Office of Science & Technology - Across the Atlantic: a Review of US-EU Cooperation in Science & Technology
Menu Content/Inhalt

Podcast

This is the subscription link for bridges podcasts.

podcast
Please find more information in the podcast section .
Across the Atlantic: a Review of US-EU Cooperation in Science & Technology Print E-mail
bridges vol. 21, April 2009 / Feature Articles

By Manfred Horvat

The following article is based upon the Review of the Science and Technology Cooperation between the European Community and the USA 2003-2008, published in January 2009, and co-authored by the author of this article and Keith A. Harrap.
The full report is available at
http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/review_ec-us.pdf


agreement_on_science_and_technology_small.jpgIn December 19971, the first agreement on science and technology (S&T) cooperation was signed by the United States and the European Community (EC). Its goal was to foster transatlantic research cooperation, notably through implementing arrangements between the European Commission and US government departments and research funding agencies. It was foreseen that the agreement should be reviewed every five years before being extended for another five-year period.

In mid-2008, Keith Harrap and I were assigned as independent experts by the European Union to conduct such a review (click here for detailed information on the review procedures) for the period 2003-2008; the first impact assessment was carried out in 200323, . On March 26, 2009, the findings of our review were presented to the EC-US Joint Consultative Group, the steering body of the S&T agreement. The present article summarizes our conclusions and recommendations.


Why S&T agreements?

questionmark.jpgThe European Community has concluded S&T Agreements (STA) with various third countries4 such as Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, India, Egypt, India, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Ukraine. An agreement with New Zealand was signed on July 16, 2008, and should enter into force in 2009. Currently, the Community is negotiating or considering negotiating S&T agreements with Japan, Jordan, and Algeria.

These agreements constitute a framework and a privileged forum to identify common interests and priorities, to ensure a regular policy dialogue, and to develop the necessary tools and instruments for S&T collaboration. They offer a political, legal, and administrative framework for coordinating and facilitating cooperative S&T activities between European legal entities and international partners, thereby strengthening the international dimension of the European Research Area.

Under the umbrella of certain agreements "Implementing Arrangements" can be signed between the European Commission and third countries' government departments and funding agencies to better organize collaboration in specific areas of research. These have been a particular feature of the EC-US STA.


The S&T Agreement between the European Community and the US

us_eu_small.jpgThe STA is seen as an important platform for the regular S&T policy dialogue between the EU and the US. Compared to the earlier periods of the agreement since its signing in 1997, the reporting period of 2003-2008 has seen a substantially increased intensity of interactions. On both sides, there is increased awareness of the importance of transnational S&T cooperation. However, information on and awareness of the STA and the opportunities for supporting EU-US S&T cooperation could still be strengthened.

One major point to address is the low US participation in the EC Framework Program and the opportunities available for intensification. Administrative provisions have been improved, but there are still barriers and hurdles that should be reduced. Our report identified perspectives for enhanced cooperation by balancing the bottom-up approach of opening EU and US programs for mutual participation against a strategic approach focusing on jointly identified priority areas implemented by coordinated calls or program-level cooperation. The arrangement between the NIH and the European Commission can act as a model.

At present, EU Member States and Community S&T activities lack coherence, complementarity, and also visibility as "European S&T." We see opportunities for better coordination and cooperation in different organisational settings. The new Strategic European Framework for International S&T Cooperation will provide a forum for Member States to develop joint strategies and cooperative activities where appropriate and beneficial.


The role and the management of the EC-EU S&T Agreement

network_small.jpgThe EC-US STA is an important and efficient tool for the regular S&T policy dialogue between the European Community and the government of the United States, with the aim of intensifying EU-US S&T cooperation and the exchange of experience and good practice in the area of S&T policy. Not only should it be continued, but it should be extended, possibly considering new areas such as, e.g., security and space and also new forms of activities such as program-level cooperation.

In general, S&T agreements also have the potential to play an important role in the frame of the implementation of the new Strategic European Framework for International S&T Cooperation5, especially in the context of further moves towards strategic partnerships between groups of EU Member States and key non-EU countries. Of course, the ways and means of setting targets and implementing activities must be developed accordingly, which will be the task of the new Forum for International Science and Technology Cooperation that was recently established during implementation of the above framework. The Forum will be the body in which EU Member States and associated countries will develop joint strategies and programs.

Compared to 1998-2003, meetings of the EC-US Joint Consultative Group (JCG) are greatly improved, regarding both scientific content and participation of high-level stakeholders. Particularly, the preparation of road map documents is a real advance and should be developed further. The road map summarizes the plans for cooperative activities for the next year which, on the European side, forms the basis for including cooperative activities in the annual work programs of the European Research and Technological Development (RTD) Framework Program.

There are opportunities for strengthening the links between external policies and S&T policy and between the declarations of EU-US Summits and implementation of the S&T agreement.

During the reporting period, the directorates of the "research family" of the European Commission have shown substantial involvement in the interaction with the US in the frame of the EC-US STA. Thus, the internal awareness and utilization of the STA among the Commission services has been enhanced. However, opportunities remain for better utilization of coordination and cooperation across directorates and directorates general (DGs).

In general, on both the EU and the US sides, information on the EC-US S&T agreement, and information on the opportunities for S&T cooperation between the European Union and the US and the programs and instruments supporting the cooperation, should be further improved.

EU Member States and S&T experts should be better informed about the agenda and outcomes of JCG meetings and, where appropriate, invited to provide input. In formats that are in accordance with the rules of the JCG, information on the main outcomes of JCG meetings should be widely circulated among S&T stakeholders of the Member States (e.g., via the Member States' S&T counsellors in the US and the Forum for International S&T Cooperation), National Contact Points (NCPs), and the S&T community at large. Also, preparation and implementation of the road maps could be used to intensify the exchange of information and the cooperation between the European Commission and the Member States.

In 2003-2008, as in the past, the prime implementation tool for EC-US S&T cooperation was the EC RTD Framework Program. Strategies for balanced use of EC and US funding instruments for supporting EC-US S&T cooperation have yet to be further developed. Future initiatives for funding EC-US S&T activities could learn, especially from the example of best practices in health research - as of 2009, FP7 and NIH funding opportunities will be reciprocally open to entities on both sides6. Opportunities for similar approaches in other areas, and with other research promotion actors, should be systematically explored.

In the further development of a European strategic framework for international S&T cooperation, the whole spectrum of possible cooperative arrangements should be explored and utilized in complementary ways: EC-US cooperation in the EC Framework Program, joint EC-US S&T programs, EC-US cooperation in US programs, cooperation in variable configurations between groupings of Member States and US partners, and bilateral cooperation between Member States and the US.

The Science, Technology and Education Section of the EC Delegation to the US shows excellent performance, but would require more human resources to act as the vanguard of EC S&T activities in the US. Also coordination and cooperation should be strengthened with Member States active in the area of S&T cooperation with the US.

Access to the full article is free, but requires you to register. Registration is simple and quick – all we need is your name and a valid e-mail address. We appreciate your interest in bridges.
 
Back to Top