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Infrostructure for the third countries participation
* This section is presented with usage of materials of the «Compendium on Science & Research Cooperation between the European Union and the Russian Federation», © European Communities, 2009.
The European Community's international S&T policy aims to:
(i) support European competitiveness through strategic partnerships with non-EU countries in selected fields of science and by engaging the best scientists from such countries to work with and in Europe;
(ii) enhance the production of knowledge and scientific excellence by enabling European universi-ties, research institutions and firms to establish contacts with their partners in such third countries, thereby facilitating access to research environments outside Europe and promoting synergies on a global scale;
(iii) address specific problems that third countries face, or that have a global character, on the basis of mutual interest and mutual benefit.
The approach to international cooperation in the EU's Seventh Framework programme therefore aims at integrating international research collaboration throughout the Framework Programme and includes both geographical and thematic targeting.
The Cooperation Programme enables research cooperation to take place between different global research partners in collaboration with European researchers. The Capacities Programme supports a range of activities to strengthen research capacity in the European scientific community and other regions of the world. The People Programme meets the need to foster both incoming and outgoing international mobility of researchers. The Ideas Programme supports excellence in frontier research and enables individual top international researchers to participate in Europe-led teams.
in the EU Seventh Framework Programme is open to a wide range of organisations and individuals. Universities, research centres, multinational corporations, SMEs (small to medium-sized enterprises), public administrations, even individuals, from anywhere in the world - all have the opportunity to participate in FP7. Different participation rules apply depending on the research initiative in question.
Please note that while FP7 participants can in principle be based anywhere, there are different categories of country which may have varying eligibility for different specific and work programmes:
Member States - the EU 27;
Associated countries - contributing financially to the Framework Programme budget;
Candidate countries - currently recognised as candidates for future accession to the EU;
Third countries - countries that are not EU Member States, are not candidates for EU accession, and are not associated with FP7.
In terms of FP7 terminology, Russia is both a Third Country and an International Cooperation Partner Country (ICPC) (see the list of ICPCs at ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/icpc-list. pdf).
International S&T Cooperation: Opportunities within FP7
1. Research theme-oriented international cooperation is being carried out under the
«Cooperation» Programme. International collaborative research in the Cooperation Programme is
supported in two ways, to ensure a balanced thematic and geographic participation by third countries
and regions:
(i) The opening of the thematic areas to all third countries. This includes new dedicated actions and calls for third countries (mainly industrialised and emerging economies, such as Russia). The expectation is that international expertise can be attracted to Europe which can contribute to projects in the interest of European and global research advancement.
(ii) Specific International Cooperation Actions (SICAs) in each thematic area dedicated to third countries where there is mutual interest on the basis of both the S&T level and the needs of the countries concerned. These actions are aimed at reinforcing research capacity in non-associat¬ed candidate and neighbourhood countries and at addressing the particular needs of developing and emerging economies by means of dedicated cooperative activities. The actions apply to the International Cooperation Partner Countries (such as Belarus).
2. The People Programme's international dimension reinforces international cooperation in FP7
by supporting researcher mobility and their career development. It includes two main action lines
(for details see http://ec.europa.eu/mariecurieactions):
i) Career development/life-long training for EU researchers
International outgoing fellowships at postdoctoral level and beyond (with an in-built mandatory return phase) enable European researchers to be trained and acquire new knowledge within high-level third country research organisations. A mandatory return fellowship is included.
International re-integration grants encourage European researchers, who have carried out research outside Europe for at least 3 years, to return to a Member State or Associated country in order to con¬tribute to European research and to transfer the knowledge they have acquired in a third country.
ii) International cooperation for and with researchers from third countries
International incoming fellowships for experienced researchers: for knowledge transfer with Europe, and enrichment of research collaboration. Researchers from third countries are offered support to undertake research projects in Member States or Associated Countries with a view to enhancing the possibility of future collaborative research links with Europe. A return fellowship may be requested.
Marie Curie host driven actions: as a general rule, all are open to third country nationals (e.g. the Research Training Networks targeting doctoral candidates).
International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES): its grants focus on staff exchanges between several European research organisations and organisations from countries covered by the European Neighbourhood Policy and countries with which the European Community has an S&T Cooperation Agreement.
