International cooperation with the Western Balkan countries

The European Commission has published a call for proposals in the area of 'international cooperation with the Western Balkan countries (WBC)' under the Sixth Framework Programme's 'International Cooperation' activity. The call aims at selecting high quality research centres i...

The European Commission has published a call for proposals in the area of 'international cooperation with the Western Balkan countries (WBC)' under the Sixth Framework Programme's 'International Cooperation' activity.

The call aims at selecting high quality research centres in the WBC for activities such as:
- networking with other research centres in Member States or Associated States (including Associated Candidate Countries) and WBC; organising exchange of personnel and of research results and joint experiments;
- visiting fellows (teachers and/or researchers): hosting scientists from abroad for teaching, training and/or research activities;
- training in Member States or Associated State (including Associated Candidate Countries) for PhD students and/or post-doctoral researchers: sending scientists from the centre for short stays, to laboratories abroad, either for specialised training or to carry out a specific research experiment or to prepare cooperative activities and/or joint RTD proposals;
- hiring of new young researchers to reinforce the human potential;
- maintenance, upgrading and/or renewal of the S&T equipments, in the framework of the RTD activities of each centre in order to reinforce internal S&T capacities.

This call is addressed to research centres with proven high-level S&T capacities. The research centre is defined here as an existing working unit (a single proposer), either independent or functioning within a locally established research organisation of one of the countries concerned, having preferably distinct organisational and administrative boundaries. The centre should not be a subsidiary or branch of an organisation established in another country. The activities proposed should form a coherent plan for improving the centre's capacities on RTD and therefore they should be described in details and justified. Preference will be given to activities with a regional (Western Balkans) impact.

The outcomes of the specific call should be:
- contribution to RTD capacity building in the country,
- enhanced participation of the country in the Sixth Framework Programme,
- increased scope (regional coverage, subjects, activities) of the centres with increased linkage with economic and social environment,
- networking with other research centres in Member States or Associated States (including Associated Candidate Countries) and WBC (mobilising the human and material resources existing in a given field, disseminating scientific information as well as the results of research, facilitating communication between the centres having similar scientific interest),
- increased job opportunities in the country, for young scientists (measures to avoid 'brain drain' phenomena: better carrier opportunities, better work conditions, access to hi-tech infrastructures).

In specifying the instruments to be used in these areas, the call requests the use of Specific Support Actions (SSA). Proposers are advised to consult the full call text at the address below in order to find out the particular instruments requested for each area.

The total indicative budget for this call is 4 million euro.To see the call text, please:
click here