Southern Neighbourhood
RESEARCH PRESS PACK
Towards a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space
Southern Neighbourhood
Towards a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space
R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K
January 2014
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Euro-Mediterranean partnership on Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 - The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation
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Horizon 2020 - Opportunities for international cooperation
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From solar cars to high-tech archaeology: investing in success
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Regional cooperation with Southern Neighbours
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Bilateral cooperation
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Bringin
gether o t s t s i t g scien
SUCCESS STORIES
VIDEOS
PHOTO GALLERIES
Horizon 2020 videos Agora MEDSPRING videos EUMEDCONNECT 2 video on collaboration against thalassemia THEBERA project video on international cooperation on liver diseases and hepatic surgery excellence This publication exists only in electronic format. It has been prepared by the European Neighbourhood Info Centre, a project funded by the EU. It does not represent the oďŹƒcial view of the EC or the EU Institutions. The EC accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to its content.
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Plants could be at the root of new jobs
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Euro-Mediterranean partnership on Research and Innovation Research and innovation play a major role in promoting sustainable and inclusive economic growth and job creation – a top priority in the European Union’s response to the Arab Spring. The development of a Common Knowledge and Innovation Space linked to smart growth and the EU's Innovation Agenda is one of the aims spelled out by the EU’s renewed Neighbourhood Policy strategy of May 2011. This covers policy dialogue, national and regional capacitybuilding, cooperation in research and innovation, increased mobility opportunities for students, researchers and academics.
R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K Research and innovation have been central to the Euro-Mediterranean partnership ever since the first days of the Barcelona Process, which saw a Monitoring Committee (MoCo) for Euro-Mediterranean cooperation created to monitor and promote cooperation in research, technology and development. This cooperation was given new impetus at the Paris Summit in 2008, at which the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) was launched, with higher education and research as one of the six main UfM priority areas.
In April 2012, a Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Research and Innovation met to map out a pathway to a Common Research and Innovation Agenda, aimed at addressing the grand societal challenges impacting the region, notably in the field of energy, water, food, transport and health. The Conference saw the launch of a new EuroMediterranean research and innovation partnership, backed up with a budget of around €40 million, covering areas of specific mutual interest for the EU and the Mediterranean region, such as agriculture, health, renewable energy, environment, transport, technology, entrepreneurship and higher education to bridge the gap between research and innovation, and opportunities for exchanges of researchers.
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Α Regional Conference is being held in Cairo to promote and present the new Research and Innovation programme Horizon 2020 in the EuroMed region in February 2014, organized by the European Commission’s DG Research and Innovation. 400 policy makers, researchers, representatives from academia and industry and research institutes, technology transfer centres, incubators, technology platforms, discuss the future of international cooperation in Research and Innovation (R&I) in the region.
The new partnership was proposed by the European Commission as part of the EU's response to the political changes taking place in the region, and in view of Horizon 2020, the EU's new policy for funding research and innovation after 2014.
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Conference website http://www.euromedh2020.com/
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Horizon 2020 - The EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation
R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K 1
From FP7 to Horizon 2020 – a new vision for innovation Among the Mediterranean Partner Countries, Israel in 2007 signed a Science and Technology Association Agreement giving it the same rights and obligations in EU framework programmes as Member States. Under the agreement, the payment of a quota gave Israeli researchers, universities and companies full access to the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The EU and Israel have also reached agreement on Israeli participation in the Horizon 2020 programme.
Horizon 2020 is the new financial instrument implementing the Innovation Union, a Europe 2020 flagship initiative aimed at securing Europe's global competitiveness. Running from 2014 to 2020 with a budget of just over €70 billion, it combines all research and innovation funding previously provided through the Framework Programmes for Research and Technical Development – including the most recent Seventh Framework Programme FP7 – the innovation related activities of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). Focus on international cooperation International cooperation is an important priority of Horizon 2020. In addition to Horizon 2020 being fully open to international participation, targeted actions with key partner countries and regions will focus on the EU’s strategic priorities. Through a new strategy, a coherent approach to international cooperation will be ensured across the programme. Horizon 2020 promotes cooperation at bi-regional or multilateral level, but the focus of international cooperation will be on cooperation with three major country groupings: industrialised and emerging economies; enlargement and neighbourhood countries; and developing countries. Turn to the next page for some of the key opportunities for international cooperation under Horizon 2020.