Support to scientific diasporas: a new action to network European researchers abroad by means of «European Researchers Abroad networks» - the ERA-Link initiative. These activities establish links between Europe and expatriate European researchers, promote collaborations with the European research community, and support networking activities of third country researchers in Europe.
In addition to these international cooperation activities, it should be noted that all the People Programme's Marie Curie actions are in general open to international participation. For instance, the Marie Curie Initial Training Networks (ITN) for early stage training may include an additional host from third countries and are open to researchers from third countries (such as Belarus); the Marie Curie Industry Partnerships and Pathways may involve entities from third countries (such as Belarus) as additional partners.
3. The «Capacities» Programme includes an international cooperation activity which offers support measures for third countries and regions on the ICPC list and which supports dialogues and information exchange activities with them. The activities supported have three major objectives:
(i) to strengthen bi-regional and bilateral dialogues in scientific cooperation and assist in joint identification of topics for collaboration under the FP7 thematic programmes;
(ii) to network different stakeholders (such as universities, industry, government, civil society and donors) in order to strengthen research capacity;
(iii) to facilitate the development and implementation of a coherent European-level approach towards international S&T cooperation.
Other activities of the Capacities Programme also address international cooperation. As well as encouraging new international collaboration in scientific infrastructures, it provides support to existing Research Infrastructures in all fields of S&T, with the objective of maximising their use, access and development, and with a clear opening to international cooperation. Under the Research Potential activity, support can be provided to promote closer S&T cooperation between Europe and other regions in the world by improving research capacity in those other regions. Finally, international dialogue will be supported on issues which relate to topics in the Science in Society programme with a strong international remit.
4. The «Ideas» Programme aims to reinforce European activities in leading edge or «frontier»
research, providing support for individual teams rather than for multinational consortia. Individu¬
al international researchers are encouraged to join with Europe-led teams, where they will bring
specific expertise from outside Europe to enrich the research undertaken. Full recognition is given to
the need to associate top scientists from elsewhere in the world in reinforcing excellence, dynamism
and creativity in European research.
5. International cooperation in the area of research in fission and radiation protection is an im¬
portant element of the Euratom Framework Programme. High-level agreements between
Euratom and certain third countries facilitate the cooperation; moreover participa¬
tion of third countries in projects is possible on an ad hoc basis. Dedicated research topics (e.g.
nuclearplant lifetime management) ensure greater international cooperation, and Belarus, being in the process of nuclear power plant construction, could be actively involved in international cooperation in this sphere. The growing importance of global initiatives, such as the Generation-IV International Forum that coordinates research on the next generation nuclear reactors, enhances the potential for future international cooperation under Euratom.
Under FP7, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) aims to develop international collaborations in ar¬eas of strategic importance, e.g. global warming; sustainable development; external security; me-trology; nuclear safety and safeguards (in the context of the Euratom Programmes); food secu¬rity and global resources. It promotes research cooperation with third country partners to ensure harmonized approaches to reference measurements, safety testing (e.g. for hydrogen storage), and detection (e.g. for GMOs in food and feed, in support of EU legislation and international agree-ments).
Opportunities for EU-Belarus research cooperation go beyond FP7. The EU Competitiveness & Innovation Framework Programme is the European Community's major instrument for actions in the field of entrepreneurship, SMEs, industrial competitiveness, innovation, ICT development & use, and complements the research-oriented activities supported by the EU R&D Framework Programmes. It has a budget of € 3.6 billion for the seven year period 2007-2013.
More information about the EU Framework Programmes, the EU Competitiveness & Innovation Programme as well as the EU Structural Funds is available in the Practical Guide to EU Fund¬ing Opportunities for Research and Innovation at ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/practical-guide-eufundingeapdf
Opportunities For Science And Research Cooperation With Belarus.
administrative procedures for third country researchers, including Russian citizens, entering the European Community. It consists of three European instruments, a directive and two recommenda¬tions. The directive and one recommendation cover long-term admission (researchers intending to stay in Europe for more than three months), while the second recommendation addresses short-term visas (entry for less than three months, for instance to attend a conference in a European coun¬try). Specific provisions apply to certain countries.
© National Academy of Sciences of Belarus, 2011
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