The progress in the knowledge achieved by basic and clinical research can only be translated into better patients' care through education. Two decades ago, the European Union's Leonardo da Vinci Programme funded the Competency Based Training in Intensive Care (CoBa- TrICe) collaboration to create a detailed descriptions of competencies (i.e. the minimum standard of knowledge, skills and attitudes) required for a doctor to be identi- fied as a specialist in Intensive Care Medicine (ICM) in Europe.