Second EMBEC). Chaired by Niilo Saranummi.
• Membership: To create a "database" of candidate societies and organisations in Europe for membership in the Alliance, to initiate contacts with these in collaboration with the Protem group chair, and to carry out a dialogue with these in order to engage them to the process of creating the Alliance and to transmit any problems and issues related to their eventual membership for consideration by the C&BL WG. Chaired by Marcello Bracale.
• Accreditation and Education: To be further defined by the WG, but to include two issues "Accreditation" and "European BME Education Platform", to plan for a meeting in Warsaw, 25 April on Accreditation and Education, and to plan for a workshop or similar to take place at the Second EMBEC. Chaired by Joachim Nagel.
• Web site: To provide a suggestion for the general design and layout of the web site, and to set up the web site. Chaired by Enrique Gomez.

A full meeting of the Protem group is now planned for February to discuss the proposals that will be drafted by the above mentioned working groups.