Background: Translational research and medicines development refers to the translation of basic scientific discoveries into clinical applications such as new therapeutic, diagnostic or preventive products. Translational research and medicines development thus lays at the foundation of any improvement of human health and quality of life, and is a motor for growth and innovation. In order to be successful in this field, professionals need to be aware of all stages and research disciplines and also understand the various roles played by academia, industry and regulatory authorities. The multidisciplinary, multi-sectorial and transnational nature of translational medicines underlines the need for a defined set of skills and qualifications which learners and professionals can rely on to move freely between different labour markets and countries. Objectives: The objective of C-COMEND is to bring together players from different sectors and disciplines in order to develop curricula and provide a course aimed at PhD students and early Post-Docs, teaching the skills and competencies required to successfully contribute to translational research and medicines development. To ensure that the course indeed teaches the right skills and is relevant for the labour market, be it in academia, industry or the regulatory field, the course curriculum will be based on a competency profile developed during the project. The course will be delivered as a blended course, where the face-to-face course is preceded by e-learning to bring learners to the same level of understanding, thus allowing more in-depth discussion during the face-to-face course. The project aims at delivering the courses to a broad target group. The face-to-face course will therefore be offered twice during the project lifetime with 15 participants for each course from project partners and 15 from participants outside the consortium. The e-learning module will be made accessible to all biomedical students and professionals in Europe and worldwide. Participants: The consortium consists of 5 partners: 2 higher education institutes, 1 research institute, 1 research infrastructure and 1 e-learning provider and developer. Activities: The methodology to develop the courses is the ADDIE principle. ADDIE stands for the steps needed to prepare an effective learning session and which will be implemented in this project accordingly: 1) During the Analysis phase, the project will develop a competency profile for students and professionals in translational research and medicines development. Competency provides a shared ‘currency’ applicable to learning of all types and at all career stages. The profile will include not only the scientific competencies but also competencies in transversal skills and entrepreneurship. The profile will be complemented by a competency portfolio where participants can document the new competencies plus the competencies they already acquired during previous formal, informal and non-formal learning, to support the recognition of their competencies. 2) During the Design Phase, the consortium will design and document the curricula for courses based on the competency profile. The curriculum will apply multi-competency training wherever possible. This will include student presentations of their projects, which will teach the latest scientific developments but also improve their presentation skills. 3) During the Development Phase, the course content will be designed including learning methods which promote the transfer of course content into observable competencies and cater for different learning styles. 4) The Implantation Phase will consist of the implementation of the e-learning module and the face-to-face courses. 5) The feedback of the Evaluation Phase will be used to optimise the 2nd delivery of the e-learning and face-to-face course. In addition to the curricula, courses, the competency profile and a scientific publication, the project will deliver a Business Plan describing how the face-to-face and e-learning courses can be maintained in a way that enables a broad participation and reduces the costs for participants. The envisaged impacts are: • Enhanced quality and increasing labour market relevance of learning provision via the developed curricula based on a competency profile • Improving career opportunities of course participants • Fostering the interaction between research, education and innovation • Services available to a broad audience • Support of mobility (between countries and public & private sector) Longer term benefits: • Delivery of competencies ensuring the European competitiveness of Medicines Development; • Sustainable contribution to strategic planning of professional development via a publically available competency profile • Increased number of scientific ideas turned into innovative products bringing growth and jobs to the European economy. • Improvements in public health due to better trained professionals