Keeping up S&T ties with Europe
In addition to debating politics and showcasing some of Europe's state of the art technology, the IST2006 event, held in Helsinki from 21 to 23 November, also offered delegates an opportunity to further develop international partnerships. Among the many stands, delegations from Russia, India, China, Singapore, Israel, the Baltic countries, Western Balkans, Egypt and New Zealand were present, highlighting existing links between their regions and Europe, and areas for further science and technology (S&T) cooperation. CORDIS News spoke to representatives from South Africa and Canada, and asked them about their cooperation ties with Europe, and their expectations of new partnerships following participation in IST2006. Ever since South Africa emerged in the early 1990s as a fully fledged democracy, the country has been working to re-establish itself in the world, building strong relations with Europe and elsewhere. 'One of the strategic priorities of the government was to re-integrate South Africa's research community with the international community,' Daan du Toit, Senior Science and Technology Representative to Europe, told CORDIS News. To this end, in 1996, South Africa's government signed a formal bilateral S&T agreement with the EU. An important component in this cooperation agreement was allowing South Africans to participate in the EU research framework programme, under the International Science and Technology Cooperation (INCO) section of FP4. Ten years on, this participation has grown, thanks to the opening up of all thematic areas to third countries under FP6. Although the full statistics are not yet available, Mr du Toit estimates that from FP4 through to FP6, there have been close to 200 South African participations. Thematic areas where South African participants have made inroads include food safety and quality, the environment and sustainable development, and life sciences. The thematic area of ICT, however, has been a much harder nut to crack, says Mr du Toit, irrespective of the keenness among South African partners to participate in projects, and the government's decision to make it one of their key strategic priorities. In total, South African partners participated in just five projects under the information society technologies (IST) section of FP6. However, 'given the fact that we started from a very low place, it is a modest but satisfactory start,' he said. 'We have empirical evidence that shows that by participating in the framework programme, South Africa has increased its S&T capacity,' said Mr du Toit. South Africa currently spends 0.87% of its GDP on research and development (R&D) and aims to reach 1% by 2008 According to Mr du Toit, South Africa's limited participation is due in part to the way FP6 is set up, focusing on excellence and competitiveness. 'We understand this philosophy and we fully subscribe to it,' he told CORDIS News, noting that South Africa has brought its own expertise to projects in areas such as communicable diseases like HIV/AIDs and Malaria. But with ICT, 'while we have good people working in the sector in South Africa, they are no better, nor worse than say Belgians or Dutch,' he says. So when a [framework programme] consortium, say based in Germany, has to choose between a partner from the other side of the world, or someone based in Austria with the same quality of work, the decision is an easy one,' believes Mr du Toit. From feedback received during a partnering session at the ISTevent, organised by the South African delegation, Mr du Toit sees an obvious lack of awareness within the European research community on South Africa's ability to participate in the Framework Programme. He says that both Europe and South Africa should share the responsibility of sensitising their respective research communities to the opportunities for partnership under FP6 and FP7, and encouraging greater involvement. With this in mind, the South African department of science and technology, with funds from FP6, set up the European South Africa Science and Technology Programme (ESASTAP). The aim of the initiative is to enhance networking and partnering between the two regions. One of its instruments is a seed fund for South African researchers thinking of participating in FP6. With this financial support, researchers can go overseas and explore possible partnering opportunities. The initiative also offers co-investment funding to successful South African participants in FP6 projects considered of strategic national importance. 'We also know that we have to market ourselves better and that is why we are here,' said Mr du Toit. He sees the IST event as a great way of putting South African ICT expertise on the map. He noted that the country's strengths in open source developments, and e-inclusion activities such as health and education, could be useful to Europe. Asked why S&T cooperation between Europe and his country was so important, Mr du Toit pointed out that only 0.5% of R&D in the world is carried out in South Africa. 'Therefore we have to stay connected to where the other 99.5% is taking place.' Europe also needs to be connected. 'With enlargement, the objectives of the EU have come closer to the objectives of South Africa, because in many ways we are grappling with the same economic and social challenges,' said Mr du Toit. Another country - this time in the Northern Hemisphere - to see the advantages of working in close cooperation with Europe, is Canada. 'It's important to collaborate because you just can't go it alone,' Debbie Kemp, Canada's IST national contact point (NCP), told CORDIS News. 'By working together, your research is more likely to succeed and or go commercial, and it leads to more opportunities.' Patricia Ockwell, S&T counsellor in the mission of Canada to the EU, agrees. 'Cooperation is all about working with the best people in the field. Why duplicate work happening somewhere else in the globe, when you can work together and get a solution faster and a better result?' she asked. Like her South African counterpart, Ms Ockwell believes that cooperation allows both regions to join forces to tackle challenges which are common to both, such as an ageing population and rural development, thus sharing the risks and benefits. 'When I look at the thematic areas of FP6, I see that they very much match those of Canada,' she added. In 1995, Canada signed an S&T cooperation agreement with the EU, which permitted the country's researchers and research organisations to participate in consortia under the EU's research framework programme. When looking at recent statistics on the participation of Canadian researchers, the fruits of this agreement become evident. Under FP5 alone, there were at least 75 Canada-Europe collaborative S&T projects, with the active involvement of about 80 Canadian researchers, as well as several hundred EU researchers. Among those 75 projects, 28 were in the field of information society technologies (IST). A total of 38 Canadian organisations participated in the FP5 IST programme, with a majority of organisations coming from the public sector (75%). Going by comments from the IST2006 forum, areas of ICT where Canada is judged to excel are e-health, e-accessibility and robotics. Canada's expertise in photonics was also cited as an area where partnerships with Europe could be developed. This comes as no surprise since Canada has the only all optical national high speed network in the world. Cooperation between the two regions has been helped along over the years by initiatives such as the IST-EC. A joint Canada-Europe project in its second phase, the objective is to connect the European and Canadian research communities in key IST areas. Activities include partnering services and partnering events. 'The best way to keep the cooperation going is with face-to-face meetings like those happening at the IST event,' said Ms Ockwell. 'These are very important because we can go back home and stay in contact, knowing that the relationship is established and will grow.'
Countries
Canada, South Africa