Periodic Report Summary 3 - ERA.NET RUS (Linking Russia to the ERA: Coordination of MS´/AC´ S&T programmes towards and with Russia)
Project Context and Objectives:
ERA.Net RUS aims at intensifying and strengthening the S&T cooperation between Russia and the European Research Area (ERA) by the coordination of Members States/ Associated Countries to FP7 (MS/AC) S&T programmes towards and with Russia.
The European Union (EU) and Russia are strategic partners in several fields, including Science and Technology. This is reflected for example in the concept of the Four Common Spaces, including the Forth Common Space on Science, Education and Culture. Both Russia and the EU benefit from enhanced S&T cooperation by joining knowledge and skills, sharing risks and resources and jointly addressing global challenges.
However, there is still a lot of potential of stakeholder coordination between EU MS/AC and Russia complementing Community relations. The development of joint funding schemes between EU MS/AC programme owners lags behind the opportunities and needs to be raised to full potential. Successful participation of Russian programme owners in any multilateral joint call for S&T proposals seems to be a challenge. ERA.Net RUS addresses this issue by going beyond established schemes on bilateral and EU-Community level and by developing and testing advanced joint funding schemes to facilitate joint research.
Accordingly ERA.Net RUS objectives are:
• Raising knowledge on bilateral and national S&T programmes with or towards Russia and on relevant activities of other programme owners
• Raising knowledge of the Russian S&T system
• Learning lessons from ongoing (thematic) ERA-NETs involving Russian programme owners and identifying good practice from other international ERA-NETs
• Identifying common ground across bilateral S&T programmes of EU MS/AC with Russia and providing a basis for a joint programmatic approach
• Developing an appropriate instrumental setting for joint funding activities
• Implementing and learning lessons from two Pilot Joint Calls in Innovation and S&T
• Implementing a foresight exercise
• Preparing, developing and promoting sustainable follow-up activities with Russia after the termination of ERA.Net RUS
Project Results:
ERA.Net RUS is divided into 6 work packages (WP) of which WP4 was the most relevant one for the third and last reporting period from February 2012 until January 2014.
The six work packages of ERA.Net RUS are:
WP1 Preparing the analytical ground for coordinating EU MS´/AC´ S&T and innovation programmes towards Russia or with Russian programme owners
WP2 Developing and disseminating a concept for a coordination of activities of S&T and innovation programme owners in EU MS/AC and Russia
WP3 Preparing, Implementing and Assessing two Pilot Joint Calls
WP4 Developing, Disseminating and Promoting a Sustainable Programme
WP5 Information Dissemination, Communication and Links
WP6 Project Coordination and Management
WP1 was completed during the first reporting periods
WP2 was completed during the first reporting periods
WP3 has been finalized during the third reporting period. Main activities and results were:
• The finalization of the Implementation Agreement, the Terms of Reference for the Pilot Joint Calls and the Terms of Reference for the Joint Call Secretariat
• Kick-off meeting of the Group of Funding Parties in Moscow
• A Brokerage Event in Yekaterinburg to promote the Pilot Joint Calls
• The publication of the two Pilot Joint Calls
• The implementation of all evaluation procedures (peer-review) by the Joint Call Secretariat
• The organisation of three meetings of the Scientific and Innovation Council in Bonn (twice) and Paris
• The organisation of a further three meetings of the Group of Funding Parties in Frankfurt, Paris and Bonn
• A mid-term review meeting for the 42 project coordinators in April 2013 (Ankara)
• Approved Monitoring and Assessment Concept (Terms of Reference) for the Pilot Joint Calls. A final ‘Monitoring and Assessment Report’ on the implementation of the Pilot Joint Calls has been delivered by the external expert Mr. Yuri Melnikov
WP4 has been the most intensive work package during the third reporting period and aimed at a foresight exercise and fostering substantial follow-up activities between EU-MS/AC and in Russia. The following results among others have been achieved:
• Foresight exercise: Drafts of four Scenarios on EU MS/AC – Russia RDI cooperation in the perspective 2020 and related posters
• Meta Analysis of foresight studies on future thematic priorities in EU MS/AC and Russia and related poster
• Two online DELPHI surveys on future perspectives of EU MS/AC - Russia RDI cooperation implemented
• Database of policy makers, researchers and experts involved in EU MS/AC RDI cooperation
• A ‘Vision Paper’, a ‘Working Document’ and a ‘Plan of Action’ have been prepared, approved and delivered; several other publications and a comprehensive foresight report have been prepared
• A conference on the ‘State of implementation and future activities with Russia’ has been held in July 2013 in Istanbul
• A ‘Vision Conference’ on ‘Towards a Vision for EU-Russia Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation’ (ERA.Net RUS closing event) has been held in November 2013 in Moscow
• A foresight workshop on ‘Impact Assessment of Foresight Exercises’ has been held in January 2014 in Moscow
WP5 and WP6 are ‘horizontal’ work packages running over the whole project period. Activities in WP5 were the dissemination of information on the project, the maintenance of internal and external communication and the establishment of links to other relevant initiatives. All project activities have been supported by WP6, Project Coordination and Management. Activities in this work package were the organisation of several Steering Board Meetings and executing the financial and administrative management of the ERA.Net RUS.
