European COoperation in the field of Scientific and Technical research

Rita Ward National Coordinator

Mission Strengthen Europe in scientific and technical research for peaceful purposes through the support of cooperation and interaction between European researchers

October 2006

What is COST?



European CO operation in the field of S cientific and T echnical research

 1971 - Ministerial Conference, Brussels: launching of COST, a Framework for coordinating nationally funded research in Europe 

Participation

 34 COST Member States and 1 cooperating state   International organisations and research institutions from non-COST countries The European Commission through the Framework Programme 

COST Actions

 October 2006 Networked research projects

COST characteristics

    Co-ordination through networking Pan-European “Non-competitive” (pre-normative, public utility) Bottom-up and flexible “a la carte” participation     Wide range of disciplines “Interdisciplinary Exploratoria” Enabling agent: focus on younger researchers Open to wider cooperation October 2006

COST Actions – what is supported?

Nationally funded projects networked around a joint work programme supporting:

     Science management meetings (MC and WG) Scientific workshops and seminars Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs) Training Schools and Research Conferences Dissemination October 2006

COST Governance

October 2006

COST Financing

October 2006

Number of Actions 1980-2005

250 200 150 100 50 0 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 October 2006

Number of Actions per domain 2005

30 25 20 15 10 5 0 A gr iB C io he m E is try nv iro nm en t Fo od Fo re (Status on 31st December) st ry M at er ia ls M ed ic M in et e eo M ro is lo gy ce lla ne ou s P hy si cs October 2006 S SH TI ST Tr an sp or t U C E

Number of Actions per domain 2005

AgriBio 10% TIST 10% Chemistry 10% Forestry 14% Miscellaneous 1% (Status on 31st December) October 2006 SSH 9% Environment 4% Physics 7% Food 5% Transport 5% UCE 5% Medicine 6% Materials 7% Meteorology 7%

COST Countries



25 EU Member States

 

Acceding countries

 Bulgaria  Romania

Candidate countries

 Croatia*  Former Yugoslav Republic  of Macedonia (FYROM)*  Turkey

EFTA Member States

 Iceland   Norway Switzerland 

Other European Countries



Serbia and Montenegro

* 

COST Cooperating States

 Israel

*

not associated to FP October 2006

Organisations from non-COST countries May participate on an “Action by Action” basis given:

 there is mutual S&T benefit  the CSO approves (following MC and DC approval)  participation is confirmed by an exchange of letters between the organisation and the CSO  non-COST institutions may not vote in the MC October 2006

Number of Non-COST Participation 2005 Canada - 22 Bosnia & Ukraine - 15 USA - 14 Herzegovina - 1 Armenia - 1 Albania - 1 Algeria - 1 Russia - 27 China - 10 Japan - 6 Rep of Korea - 1 China (Taiwan) - 1 Eritrea - 1 China (Macao) - 1 India - 1 Ethiopia - 1 Brazil - 1 Australia - 7 South Africa - 1 Argentina - 2 New-Zealand - 1

Total number of participations in running Actions: 120 (incl. 5 NGO) October 2006

COST reforms its governance and structure The COST CSO took three major decisions to advance the reform process of COST during its 163 rd meeting 23-24 November 2005:

1.

The scientific and technical Domains in COST have been completely restructured. 9 strategic Domain Committees structures from 1 June 2006.

instead of former 12 Technical Committees supply advice to the CSO. The new committee 2.

A majority voting procedure has been adopted for CSO decisions. Instead of making decisions by consensus only, now a simple majority of ¾ of the COST Member States decides. This will have a significant impact on the COST governance.

October 2006

COST reforms its governance and structure

3.

An Open Call system was introduced in March 2006. This will improve transparency, secure quality and enhance an element of competitiveness to the COST Actions.

In addition, a new COST Grant System (CGS) will be introduced in March 2007.

  This transfer of responsibility to the Actions enables them to plan and implement their activities independently. A web based IT tool will facilitate the management of Actions and reporting. This will become the standard management tool for all COST Actions after April 2008.

These changes help COST playing its distinct role within the ERA and enhancing its contribution to the Lisbon process.

October 2006

Scientific and Technical Domains The CSO decided to restructure the scientific and technical Domains in COST in November 2005. This new committee structure from 1 June 2006.

1. Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences 2. Food and Agriculture 3. Forests, their Products and Services 4. Materials, Physical & Nanosciences 5. Chemistry and Molecular Sciences & Technologies 6. Earth System Science & Environmental Management 7. Information & Communication Technologies 8. Transport & Urban Development 9. Individuals, Society, Culture & Health October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals

       COST published an “Open Call” 3 April 2006 Selection criteria published in a transparent way Emphasis on young researchers to foster their joint efforts better known and recognised Specific collection dates (i.e. June 2006, 31 March 2007) 2 stage process / peer reviewed Approval at November 2006 CSO meeting First Actions following the “Open Call” to start early 2007 October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals Selection process – Preliminary Proposals: BMBS CMST ESSEM FA FPS ISCH ICT MPNS TUD 1 week 3 weeks 3 days

October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals Selection process – Criteria Preliminary Proposal:

• Does the proposed network address real current problems/scientific issues?

• Would the proposed network make a significant difference?

• What is the level of innovation and/or originality in the proposed Action?

• Networking aside, how great are the potential benefits of the proposed Action?

• Is COST the best mechanism for achieving the Actions’ objectives?

• Is the proposed Action presented in a clear and understandable way?

October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals Selection process – Full Proposals: 10 weeks

October 2006

2 weeks 2 weeks 2 weeks 4 weeks

COST Open Call for proposals Selection process –Full Proposal Criteria : IMPACT

• Is COST the best mechanism for achieving the Actions’ objectives?

• Does the proposed network address real current problems/scientific issues? • Does the proposed network make a significant difference?

• Networking aside, how great are the potential benefits of the proposed Action?

• Is the dissemination plan adequate in relation to the objectives of the Action?

October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals Selection process – Criteria Full Proposal: QUALITY

• What is the level of innovation in the proposed Action?

• What is the level of originality of the proposed Action?

• What is the level of scientific quality of the proposed Action?

• How relevant is the proposed Action to European economic or societal needs?

• To what extent does the proposed Action contribute to the development of the scientific or technological field?

• To what extent does the proposed network aim at involving young researchers?

• To what extent does the proposed network aim at being gender balanced?

• Does the number of countries the proponents come from reflect a wide European dimension?

• Are the proponents aware of the state-of-the-art of the scientific/technical field covered by the proposal?

October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals Selection process – Criteria Full Proposal: MANAGEMENT

• To what extent is the plan of activities and the management organisation appropriate?

• To what extent are the time schedule and the targets appropriate?

• To what extent has provision been made for monitoring and evaluating the achievement of objectives?

• To what extent has provision been made for assessing potential application, and fostering exploitation, of results?

October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals COST Open Call: response at first collection date (824 proposals)

160 140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0

B M B S C M S T E S S E M E xp lo ra to ri a

October 2006

FA F P S IC T IS C H M P N S T U D

COST Open Call for proposals COST Open Call: response at first collection date (824 proposals)

120 100 80 60 40 20 0 AT BE BG CH CS CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HR HU IE IL IS IT LT LU MK MT NL NO PL PT RO SE SI SK TR October 2006

COST Open Call for proposals Open Call 2006 - Invitations of Full Proposals

140 120

18

100

11 12

80

8

60

89

40

84 4 58

20

33 2 22

October 2006 0

BMBS CMST ESSEM Exploratoria FA 4 49 111 6 67 8 71 6 43 FPS ISCH ICT MPNS TUD

COST future evolution FP7 funding assumptions

 Secure sufficient funding for the Actions (90.000 € p.a.)  Increasing the number of Actions to 260  More meetings (about 650 meetings p.a.) to be held in Brussels  Provisions for the transition period to FP8 in 2012  The CSO has formally approved a request of 280M € for the funding of COST in FP7 (2007-2013) October 2006

Contacts COST Office

149 avenue Louise, 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 (0)2 533 3800 Fax: +32 (0)2 533 3890 E-mail: office@cost.esf.org

Website: http://www.cost.esf.org

National Coordinator

Rita Ward – Enterprise Ireland Tel: 01-8082767 E-mail: rita.ward@enterprise-ireland.com

October 2006