Molecular computing is a novel and exciting development at the interface of Computer Science and Molecular Biology. Computation using DNA or proteins, for example, has the potential for massive parallelism, allowing trillions of operations per second. Such a parallel molecular computer will have huge implications, both for theoreticians and practitioners. Traditional definitions of computation are being re-defined in the light of recent theoretical and experimental developments. Although thriving, the field of molecular computing is still at an early stage in its development, and a huge and concerted effort is required to assess and exploit its real potential.

The European Molecular Computing Consortium (EMCC) has been created in order to co-ordinate, foster and expand research in this exciting new field, especially in Europe. The EMCC is the result of discussions between different research groups in fourteen different European countries. A key function of the consortium is to foster co-operation between scientific, technological and industrial partners. A particular effort will be made to create genuinely multi-disciplinary co-operation between Computer Science, Molecular Biology, and other relevant scientific areas. The EMCC will organize various research-enhancing activities such as conferences, workshops, schools, and mutual visits that will provide forums for the exchange of results, and for establishing or strengthening existing co-operations in the field of molecular computing. The EMCC will also actively seek to promote the field, both within the scientific community and to the public at large, via scientific publications, seminars, workshops and public lectures. All participating sites will make the utmost effort to develop their theoretical and laboratory resources. It is hoped that all of these combined efforts will allow the field of molecular computing to thrive in Europe.

The EMCC will also strive to establish and maintain fruitful cooperation with researchers in the area of molecular computing from outside Europe, and in particular with the American "Consortium for Biomolecular Computing" and with the Japanese "Molecular Computer Project".