Research Infrastructures present opportunity for international collaboration

The seminar organized by The Promoting African – European Research Infrastructure Partnerships (PAERIP) project brought together key policy makers and representatives of European and African research communities. The discussion focused on the first findings of studies on collaboration between both continents and options for enhancing this cooperation.

One of the main contributions of the PAERIP project is an inventory of European and Pan-African Research Infrastructures and their potential future linkages. “We started mapping them and looked at the potential for linkages and partnerships that could be created” explained Takalani Nemaungani, Director of Global Projects at the Department of Science and Technology in South Africa and PAERIP project coordinator, adding that “many were not aware of Research Infrastructures in Africa. This has changed, which is a positive result.”

Prof Claus Madsen, chairman of the EIROforum Coordination Group, agreed that a key to fostering scientific cooperation between Africa and Europe was to strengthen awareness about existing Research Infrastructures and noted that mobility of scientists between Research Infrastructures on the two continents could best be achieved through a dedicated programme. Dr Stefan Michalowski, Executive Secretary at the Global Science Forum, OECD, illustrated the importance of programmes that provide access to EU facilities for non-EU scientists and stressed that they “should be protected since people who have ideas and needs for research will need data bases, collections and access to supercomputers.” Prof Gonzalo León, President of the Lisbon Strategy Group, added that Research Infrastructures present a huge opportunity for international partnerships and therefore it is “important to understand how national strategies could be merged with the strategy of the European Union (EU) and of other countries outside the EU.”

The anticipated increased emphasis on Research Infrastructures and the capacities they enable in Horizon 2020 was underlined by Dr Paul Rübig, Member of the European Parliament and a chairman of the Science and Technology Options Assessment (STOA): “As a policymaker, I recognise the challenges in developing policies and instruments to allow greater reciprocal access to infrastructures and capacities. PAERIP initiative will definitely make an important contribution to understanding how research infrastructures can work at the global level and in particular with reference to EU-Africa collaboration.”

The analysis of the socio-economic impact of African-European Research Infrastructure cooperation conducted by the PAERIP project showed their clear impact on society. “Research Infrastructures are only as important as the impact they make. The question of an ordinary man is what impact these Research Infrastructures will have on their life. We need to have this in the back of our mind” described Dr George Owusu Essegbey, Director of Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI – CSIR), Ghana, adding that the importance of political commitment in Africa should not be forgotten.

In his final remarks Prof Kurt Zatloukal, Coordinator of Biobanking and Biomolecular Resources Research Infrastructure, Medical University of Graz, concluded that “Research infrastructures will play a central role in transformation of resource-based economy to a knowledge-based economy in Africa” adding that balanced win-win scenarios for both, Africa and Europe, need to be developed.

More information at http://www.paerip.org/

Länder

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Egypt, Greece, Spain, Finland, France, Ghana, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom