Periodic Reporting for period 2 - BILAT USA 4.0 (Bilateral Coordination for the Enhancement and Development of STI Partnerships between the EU and the USA)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2017-08-01 al 2019-03-31
The EU and the USA have highly-productive R&I systems. Acknowledging the particular strengths of each landscape, a balanced transatlantic STI partnership of equals bears great potential and contributes to the ultimate goal of tackling societal challenges and boost economic competitiveness. International cooperation between power nodes results in a constant knowledge exchange and a more efficient use of STI investment. The EU's R&I relationship with the USA is stronger than with any other country outside Europe. This is true from all points of view: amounts of mutual research and development (R&D) investment, flows of scientists, volumes of cooperative activities and the number of co-authored publications and patents which has a direct impact on society. These STI links should not only reflect the strength and importance of economic ties but should be used to improve the vitality of those ties. If the USA and the EU can find ways to meaningfully develop joint efforts, the results will be increased economic growth, leading to more and better jobs, a higher quality of life and solutions for an overburdened planet. BILAT USA 4.0 project aims at supporting the EU-US STI partnership with the objectives:
- To contribute to research efforts addressing global challenges
- To strengthen research excellence and boost economic competitiveness
- To support Europe’s role as a global actor
- To carry out analysis providing a sound base for decision-making and partnership-building
- To contribute to research efforts addressing global challenges
- To strengthen research excellence and boost economic competitiveness
- To support Europe’s role as a global actor
- To carry out analysis providing a sound base for decision-making and partnership-building
The objective of WP1 is to provide policy-support, enable a more intensive and coordinated dialogue between the EU, its MS/AC, and the US and to establish the basis for programme-level collaboration by identifying and examining the framework conditions and bottlenecks for STI cooperation across the Atlantic. WP1 served the objective of an increased coordination and the detection of synergies by having conducted an analysis on the status of European and multinational initiatives’ opening towards the USA summarizing a survey to JPIs and their endeavours in opening towards the USA. BILAT USA 4.0 organized a workshop with JPIs and potentially interested US funders in Brussels which was successful in determining both interests. WP2 aims to stimulate research actors from the EU and the US towards an increased and deeper cooperation, notably through H2020 and through funding programmes in MS/AC and the US. WP2 contributed to the overall project objectives deepening EU-US research efforts addressing global challenges in established STI fields, in particular in the area of NMPB. Excellent research and scientific partnerships and exchanges could be established and funding opportunities have been promoted during the workshop organized. WP3 is dedicated to sorting out new potential cooperation EU-US areas. This could be reached by a smart consultation process detecting the areas of Smart and Sustainable Cities, Open Science and Open Innovation as well as Digital Social Innovation as of interest to both sides. A workshop on Digital Social innovation was already conducted and the interest of the research community was confirmed. WP3 has thus contributed to the objectives deepening research and innovation partnerships in new thematic fields to be put into policy focus. WP4 made important progress towards involving industry actors. Two reports on academia-industry collaboration support schemes and Supporting companies go international were published. An academia-industry workshop was the organised on ICT technology and policy that took place and an EU cluster mission was organised to three different hubs in the US (Philadelphia, Cambridge and Boston). The reports contains lessons learnt and recommendations from both workshops. WP5 is not a content-related WP but rather a technical one that facilitates and enables activities and in particular their effective promotion in a target-audience specific way. All public information on reports, events and news can be found on the website. WP6's concerns only internal project management.
The project impacts are:
a) More strategic priority setting for EU-US cooperation across the whole of H2020
b) Stronger interaction between EU and US researchers, including through a stronger US participation in H2020
c) Establishment of optimal framework conditions for international cooperation
d) Increased coordination and synergies between MS/AC, US policies and programmes
e) Ensuring close synergies with the international dimension of calls launched across H2020 to enhance the socio-economic impact of H2020
Overall, it can be highlighted that BILAT USA 4.0 has contributed with its activities to all expected impacts. In detail:
Activities in WP1 such as the JPI workshop in Brussels increased the coordination and synergies between the EU, its MS/AC, and US programmes, thus answering impact a and d. Efforts similarly will enhance communication and interactions between EU and US researchers, if this should result in concrete activities (impact b). Providing H2020 information workshops, WP 1 highly contributed to increasing and strengthening US entities’ participation in Horizon 2020 (impact c, e). WP2 contributed particularly to impact a and e as this WP per se focuses on the priority areas for cooperation having been determined by the EU-US JCG. A workshop in the NMPB area was successfully organized (impact b). Efforts will be reinforced once the new Work Programme 2018-2020 will be published. Work carried out in WP3 is expected to have great impact in contributing to the setting of strategic priorities for EU-US cooperation across the whole of H2020 though the consultation processes implemented to determine new thematic areas of interest (contributing to impact a in case of uptake). Funding opportunities and new funding rules (such as the Implementing Arrangement and Art. 14a) of Horizon 2020 were promoted. This has a direct impact on enhancing the interaction between EU and US researchers by promoting the cooperation schemes within H2020 (impact b and e). WP4 activities have namely helped to establish optimal framework conditions for international cooperation between US and EU industry actors (impact c). Both, the cluster visit and the knowledge sharing roundtable created new opportunities for collaboration and exchanges between the EU and US side. Following the visit, participants created a joint LinkedIn group to continue sharing information and facilitate potential further collaboration (impact b). The report entitled “report on academia industry collaboration support schemes and their openness for international cooperation” specifically targeted programme owners, researchers, companies and industry representatives as well as other support actors such as clusters and relevant networks. The document should also serve as an initial informative mapping of the opportunities available in both regions for potential applicants (impact c). WP 4 has helped boost the economic competitiveness of both industry actors in the EU and the US, helping to enhance the overall socio-economic impacts of H2020 (impact e). All information and communication activities in WP5 contribute to the overall objective of informing BILAT USA 4.0 stakeholders, among them EU-US policy-makers, researchers, research managers and administers, business actors and entrepreneurs as well the general public about project developments and news (impact b).
a) More strategic priority setting for EU-US cooperation across the whole of H2020
b) Stronger interaction between EU and US researchers, including through a stronger US participation in H2020
c) Establishment of optimal framework conditions for international cooperation
d) Increased coordination and synergies between MS/AC, US policies and programmes
e) Ensuring close synergies with the international dimension of calls launched across H2020 to enhance the socio-economic impact of H2020
Overall, it can be highlighted that BILAT USA 4.0 has contributed with its activities to all expected impacts. In detail:
Activities in WP1 such as the JPI workshop in Brussels increased the coordination and synergies between the EU, its MS/AC, and US programmes, thus answering impact a and d. Efforts similarly will enhance communication and interactions between EU and US researchers, if this should result in concrete activities (impact b). Providing H2020 information workshops, WP 1 highly contributed to increasing and strengthening US entities’ participation in Horizon 2020 (impact c, e). WP2 contributed particularly to impact a and e as this WP per se focuses on the priority areas for cooperation having been determined by the EU-US JCG. A workshop in the NMPB area was successfully organized (impact b). Efforts will be reinforced once the new Work Programme 2018-2020 will be published. Work carried out in WP3 is expected to have great impact in contributing to the setting of strategic priorities for EU-US cooperation across the whole of H2020 though the consultation processes implemented to determine new thematic areas of interest (contributing to impact a in case of uptake). Funding opportunities and new funding rules (such as the Implementing Arrangement and Art. 14a) of Horizon 2020 were promoted. This has a direct impact on enhancing the interaction between EU and US researchers by promoting the cooperation schemes within H2020 (impact b and e). WP4 activities have namely helped to establish optimal framework conditions for international cooperation between US and EU industry actors (impact c). Both, the cluster visit and the knowledge sharing roundtable created new opportunities for collaboration and exchanges between the EU and US side. Following the visit, participants created a joint LinkedIn group to continue sharing information and facilitate potential further collaboration (impact b). The report entitled “report on academia industry collaboration support schemes and their openness for international cooperation” specifically targeted programme owners, researchers, companies and industry representatives as well as other support actors such as clusters and relevant networks. The document should also serve as an initial informative mapping of the opportunities available in both regions for potential applicants (impact c). WP 4 has helped boost the economic competitiveness of both industry actors in the EU and the US, helping to enhance the overall socio-economic impacts of H2020 (impact e). All information and communication activities in WP5 contribute to the overall objective of informing BILAT USA 4.0 stakeholders, among them EU-US policy-makers, researchers, research managers and administers, business actors and entrepreneurs as well the general public about project developments and news (impact b).