Well-trained young researchers, active within a culture of multi-disciplinary European research, are key to providing their organisations, the NovelQ project and Europe with the expertise required to promote and capitalise on a healthy entrepreneurial culture. Such people posses the information and skills to deliver the knowledge-based economy which will be the basis of Europe’s global competitiveness over the next decades. It will be through their future activities, careers and successes that the challenge of the global marketplace will be met and the European Research Area transformed from a vision into a reality. In the 21st century, the pursuit of science and technology is crucial to the delivery of knowledge to industry to be used to develop new or improved products that will expand national, regional and global markets, create employment and benefit society. Such science and technology must be communicated clearly to society so that its results will be better accepted and more rapidly deliver the health, convenience and other benefits expected by society. This communication must be a two-way process, involving both talking and listening, if society’s legitimate concerns are to be heard, understood and addressed. Failure to do this will result in wastage of scientific and financial resources, loss of market opportunities and a lack of public engagement with science and technology and with scientists and technologists. Twenty first century scientists and technologist must, therefore, posses a much wider range of skills that simply good laboratory practice.