Potential Impact:
WP1 Preparation of the analytical ground: The comprehensive analysis was implemented in order to raise the knowledge on S&T cooperation between the EU and Russia and on the Russian S&T system. The information has been a prerequisite in order to identify common ground between EU and Russian S&T programmes/ programme owners and to be able to develop ideas for advanced cooperation instruments. Most outcomes of this WP are meant for public use and have therefore already been disseminated and will be disseminated further to relevant stakeholders.
WP2 Developing and disseminating a concept: The concept for a coordination of activities of programme owners developed in WP2 which is laid down in the Final Terms of References depicts the common ground among programme owners and has proven an excellent basis for the discussion with interested programme owners and the for the development of the detailed call documents and the implementation of the Pilot Joint Call in WP3.
WP3 Implementation of two Pilot Joint Calls: The development and implementation of two Pilot Joint Calls was supposed to give researchers new opportunities for cooperation and for working in multilateral environments. Furthermore, important lessons are expected to be learnt for an enhanced cooperation with Russia. Also, ERA.Net RUS partners as well as Programme Owners from outside the consortium were given the opportunity to learn more about each others national funding programmes while preparing and implementing joint funding.
WP4 Developing and promoting a sustainable programme: The implementation of a foresight exercise with and towards Russia will contribute to the cooperation with Russia. The Vision Paper, Working Document and the very concrete Action Plan suggest how to implement in the short and longer terms certain measures of an enhanced cooperation with Russia.
Overall expected impact of the ERA.Net RUS
ERA.Net RUS is further emphasizing the significance of the EU-Russian partnership and helps to reach a new level in EU-Russian S&T cooperation by improving the coherence and coordination of European scientific cooperation with Russia and the complementarities between MS/AC and Community activities.
List of Websites:
www.eranet-rus.eu
ERA.Net RUS aims at intensifying and strengthening the S&T cooperation between Russia and the European Research Area (ERA) by the coordination of Members States/ Associated Countries to FP7 (MS/AC) S&T programmes towards and with Russia.
The European Union (EU) and Russia are strategic partners in several fields, including Science and Technology. This is reflected for example in the concept of the Four Common Spaces, including the Forth Common Space on Science, Education and Culture. Both Russia and the EU benefit from enhanced S&T cooperation by joining knowledge and skills, sharing risks and resources and jointly addressing global challenges.
However, there is still a lot of potential of stakeholder coordination between EU MS/AC and Russia complementing Community relations. The development of joint funding schemes between EU MS/AC programme owners lags behind the opportunities and needs to be raised to full potential. Successful participation of Russian programme owners in any multilateral joint call for S&T proposals seems to be a challenge. ERA.Net RUS addresses this issue by going beyond established schemes on bilateral and EU-Community level and by developing and testing advanced joint funding schemes to facilitate joint research.
Accordingly ERA.Net RUS objectives are:
• Raising knowledge on bilateral and national S&T programmes with or towards Russia and on relevant activities of other programme owners
• Raising knowledge of the Russian S&T system
• Learning lessons from ongoing (thematic) ERA-NETs involving Russian programme owners and identifying good practice from other international ERA-NETs
• Identifying common ground across bilateral S&T programmes of EU MS/AC with Russia and providing a basis for a joint programmatic approach
• Developing an appropriate instrumental setting for joint funding activities
• Implementing and learning lessons from two Pilot Joint Calls in Innovation and S&T
• Implementing a foresight exercise
• Preparing, developing and promoting sustainable follow-up activities with Russia after the termination of ERA.Net RUS
Project Results:
ERA.Net RUS is divided into 6 work packages (WP) of which WP4 was the most relevant one for the third and last reporting period from February 2012 until January 2014.
