EMTRAIN is an essential element for the success of the IMI Education & Training (E&T) Call Topics in Europe (current and future). It will establish a pan-European platform of excellence for education and training covering the whole life-cycle of medicines from basic research through clinical development to pharmaco-vigilance. It will underpin the successful delivery of the current and future IMI-funded E&T projects, and by 2013 will have defined the IMI E&T vision.In collaboration with the different IMI E&T projects EMTRAIN will ensure trainingprogrammes are tailored in a coordinated way for current and future professionals involved in biomedical R&D. Flexibility and mobility of scientists is required to take advantage of the variety of opportunities at the pan-European level, and to understand European needs in biomedical and pharmaceutical medicines sciences. This capacity building project will build up the infrastructure for the other E&T projects and in future calls initiated by IMI, and will facilitate mobility between academia, industry, regulators, and other relevant stakeholders/potential employers.Based on extensive mapping of existing resources in Europe and on a gap and overlapanalysis, the consortium will develop and implement a strategy for pan-European expansion,for harmonisation and accreditation of continuing professional development (CPD) programmes in context of life-long learning under the umbrella of the IMI cross-project LifeTrain initiative (WP4/7). The consortium will provide a comprehensive registry of Master level and PhD programmes, as well as of CPD programmes. It will provide an overview of existing innovative learning concepts, tools and methodologies in conjunction with the other IMI E&T projects that will support the content for the IMI education programmes. National implementation will be facilitated through close contacts with national university authorities, ministries of higher education, and through the availability of national liaison contact persons.After implementation in a core group of institutions, extension is planned both within the countries represented in EMTRAIN and in additional countries, helped by dissemination and communication activities. The harmonisation and the modular nature of these programmes will allow trans-disciplinary curricula as well as trans-border and trans-sectoral mobility, and PhD programmes will be designed to foster industry/academia mobility and collaboration.The public Consortium is made up of the six pan-European biomedical science (BMS)research infrastructures from the ESFRI roadmap, and the Medizinische Universitaet Wienas managing entity. The six ESFRI-BMS research infrastructures cover a broad spectrum ofcompetences from molecules to humans: structural biology (Instruct), bioinformatics(ELIXIR), animal models (INFRAFRONTIER), biobanks (BBMRI), translational research(EATRIS) and clinical research (ECRIN). These distributed infrastructures are based onresources and facilities located in a majority of EU countries, and have their own education and training programmes. EMTRAIN can therefore take advantage of their broad spectrum of competences, of their pan-European dimension, of their close contacts with national authorities (national ministries of higher education and research are partners in these initiatives), and of already existing national liaisons. Members of the six ESFRI-BMS infrastructures will be responsible for leading the work packages WPs 2-9 in collaboration with members of the EFPIA.The EFPIA consortium has considerable experience in education and training; management;provides a pan-European geographical outreach, and draws on an extensive externalnetwork of contacts. Therefore, the EFPIA consortium will not only be able to provide specific input relating to the needs of the pharmaceutical industry but, by contributing to the work packages in partnership with the public consortium, will also