"Research and innovation are key elements of the European Union's cooperation with Mediterranean countries since we are all facing challenges such as climate change, water management and energy security. It makes perfect sense to tackle these issues jointly, and to bring our scientists together so they can find the answers we need.”
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Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science
Plants could be at the root of new jobs. Could the medicinal plant sector become a catalyst for development in Morocco? The INPMA, the largest institute in the country for research in aromatic and medicinal plants, certainly thinks so, and has enlisted the help of the MAP2ERA European project, which aims to strengthen international research and cooperation between the INPMA and the European Research Area. Read the full story
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Horizon 2020 - Opportunities for international cooperation
R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K By the end of 2011, more than €40 million had been deployed in direct support of 370 participations by 162 organisations from the southern Mediterranean in 168 FP7 projects, covering research, mobility, research infrastructure, networking, and competence building in research and research management.
Some of the actions dealing with concrete aspects of international cooperation are: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions will fund the best or most promising experienced researchers, regardless of nationality, who want to develop their skills through a trans-national or international mobility experience.
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Find out more: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020 section/marie-skłodowska-curie-actions
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Europe in a changing world – Inclusive, Innovative and Reflective Societies. Horizontal activities will ensure the strategic development of international cooperation across Horizon 2020 and address cross-cutting policy objectives such as developing activities to support bilateral, multilateral and bi-regional policy dialogues in research and innovation with third countries, regions, international fora and organisations; networking and twinning activities; promoting coordination of EU and national cooperation policies and programmes, as well as joint actions of Member States and Associated Countries with third countries.
Find out more: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/europe-changingworld-inclusive-innovative-and-reflective-societies
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Research Infrastructures. Horizon 2020 will facilitate the efforts of Member States to optimise their research facilities by supporting an up-to-date EU-wide database on openly accessible research infrastructures in Europe. It will also facilitate the development of global research infrastructures i.e. research infrastructures that require funding and agreements on a global scale. Find out more: http://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020section/european-research-infrastructures-including-e-infrastructures
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The car of the future Four prototype vehicles that run exclusively on solar energy are parked in the seaside resort of Sharm ElSheikh, at the workshop of the Airtec company. In 2008, the company received a grant from the bilateral Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) programme funded by the European Commission. And today, work has already started on modifying the electrical circuit to improve the performance of the car of the future, which runs on solar energy. Read the full story
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From solar cars to high-tech archaeology: investing in success Across the Euro-Mediterranean region, collaborative partnerships in science and technology funded under EU projects are creating growth and jobs, making people’s lives better in an impressive illustration of cooperation in research and innovation. These success stories are illustrated in 2012 booklet entitled 'Investing in European success: Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation in Research and Innovation', which showcases a selection of initiatives from various EU-funded Science and Technology projects across the region. Examples include: Agora – saving the forests of the Mediterranean, a €900,000 project aiming to improve scientific knowledge and capabilities for the sustainable management of forests in Morocco and Tunisia Banishing the 'black cloud: How rice research could clear Egypt’s skies, a research project to clear Egypt's skies of the black cloud caused by the burning of rice straw 'Sunny Vehicles' – a project paving the way for the production of solar cars in Egypt MAP2ERA – boosting research on Morocco’s medicinal plants MEDISCO – cooling Tunisian wineries and Moroccan dairies, a solar cooling project in which the EU has invested €1.4 million, which has developed and tested a refrigeration system driven by solar energy for the food and agro industry in the region Narnia – uncovering ancient history in the laboratory, a €4.6 million FP7
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project supporting high-tech archaeology for a new generation of researchers in the Mediterranean SeaDataNet, now in its second phase of funding from the EU, brings together marine data from 44 institutions in 31 countries, including three satellite data centres SESAME (Synchrotron light for experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East), a state of the art accelerator built in Jordan to which the EU has contributed €3.5 million
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"Investing in education and developing human capital is essential to achieving sustainable development, growth and employment… and international cooperation in research and innovation, especially with the EU and its member states, plays a key part in this."
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James Moran, Head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt
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Download the publication http://ec.europa.eu/research/ conferences/2012/euromediterranean/pdf/success_ stories_ euro-med_2012.pdf
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Regional cooperation with Southern Neighbours European Research Area-WIDE programme
MEDSPRING
One of the specific actions of research cooperation with European neighbourhood countries is the ERA-WIDE programme funded under the International Cooperation Activities of the FP7 Capacities programme. Thirty projects under the €15 million call (€6m for Eastern partner countries and €9m for Mediterranean partner countries), entitled 'Reinforcing Cooperation with Europe's neighbours in the context of the ERA', were contracted in 2011, while 15 projects had already been contracted in 2011 under a first pilot €9 million call (€3m for Eastern partner countries and €6m for Mediterranean partner countries).
