The basic concept of BPI Plant-Heal is the scientific and technological reinforcement of Benaki Phytopathological Institute (BPI) towards utilization of biotechnology novelties for integrated pest management and sustainable agriculture. The main objective is to facilitate the expansion of a high-quality National Research Institute into a European Plant Health Research Centre focused on the study and exploitation of selected plants/organisms, produced by rDNA technologies. The comprehension of molecular interactions between plants and pests at the genomic and post-genomic level is offering innovative approaches for the development of strategies for crop protection with acceptable risk assessment outcomes. BPI aims to mainly enhance its capabilities to perform fundamental research and conduct pest risk analysis of quarantine pests, whose global distribution is expected to become of great importance. The development of BPI’s capacities in new emerging scientific fields will be mainly based on existing and lately acquired, state of the art equipment supplemented by a containment greenhouse envisaged in this proposal. In addition, the recently recruited qualified researchers and the recruitment of experienced ones as foreseen in the project, the development of strategic partnerships with UNEW, UK, INRA, France and IVIA, Spain and two-way secondments for transfer of advanced know-how will lead to scientific excellence. Finally, the dissemination of the research activities of BPI to the scientific community and stakeholders in Greece and EU would upgrade BPI’s reputation and improve its capacity to raise funds from EU and International sources. The reinforcement of scientific and technological potential, would lead to the establishment of a state of the art Research Centre in EU comparable to other European ones, distinguished for scientific excellence with a positive impact on the socio-economic status of the country and the procedure of European integration.