COPERNICUS 1994: Funded joint research projects and concerted actions
The COPERNICUS programme falls within the framework of Community action to promote cooperation with the Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) and applies specifically to the field of science and technology. In the period 1992-1993, five types of specific actions in this field were launched under the name PECO-COPERNICUS 92/93: fellowships, support for conferences and scientific networks, joint projects, support for participation in COST projects and in the five programmes of the Third Framework Programme open to the CEEC. In 1994, the support for scientific networks (also called concerted actions) and joint projects was continued under the heading COPERNICUS 1994, while support for participation in the "open" programmes of the Third Framework Programme continued under the title PECO 1994. The objectives of COPERNICUS are to: - Enhance collaborative research and development thus promoting cooperation in science and technology across Europe; - Promote technology transfer to the mutual benefit of the CEEC and EU partners; - Strengthen research capacity and reorientate research to the socio-economic needs of the CEEC; - Transfer and develop knowledge and technologies likely to contribute to the rehabilitation of the economy; - Strengthen relations between industrial enterprises (both large and small), research organizations and universities in the countries concerned. Two types of actions are supported under this programme: - Joint research projects which aim to bring together a multinational team to carry out precompetitive research and development and achieve collaborative results on a specific research topic; - Concerted actions/networks consisting of networks of research and other teams sharing common long-term technological goals and closely coordinating their activities. In 1994, priority was given to joint research projects in applied research which were of direct concern to countries of both the CEEC and the EU and to concerted actions which clearly demonstrated mutual benefit and were likely to contribute to the establishment of fruitful and long-term cooperation. The results of COPERNICUS 1994 have now been published by the Commission in a report entitled " COPERNICUS 1994: Funded joint research projects and concerted actions". This gives an overview of the results of the call for proposals. Participation was open to any physical person and legal organization established in the Member States of the European Union and in Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia. Organizations from the Newly Independent States (NIS) of the former Soviet Union could also participate, although special arrangements applied in these cases. In all, 1,629 proposals were received. Of these 162 were for concerted actions and 1,467 for joint research projects. After evaluation 220 proposals were accepted for a total funding of ECU 67 million. The report includes the synopses of selected projects grouped into the following six research sectors: - Information technologies (24% of funding); - Communication technologies and telematic applications (19%); - Manufacturing, production, processing and materials (28%); - Measurements and testing (13%); - Agro- and food industries (8%); - Biotechnology (8%).