Increasing scientific synergy between Russia and Europe
Russia is not only the EU's largest neighbour, it is also a major partner in both trade and science. As the most active third-country partner in the Union's Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), there are several EU-Russian cooperation agreements and strategy papers outlining areas for science and technology (S&T) collaboration. Financed by the FP7's international cooperation priority, the 'Enhancing the bilateral S&T partnership with the Russian Federation' (BILAT-RUS) project set out to do what its title states. The project, which managed to strike an even balance between EU and Russian participants, charted the S&T landscape in the Russian Federation, including joint activities with the EU. BILAT-RUS helped to raise awareness of available opportunities and disseminated useful information to both European and Russian stakeholders. It also developed a blueprint for an enhanced framework for future scientific cooperation between the EU and the Russian Federation. In addition, the project created a dynamic knowledge base to support deeper collaboration. Through its various activities, BILAT-RUS not only enhanced EU-Russian S&T cooperation, it also laid the groundwork for significant future teamwork. For example, by introducing the innovation element in the existing cooperation framework, BILAT-RUS paved the way to incorporating Russia in the emerging Innovation Union, which is part of the Europe 2020 strategy.
