"Europe faces a diabetes epidemic. More than 55 million people in Europe are currently diagnosed with diabetes and with an estimated 20% increase by 2030, the disease is certain to stay one of the most challenging health problems this century. Especially as diabetes no longer is a disease exclusively for adults, but affects children, young people and adults of all ages. Despite the high prevalence of diabetes, the choice of anti-diabetic drugs is still limited and two thirds of patients with diabetes do not achieve the recommended glycaemic target levels. For each new anti-diabetic drug, it is essential to investigate the metabolic effect over time. The glucose clamp technique is regarded as the gold standard to evaluate the effectiveness of new anti-diabetic drugs. There are however only a few centers with limited research capacities that have experience in using the clamp technique, because automated clamp devices are no longer commercially available and the existing techniques are confounded by a number of limitations. Increased clamp capacities are urgently needed for the development of new, more efficacious anti-diabetic drugs. Through the integration of newly emerging technologies proposed in part by the 4 participating SME organisations and with the outsourced research capacity of 3 of Europe’s leading RTD performers, the EU-CLAMP project aims to develop a new generation automated clamp device that will overcome the limitations of the existing devices by incorporating microdialysis technique for reliable continuous glucose monitoring without blood loss. The EU-CLAMP project will facilitate clamp testing in a more efficient and cost effective manner. In addition to the significant contribution that will be made to development of improved treatment options for diabetes, the project will provide a platform from which the competitiveness of the participating SMEs can be improved offering alignment to the needs of their long term business strategies."