The Mediterranean Science, Policy, Research & Innovation Gateway - MED-SPRING project - is a coordination and support action. The project, built on the previous experience of the INCO.NET MIRA project, but adapted to the new reality of the Euro-Mediterranean policy and the general orientations defined in the 2012 Euro-Mediterranean Conference of Barcelona, is focused on three societal challenges (Energy, High Quality Affordable Food, and Scarcity of resources). It aims at tackling policy objectives by creating a dialogue and coordination platform of governmental institutions, research organisations, associations and civil society. http://www.medspring.eu
The objective of the ERA-WIDE projects is to reinforce the cooperation capacities of research centres in ENP countries countries not associated to FP7 in areas that are FP7 thematic priorities.
R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K 1 EMUNI The Euro-Mediterranean University (EMUNI University) based in Slovenia is one of the six priority areas of the Union for the Mediterranean, established as international network of universities (179 members from 38 countries). The mission of the University includes approving the quality of higher education through the implementation of postgraduate study and research programmes with a special focus on cultural diversity.
Projects range from an action on fisheries and aquaculture in Egypt, aiming to develop the sustainable management of fisheries through exchange of expertise with EU counterparts, to an initiative that aims to stimulate collaboration between Tunisian and EU researchers in the field of non-communicable diseases.
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EUMEDRegNet Actions include twinning and networking with research centres in EU Member States in view of exchanging knowledge and disseminating scientific information, identifying partners and setting up joint experiments, and developing strategies for research centres in order to increase their scope, and enhance their responses to the socio-economic needs of their countries.
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The EU has provided €3.79 million (2011-2013) to the ‘Regional Programme to support the development of the Information Society in the Mediterranean Region’ (EUMEDRegNet), which aims to support and further improve cooperation between Europe and its Mediterranean neighbours on Information Society. The programme builds on the achievements of the two ongoing regional projects in the field, EUMEDCONNECT and NATP, and aims to ensure long-term sustainability of the research enetworking infrastructure between the shores of the Mediterranean, in order to maximise synergies between research and education projects. EUMEDCONNECT has enabled the creation of an electronic network connecting scientists across the shores of the Mediterranean, allowing Moroccan nuclear scientists to collaborate with their European colleagues on particle acceleration or Tunisian hospitals to treat epilepsy patients with the online help of doctors in France.
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6b A computer network for the scientific community Nuclear medicine, radiotherapy, and radiology: the potential of the Eumedgrid scientific research and its Moroccan interface MaGrid is huge. Thanks to this network, Moroccan scientists are connected to all the education and research centres across Europe. An EUMEDCONNECT success story.
A research and education network to tackle the oldest affliction The story of a young Tunisian who was able to banish his epilepsy, thanks to the Tunisian medical team who carried out his operation with the help of the EUMEDCONNECT project.
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R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K
Bilateral Cooperation FP7 Bilateral Cooperation Partnerships Also funded under the FP7 Capacities category are bilateral Science and Technology (S&T) Cooperation Partnerships. Their aim is to strengthen the cooperation partnership between the EU and those partner countries that have concluded S&T (scientific and technological) cooperation agreements with the EU (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia), focused on strengthening policy dialogues and promoting science, technology and innovation (STI) cooperation. The activities covered are as follows:
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1 A guide to funding opportunities The European Commission's Practical Guide to EU Funding Opportunities for Research and Innovation includes comprehensive information about European Union research and innovation funding opportunities available to the 16 European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Syria, Tunisia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia). The guide contains a number of pages of particular interest to ENPI countries, among which sections on FP7 eligibility, the Lifelong learning programme and international cooperation programmes in the field of education (Tempus and Erasmus Mundus), and ENPI Cross-Border Cooperation (including a checklist that provides information about who and what types of activities are eligible for EU research funding).
developing national information platforms; awareness, dissemination and training activities in the targeted third countries; assistance in forming research partnerships.
One example of a project funded in this category is the European-Tunisian Cooperation project, whose overall objective is to foster and boost the involvement of the Tunisian research centres into the European Research Area by building a network, consisting of Tunisian research centres, Universities and SMEs.
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press packs Other Info Centre Press packs are available online: EAST and SOUTH
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R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K
Bilateral Cooperation Projects in the field of research are also developed under national Action Plans funded by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI).
