The Consortium’s January meeting was held in Rome, Italy on 28th January 2008.

The meeting objectives were to:

> Confirm objectives and priorities for 2008

> Review options and agree the legal direction of the Consortium

> Review progress of Proof of Concept

> Review progress of the Standards Working Group and confirm plan for publication of the Standards Document

> Communications

The Consortium set the following key priorities this year:

Set up a legal entity for the Consortium

The Consortium agreed that a legal entity should be formed and a law firm should be engaged to facilitate this. The purpose of the legal entity will be to manage contracts with vendors and hold intellectual property rights if required should the Consortium decide to sponsor any software development.

Engage with regulatory agencies to secure support

Regulatory support for the standards and the Consortium’s overall objectives has been identified as critical to the success of the NLMEc. For this reason the NLMEc hopes to arrange a meeting in the US with the FDA.

Formalise involvement with CDISC

The NLMEc has submitted an abstract to present at the CDISC Interchange in Copenhagen on 23-24 April. This would be one of the touch points as the Consortium and CDISC work to formalise collaboration.

Publish Standards Version 1.0

A draft of the Standards Document is currently under internal review. The final version will be ready for distribution to the Academic Advisory for review. Standards V1.0 will be complete early June.

The Academic Advisory meeting in Paris has been scheduled for 9th April. The purpose of the one day meeting will be for the NLMEc to present the standards and to gain feedback from the academics on the approach and the scientific content of the Standards Document.

Complete Proof of Concept initiative

The NLMEc look forward to viewing Proof of Concepts to be presented by vendors at the next NLMEc meeting on 25-February in London.

Hold a significant Industry event (Symposium)

The Consortium agreed to organise a half day Symposium on 16th June in Marseille during the week of PAGE. The purpose of the event will be to increase awareness of the Consortium, generate awareness from software developers and regulatory agencies.

Create and execute a Communication Plan

The NLMEc will produce a Communication Plan which will clearly define its strategy, initiatives and deliverables for effective communication this year.