Romania steps up FP5 awareness
The Romanian National Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation, ANSTI, has initiated and is financing CORINT-SUPORT, a project dedicated to set up an awareness campaign aimed at stimulating Romanian scientific and technological participation in the European Union's Fifth Framework programme. Romania's complete integration into EU research initiatives (even though it is already an associated state to the Fifth Framework programme as well as a member of European research cooperation frameworks such as COST and EUREKA) requires a thorough understanding of the new problem-solving approach initiated by the European Commission and of the opportunities offered. CORINT-SUPORT will aim to stimulate projects that correlate European priorities with national ones, It is divided into four categories, each addressing specific tasks: - CORINT-TRAIN: Awareness, information, and training of the Romanian scientific and technical community for the participation in FP5 and other EU and international R&D programmes; - CORINT-CONS: Consultancy activities to increase the competitiveness of project proposals, to improve project management, and to efficiently exploit project results; - CORINT-NET: Organisation of a national network of contact points to ensure the dissemination of FP5 related information and to help build a comprehensive basis for defining the priorities of the national research and development strategy; - CORINT-MOB: Ensuring the representation of the Romanian scientific community in the coordination boards of EU and international R&D programmes and cooperation frameworks. Many of the project activities are carried on in close cooperation with the Romanian National FP5 Contact Point at ANSTI.