FP7 Projects

STI International Cooperation Network for Eastern Partnership Countries

The European Union devotes a particular attention to the cooperation with the countries in its Eastern borders and in South Caucasus and develops specific policies (Eastern Partnership; European Neighbourhood Policy) and instruments (European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument - ENPI) to support them. In the field of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), scientific ties and long-lasting cooperation already exists, as well as issues of mutual concern to address such as Societal Challenges and the promotion of Innovation.

In that context, the “STI International Cooperation Network for Eastern Partnership countries - IncoNet EaP” project is dedicated to the promotion of the bi-regional policy dialogue in STI between the EU Member States (and countries Associated to FP7) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, aiming at the identification of priorities for action especially in the three Societal Challenges of particular importance for the two regions (Climate Change, Energy and Health), as well as on the promotion of Innovation. In doing that the project will benefit from the interaction with the recently established “EU – EaP Panel on Research and Innovation” that provided a new impetus to the EU – EaP STI cooperation.

WHO WE ARE

The IncoNet EaP is implemented by a large consortium of 19 renowned institutions from EU Member States, Associated Countries and all the Eastern Partnership Countries namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

The consortium includes partners from institutions engaged in a long standing cooperation, pursuing the work and the valuable experience gained in previous projects of similar type (IncoNet EECA and IncoNet CA/SC), thus ensuring continuity and a smooth implementation of the project. The Scientific Coordination of the project is ensured by Dr. George Bonas (CeRISS) while the Administrative Coordination is provided by ZSI.

The project will develop close synergies with the IncoNet targeting the Eastern Partnership Countries – IncoNet EaP.

LIST OF PARTNERS

 EU Member States/Associated Countries and International Organizations

Eastern Partnership Countries

WHAT WE DO

More specifically, with the aim to support the bi-regional STI policy dialogue for joint agenda setting and definition of research priorities in three Societal Challenges (Climate Change, Energy, and Health), the project will:

• implement pilot actions such as twinning of projects to promote comprehensive approaches and to reduce fragmentation;
• organize Policy Stakeholders Conferences in the target countries to address the three SC as well as horizontal STI policy issues;
• implement STI Policy Mix Peer Reviews in two EaP countries, as well as mentoring activities for key research institutes in all the EaP countries;
• prepare studies e.g. STI cooperation barometer, a bibliometric analysis, feasibility for ERANETS etc.
• prepare recommendations for future cooperation strategy involving policy makers and representatives of the research communities in both regions.

In order to promote Innovation in the target countries and to create synergies with the relevant stakeholders in the EU, the project will:

• stimulate the establishment of specific links between entities in EaP and the European Technology Platforms;
• enhance the cooperation of the EaP countries with the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and explore the extension of the European Innovation TrendChart to EaP Countries;
• implement capacity building actions in research and innovation, such as trainings and seminars.

With the aim to promote H2020 in the EaP countries and to increase the participation of researchers from EaP in the Framework Programme, the project will:

• organize awareness campaigns and trainings of the National Contact Point (NCP) structures, as well as Info Days on H2020 in all the targeted countries;
• implement a grant scheme for the participation of EaP researchers to Brokerage events in the EU.

The project envisages a considerable number of dissemination activities (including promotion of key deliverables of joint EU-EaP projects) and in particular will focus on making the results widely visible to all relevant stakeholders for a better exploitation and implementation.

EXPECTED IMPACT

The IncoNet EaP project is expected to:

• identify needs in STI to be jointly addressed by providing a flexible format for the STI policy dialogue between the EU and EaP, paving the way for an enhanced STI cooperation;
• mobilize a considerable number of STI stakeholders in the target countries from the broader STI sphere, such as policy makers, representatives of sectorial Ministries/Agencies dealing with the three Societal Challenges, representatives of Innovation related structures such as platforms, clusters, agencies etc.;
• address through various structural activities, both at policy-support and research-support level, the Societal Challenges of mutual concern, namely Climate Change, Energy and Health;
• increase the level of cooperation of the entire “research to innovation chain” by developing and/or strengthening the partnerships for Innovation;
• increase the participation of researchers from the EaP countries in H2020.

The project constitutes the bridge between the 7th Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration and the new Research and Innovation Programme for 2014-2020, Horizon 2020. It also embraces other Community policies and instruments (such as ENPI and its follow-up ENI) as well as additional international initiatives such as those promoted by UNDP, UNECE, UNEP, World Bank, etc. in order to identify complementarities and synergies among the relevant instruments.

COORDINATION

Scientific Coordinator: Dr. George Bonas (CeRISS - Centre for Regional and International STI Studies and Support, Greece, www.ceriss.eu)

Administrative Coordination: ZSI - Centre for Social Innovation
(Austria, www.zsi.at)

IncoNet EaP is a project funded under the 7th European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation– Project number 609528. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.