SEA-EU-NET II

Research Policy & Development

SEA-EU-NET II

EU-ASEAN S&T cooperation to jointly tackle societal challenges

SEA-EU-NET 2 built upon and leveraged strong EU-SEA S&T relationships, developed through past support and coordination actions, in order to deepen engagement and build momentum in S&T (Science & Technology) cooperation. It broadened the scope of EU-SEA cooperation through stimulating sustainable innovation collaborations.

SEA-EU-NET 2 focused on three societal challenges: Health, Food security, and safety and Water management, where the greatest opportunities can be leveraged from joint EU-SEA (Southeast Asian) research. SEA-EU-NET 2 serves as a platform for all stakeholders across governments, funders, practitioners, and the private sector, in order to ensure a complete and integrated approach to developing sustainable STI (Science, Technology, Innovation) collaboration that jointly tackles societal challenges. It focused on:

Dialogue: To strengthen bi-regional and bilateral EU-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) dialogues in S&T cooperation
Decision-Making: To report to policy makers in both Europe and Southeast Asia in order to pave the way to implement new ambitious bi-regional activities in STI
Jointly Tackling Societal Challenges: To focus on joint efforts on a selected set of thematic areas, namely Health, Food security and safety, and Water management. In focusing on these topics, the project evaluates EU-SEA S&T cooperation, runs workshops to bring scientists together, and supports young scientists develop new funding schemes to broaden and deepen the collaboration
Networking: To network different stakeholders to build bi-regional networks and to strengthen research capacity
Sustainability: To ensure that all activities deliver impact beyond the lifespan of the project in order to develop sustainable partnerships

The project will had lasting impact on (1) a structured and substantiated policy dialogue between ASEAN and the EU, (2) the promotion of the ERA in Southeast Asia, (3) the role of the EU as major partner in research cooperation and innovation by jointly tackling societal challenges, and (4) the development of new funding schemes in research and academic mobility. The Southeast Asia-Europe Joint Funding Scheme for Research and Innovation is an outcome of the SEA-EU-NET project.

Major outputs of the ZSI-led analysis work in the project include:

a journal publication on the Southeast Asian knowledge economy
a policy-oriented study on the ASEAN Economic Community and innovation framework conditions in Southeast Asia, with a focus on patent regimes
a policy-oriented study on innovation support instruments in Southeast Asia
a visualisation of Southeast Asia-Europe co-publications

The results of the analyses have been made available and fed into discussions at a number of policy events (ASEAN-EU Senior Officials Dialogue meetings, for instance) and conferences (e.g. in the framework of Euraxess).

Team: