RUSERA project helps create regional linkages between Russian and EU researchers
An EU funded project designed to increase research cooperation between the most scientifically advanced or promising regions in Russia and research organisations in the EU has reached completion, having achieved many of its aims. The RUSERA project (Supporting the participation of Russian regions in EU-RTD programmes) was a one-year initiative funded under the international cooperation (INCO) strand of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6). Coordinating the project was the Russian Association for Engineering Education, along with the participation of Tomsk Polytechnic University and the Austrian Bureau for International Research and Technology Cooperation (BIT). Perhaps the most significant achievement of the project was the establishment of a network of 37 'regional information nodes' (RINs) across Russia, whose job it is to foster cooperation between Russian and EU scientists, particularly within the scope of the INCO programme. Among its other successes, the consortium organised training and brokerage events in Moscow and Tomsk, as well as an impressive 93 information days in 37 regions that attracted a total of 4,479 participants. The network of RINs has already conducted over 2,500 personal consultations on FP6 and the INCO programme, providing potential participants with valuable training on proposal writing and partner searches. More concrete still, the RINs collected nearly a thousand profiles of regional research teams, and have so far helped to create 324 partner search profiles on CORDIS. Dozens of potential partners within the EU have been identified, with 23 project consortia being formed and 11 project proposals submitted to the Commission. And the achievements of the RUSERA project are put into even sharper relief when one considers that the total budget for the one-year initiative was 119,670 euro.
Countries
Russia