Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 15 Occasionally, employees from breeding com- panies or scientists from the universities are invited to give guest lectures on highly specific topics. For their internship and final gradua- tion project, the students carry out research at a plant breeding company or university. Until now, it was uncommon for a University of Applied Sciences to carry out research. However, more educational pro- grammes in the life sciences have started research projects. By having a more inspir- ing and interesting educational program by doing research with the students, we expect to attract more students to our Green Biotechnology program and this is exactly what is happening. Three years ago, we only had two students and this year we have about 25 students in our specialized Green Biotechnology programme. We expect that these numbers will increase steadily in the near future. We believe that our students are trained in a better way if they can participate in applied research on relevant topics from the industry. A good example of research in educa- tion is our second-year course in which the students work on research projects like the development of molecular markers or CRISPR/ Cas technology based on questions from the industry. Students work enthusiastically together with the teachers/researchers to solve problems and answer questions for the companies and at the same time get more experienced in performing applied research. The need to supply the plant breeding sector with talented people shouldn’t just be limited to young students, though. We have also set up a course for people already work- ing in the breeding industry who would like to know more about the newest molecular breeding technologies. This course is called Novel Breeding Tools. So far, employees from ornamental and vegetable breeding companies have attended this course that is now in its second year. We offer this course in collaboration with the University of Amsterdam. In this pro- gramme we combine theoretical knowledge with practical skills enabling companies to integrate these new technologies into their breeding program. We focus on molecular markers, marker assisted breeding, genetic modification, genome editing (CRISPR/ Cas) and DNA sequencing, and we start the course with background information on DNA, molecular biology, genetics and genomics. “Two employees from our company enrolled in this course to get more theoret- ical and practical knowledge on the newest technologies that are available for molecular breeding. We see this course as a good way to help people prepare for the technology that is coming,” says Ad van Rooijen, research and development manager at rose breeder De Ruiter Innovations. “We now have a better understanding of what is going on in terms of DNA advancements. It might take awhile before we actually start using these technol- ogies, but at least we are ready for them now.” We have altered our educational program in green biotechnology dramatically and it is now more specialized toward molecular plant breeding and green biotechnology and adjusted to the needs of the plant breeding companies and universities. Close contact with companies and industry enables us to set up research projects and implement research in our educational program. These alterations have attracted more students to our education. Furthermore, we train the employees of ornamental vegetable breeding companies in the newest molecular breeding technologies and with our efforts, we hope that the short- age of skilled personnel for molecular breeding projects will be reduced in the coming years.