The call FP7-INCO-2007-3 for Activities of International Cooperation-ERA-NET and ERA-NET PLUS has been published

Identifier: FP7-INCO-2007-3
Budget: € 11 000 000
Deadline: 12 February 2008 at 17:00:00 (Brussels local time)

The objective is to increase the cooperation and coordination of research programmes carried out at national or regional level in the Member States and Associated States and which target one third country or several third countries in a given region. The activities will contribute to the success of the European Research Area by improving the coherence and coordination across Europe of international S&T cooperation programmes.

ERA-NET actions can network four types of activities:

1. Information exchange amongst Member States and Community on S&T international cooperation thus promoting an effective and efficient international scientific EU cooperation strategy at EU level;
2. Definition and preparation of joint activities;
3. Implementation of commonly agreed objectives and joint activities by facilitating innovative programmatic approaches;
4. Funding of joint trans-national research actions.

Activities developed within the ERA-NET scheme consist of Coordination and Support Actions networking research programmes carried out at national or regional level. "Research programmes carried out at national or regional level” should be understood as entire research programmes, or parts of such programmes, or similar initiatives. Such programmes should have all of the following characteristics:

• a) be strategically planned (i.e. be composed of number of research projects focused on a defined subject area or set of problems, that are scheduled to run for a set period of time and that have a co-ordinated management); and
• b) be carried out at national or regional level; and
• c) either be financed or managed directly by national or regional public bodies, or by structures (e.g. agencies) closely related to or mandated by public authorities.

For ERA-NET consortia, the minimum number of participants has been set at three independent legal entities which finance or manage publicly funded national or regional programmes. Each of these must established in a different Member State or Associated country.
Eligible partners for ERA-NET actions are only:

• Programme owners are typically national/regional ministries/governments responsible for defining, financing or managing research programmes carried out at national or regional level.
• Programme “managers” (such as research councils or funding agencies) are other national or regional organisations that manage research programmes under the supervision of the programme owners.
• Programme owners (typically national ministries/regional authorities) which do not have a running or fully fledged research programme at the moment of submitting an ERA-NET proposal, but which are planning or have committed to set up such a programme, are also eligible if their participation is well justified and adds value to the overall programme coordination. As such, countries or regions which have less diverse research programmes (in particular new Member States and candidate associated countries) will find their involvement in the ERA-NET scheme greatly facilitated.

Please note that research organisations or universities which are not programme owners or managers are not eligible partners for ERA-NET actions.

In addition, other private legal entities (e.g. charities) which manage research programmes may participate if their participation is well justified and adds value to the overall programme coordination.

The ERA-NET scheme aims to reduce the fragmentation of the European Research Area by increasing coordination between national research programmes across the EU Member and Associated States.
ERA-NET actions allow Member States and Associated states to avoid overlap between their programmes and to develop expertise from mutual learning. In general, ERA-NET actions should not cover very limited research areas. They should not overlap with other ongoing ERA-NET actions or create further fragmentation. Complementarities to, or coordination with FP7 activities should be
ensured where possible. ERA-NET actions will result in concrete co-operation between research programmes, such as their networking, their mutual opening and the development and implementation of joint programmes and activities.

The scheme will also enable national or regional systems to collectively take on tasks that they would not have been able to tackle independently. ERA-NET actions are expected to have a lasting impact. The co-operation developed should provide reliable indications that it could continue beyond the Community funding. Furthermore, it would be an advantage if the lessons learnt and knowledge gathered are disseminated in the European Research Area with a particular focus on new Member States.

Contact information	n/a
News type	Inbrief
File link	http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=UserSite.CapacitiesDetailsCallPage&call_id=62
Source of information	EC DG Research
Keyword(s)	EU-INCO-MED, FP7, ERA-NET
Subject(s)	INFORMATION - COMPUTER SCIENCES , METHTODOLOGY - STATISTICS - DECISION AID , POLICY-WATER POLICY AND WATER MANAGEMENT , TOOL TERMS
Relation	http://www.emwis.org/documents/fol195274/infosyst/doc414460
Geographical coverage	EU, Mediterranean
News date	09/10/2007
Working language(s)	ENGLISH

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