Twinning Bilateral research projects can also be funded under the EU’s Twinning mechanism, which seconds experts from EU national administrations to partner countries. One example of a twinning arrangement in the field of research involves France, Spain and Morocco, and aims to help create the conditions for the integration of Morocco's National Research System into the European Research Area by bringing applied research, development and technology legislative, institutional, organisational and methodological standards closer into line.
In Tunisia for example, a €12 million project aims to support Tunisia's Research and Innovation System, providing solutions to key problems along the innovation chain, from business to research unit level, while in Jordan a €5 million project in Support to Research, Technological Development and Innovation in Jordan, aims to increase the capacity of the Research & Technological Development and Innovation sectors in order to foster economic growth and employment.
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SUCCESS STORIES Morocco Plants could be at the root of new jobs Israel
Plants could boost local industry in the Mediterranean
Morocco A computer network for the scientific community Tunisia A research and education network to tackle the oldest affliction Egypt
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The car of the future
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Useful links EU Neighbourhood Info Centre webpages – education, training and research and information society
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EU Neighbourhood Info Centre features – education, training and research and information society
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Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Research and Innovation 2012 http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2012/euro-mediterranean/index_en.cfm?pg=home
EU Neighbourhood Handbooks From the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre website, a number of different handbooks can be downloaded, offering tips to media professionals for improved coverage of EU cooperation activities, but also providing information on how to access EU funding or to navigate through EU jargon. A wealth of knowledge at your disposal, just a click away on www.enpi-info.eu.
European Union: Research and international cooperation http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/index.cfm Horizon 2020 website http://ec.europa.eu/research/horizon2020 FP7 website http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/home_en.html European Commission 'Practical Guide to EU Funding Opportunities for Research and Innovation' ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/fp7/docs/practical-guide-rev3_en.pdf
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European Research Area and international cooperation http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/areas/cooperation/international_cooperation_en.htm FP7: International cooperation activities - ERA-WIDE http://www.etcproject.eu/download/Presentation_ERAWIDE.pdf MEDSPRING (Mediterranean Science, Policy, Research & Innovation Gateway) http://www.medspring.eu International S&T cooperation (INCO) agreements http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/index.cfm?lg=en&pg=countries European Investment Bank Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP) http://www.eib.org/projects/regions/med/index.htm
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Documents and publications Research and Innovation in support of the European Neighbourhood Policy (2013) http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/neighbourhood_policy.pdf
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Investing in European success: Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation in Research and Innovation (2012) http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2012/euromediterranean/pdf/success_stories_euro-med_2012.pdf
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International cooperation with Mediterranean Partner Countries in FP7 - project synopses (2012) http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2012/euromediterranean/pdf/international_cooperation_with_mpc.pdf
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Projects in support of international research and innovation cooperation (2012) http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/projects_in_support_publication.pdf
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Report on the Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Research and Innovation Barcelona, 2-3 April 2012 http://ec.europa.eu/research/conferences/2012/euro-mediterranean/pdf/euromed_conference_consolidated_report.pdf#view=fit&pagemode=none
EU Neighbourhood Library Our online database
A Strategic European Framework for International Science and Technology Cooperation Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament (2008) http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/com_2008_588_en.pdf
Action plans
Cairo Declaration - First Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference on Higher Education and Scientific Research (2007) with Israel (2007) http://ufmsecretariat.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/cairo_declaration.pdf
Agreements
Science and Technology Association Agreement
Resolutions
Country reports Declarations Strategy documents
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R E S E A R C H P R E S S PAC K The EU: a major donor for the Neighbourhood
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EU support to the region is mainly channeled through the European Commission’s Directorate General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid
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The European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI) funding approved for the period 2014-2020 is € 15.4 billion. The ENI replaces the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI), for which the funding was € 11.2 billion for the period 2007-2013. The new instrument provides faster and more flexible funding, allowing for incentives for best performers, to 16 partner countries to the East and South of the EU’s borders.
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Eastern Neighbours: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine. Southern Neighbours: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria*, Tunisia. * EU Cooperation with Syria is currently suspended due to the political situation
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The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. www.enpi-info.eu
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EU Neighbourhood Info Centre An ENPI project The EU Neighbourhood Info Centre is an EU-funded Regional Communication project highlighting the partnership between the EU and Neighbouring countries. This presspack has been produced by the EU Neighbourhood Info Centre.
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