EU and Canada to 'twin' agricultural bioproduct projects
EU-Canada research cooperation is set to get a boost thanks to plans to 'twin' complementary European and Canadian projects in the field of agricultural bioproducts. Europe and Canada have a long history of research collaboration. At the national level, many Member States work bilaterally with Canadian partners, and 10 years ago Canada signed a science and technology agreement with the EU. Canada is also an active participant in the EU's research framework programmes; there are six Canadian partners in the 10 projects selected from the first call for proposals in the 'Food, agriculture and fisheries, and biotechnology' theme of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The US and Russia are the only third countries to have more partners present in the selected consortia. The new twinning arrangement came about when Canadian and European officials realised that the FP7 agriculture theme and Canada's new Agricultural Bioproducts Innovation Program (ABIP) share a number of points in common. The ABIP is a CAD 145 million (€101 million), five year initiative which aims to build on Canada's considerable experience in the agricultural biotechnology sector. In an interview with CORDIS News, Yvon Martel, Acting Assistant Deputy Minister, Research, at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, set out the goals of the programme. 'This is a new programme that will allow the production and development of commercial and industrial bioproducts, for example active molecules for health in humans and animals,' he said. The aim is to bring the best researchers together in networks and clusters. Under the twinning arrangement, both the EU and Canada will issue their own calls for proposals as usual. When each party has selected the projects it would like to fund, officials from each side will meet to see how the projects selected on either side of the Atlantic could complement one another. If the officials believe a Canadian and European project would benefit from working together, the scientists involved in the projects will be approached to discuss the matter further. For EU-funded projects, consortia will be asked to set aside around 1% of the Commission's contribution to the project budget to fund the coordination of activities with Canada. Meanwhile Canadian projects financed under the ABIP will receive an additional CAD 20,000 (€13,900) per year to fund travel to Europe and facilitate the trans-Atlantic collaboration. It is hoped that this simplified, less formal style of collaboration will avoid much the cumbersome bureaucracy and legal complications involved in more formalised cooperation activities. If it is successful, Canada hopes to expand the initiative to its joint research activities with other countries. 'Using the model of twinning may be the way to succeed for scientific collaboration internationally in the future for us,' said Dr Martel. For Dr Alfredo Aguilar Romanillos, Head of the Biotechnologies Unit at the European Commission's Research Directorate-General, the benefits to Europeans of collaborating with Canada are obvious. 'Canada has unique expertise in the field of biorefineries, bioproducts and biomaterials,' he told CORDIS News. 'Some people have said Canada is the Saudi Arabia of biomass!' Meanwhile Dr Martel hopes that by working with European scientists, Canadian researchers will be able to join the international research community and work on major projects which they would not be able to carry out alone. 'We are a small country, but our science in agriculture is quite well developed and specialised,' he commented. 'We hope to bring to the table knowledge that is complementary to what is being done in Europe on similar topics.' Dr Martel is also clear regarding his hopes for the outcome of this new style of collaboration: 'Better science, better knowledge and the development of a better bio-economy for the future!'
Countries
Canada