Coordination at National level

The objectives are to encourage and support initiatives undertaken by several countries, in areas of common strategic interest, to develop synergy between their existing activities through coordination of their implementation, mutual opening and mutual access to research results, as well as to define and implement joint activities.

To reach these objectives, several types of actions will be supported:

• the ERA-NET Scheme: the objective of the ERA-NET scheme is to step up the cooperation and coordination of research activities carried out at national or regional level in the Member States and Associated States through:
  
  
• the networking of research activities conducted at national or regional level, and


• the mutual opening of national and regional research programmes.



The scheme will contribute to making a reality of the European Research Area by improving the coherence and coordination across Europe of such research programmes. The scheme will also enable national systems to take on tasks collectively that they would not have been able to tackle independently.

Both networking and mutual opening require a progressive approach. The ERA-NET scheme therefore has a long-term perspective that must also allow for the different way that research is organised in different Member States and Associated States.

• schemes developed in European cooperation frameworks: in particular the EUROCORES collaborative scheme of the European Science Foundation (ESF).



• the Article 169: Article 169 enables the Community to participate in research programmes undertaken jointly by several Member States, including participation in the structures created for the execution of national programmes.