The six work packages of ERA.Net RUS are:
WP1 Preparing the analytical ground for coordinating EU MS´/AC´ S&T and innovation programmes towards Russia or with Russian programme owners
WP2 Developing and disseminating a concept for a coordination of activities of S&T and innovation programme owners in EU MS/AC and Russia
WP3 Preparing, Implementing and Assessing two Pilot Joint Calls
WP4 Developing, Disseminating and Promoting a Sustainable Programme
WP5 Information Dissemination, Communication and Links
WP6 Project Coordination and Management
WP1 was completed during the first reporting periods
WP2 was completed during the first reporting periods
WP3 has been finalized during the third reporting period. Main activities and results were:
• The finalization of the Implementation Agreement, the Terms of Reference for the Pilot Joint Calls and the Terms of Reference for the Joint Call Secretariat
• Kick-off meeting of the Group of Funding Parties in Moscow
• A Brokerage Event in Yekaterinburg to promote the Pilot Joint Calls
• The publication of the two Pilot Joint Calls
• The implementation of all evaluation procedures (peer-review) by the Joint Call Secretariat
• The organisation of three meetings of the Scientific and Innovation Council in Bonn (twice) and Paris
• The organisation of a further three meetings of the Group of Funding Parties in Frankfurt, Paris and Bonn
• A mid-term review meeting for the 42 project coordinators in April 2013 (Ankara)
• Approved Monitoring and Assessment Concept (Terms of Reference) for the Pilot Joint Calls. A final ‘Monitoring and Assessment Report’ on the implementation of the Pilot Joint Calls has been delivered by the external expert Mr. Yuri Melnikov
WP4 has been the most intensive work package during the third reporting period and aimed at a foresight exercise and fostering substantial follow-up activities between EU-MS/AC and in Russia. The following results among others have been achieved:
• Foresight exercise: Drafts of four Scenarios on EU MS/AC – Russia RDI cooperation in the perspective 2020 and related posters
• Meta Analysis of foresight studies on future thematic priorities in EU MS/AC and Russia and related poster
• Two online DELPHI surveys on future perspectives of EU MS/AC - Russia RDI cooperation implemented
• Database of policy makers, researchers and experts involved in EU MS/AC RDI cooperation
• A ‘Vision Paper’, a ‘Working Document’ and a ‘Plan of Action’ have been prepared, approved and delivered; several other publications and a comprehensive foresight report have been prepared
• A conference on the ‘State of implementation and future activities with Russia’ has been held in July 2013 in Istanbul
• A ‘Vision Conference’ on ‘Towards a Vision for EU-Russia Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation’ (ERA.Net RUS closing event) has been held in November 2013 in Moscow
• A foresight workshop on ‘Impact Assessment of Foresight Exercises’ has been held in January 2014 in Moscow
WP5 and WP6 are ‘horizontal’ work packages running over the whole project period. Activities in WP5 were the dissemination of information on the project, the maintenance of internal and external communication and the establishment of links to other relevant initiatives. All project activities have been supported by WP6, Project Coordination and Management. Activities in this work package were the organisation of several Steering Board Meetings and executing the financial and administrative management of the ERA.Net RUS.
Potential Impact:
WP1 Preparation of the analytical ground: The comprehensive analysis was implemented in order to raise the knowledge on S&T cooperation between the EU and Russia and on the Russian S&T system. The information has been a prerequisite in order to identify common ground between EU and Russian S&T programmes/ programme owners and to be able to develop ideas for advanced cooperation instruments. Most outcomes of this WP are meant for public use and have therefore already been disseminated and will be disseminated further to relevant stakeholders.
WP2 Developing and disseminating a concept: The concept for a coordination of activities of programme owners developed in WP2 which is laid down in the Final Terms of References depicts the common ground among programme owners and has proven an excellent basis for the discussion with interested programme owners and the for the development of the detailed call documents and the implementation of the Pilot Joint Call in WP3.
WP3 Implementation of two Pilot Joint Calls: The development and implementation of two Pilot Joint Calls was supposed to give researchers new opportunities for cooperation and for working in multilateral environments. Furthermore, important lessons are expected to be learnt for an enhanced cooperation with Russia. Also, ERA.Net RUS partners as well as Programme Owners from outside the consortium were given the opportunity to learn more about each others national funding programmes while preparing and implementing joint funding.
WP4 Developing and promoting a sustainable programme: The implementation of a foresight exercise with and towards Russia will contribute to the cooperation with Russia. The Vision Paper, Working Document and the very concrete Action Plan suggest how to implement in the short and longer terms certain measures of an enhanced cooperation with Russia.
Overall expected impact of the ERA.Net RUS
ERA.Net RUS is further emphasizing the significance of the EU-Russian partnership and helps to reach a new level in EU-Russian S&T cooperation by improving the coherence and coordination of European scientific cooperation with Russia and the complementarities between MS/AC and Community activities.
List of Websites:
www.eranet-rus.eu