Supporting EU-USA cooperation in research and innovation

The EU and the USA have highly-productive, immensely-innovative, and excellence-driven research and innovation systems. Acknowledging the particular strengths of each landscape, a balanced transatlantic STI partnership of equals bears great potential, and contributes to the ultimate goal of tackling societal challenges and boosting economic competitiveness. International cooperation between power nodes results in a constant knowledge exchange and more efficient use of STI investment. BILAT USA 4.0’s targeted transatlantic activities worked towards: i) Strategic priority setting for EU-US cooperation through identifying emerging STI fields with a high benefit and added value from cooperation, thus providing evidence-based input for policy decision-making ii) Stronger interaction between EU and US researchers through thematic events promoting funding opportunities on both sides, thus strengthening the quality and quantity of partnerships between STI actors in EU MS/AC and the USA iii) Establishing optimal framework conditions through proposing concrete solutions for eliminating cooperation obstacles deriving from researchers’ and innovators’ feedback, thus creating an environment that favours joint solutions for global challenges iv) Enhanced coordination and synergies between different policies through analysing EU, MS/AC, and US programmes, and detection of duplications, thus contributing to a greater coherence, joint ownership, and resource efficiency v) Ensuring close synergies with calls launched in H2020 and their int. dimension through screening of US-targeted actions in H2020 and liaising with relevant (ERA) projects to guarantee a consistent information exchange ensuring sustainability, project activities build on former, and liaise with existing initiatives. Relevance and exploitation of project actions was assured by a close coordination with the EC. The project pursued a targeted communication connecting the diverse range of EU-US STI stakeholders.

ZSI was mainly involved in analytical work and in policy development activities. Furthermore, ZSI was responsible for the overall quality assurance. 

Within the work packages, ZSI was carrying out the following activities:

• Supporting the policy process with analysis of synergies and potentials for coordination between EU, MS/AC, and US national funding programs
• Enhancing the partnership in preparation of bilateral meetings with theme-specific information, including a cooperation patterns analysis
• Providing guidance to researchers to fully exploit transatlantic funding opportunities and identifying future cooperation areas of mutual benefit, including expert consultations, indicator analysis, and foresight
• Furthermore ZSI is responsible for the quality assurance and knowledge management task

Team:

• DI Dietmar Lampert (project leader)
• Magª. Elke Dall
• M.A. Gábor Szüdi, PhD
• Magª. Pamela Bartar, MAS

Section: Research Policy & Development

Partners:

• Agency for the Promotion of European Research
• Austrian Research Promotion Agency
• Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
• Europa Media Szolgaltato non Profitkozhasznu Kft.
• Florida International University
• Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas - FORTH
• Georgia Tech Research Corporation
• INNO TSD SA
• Intrasoft International SA
• National Council of University Research Administrators
• Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovacao - Consultadoria Empresarial e Fomento da Inovacao S.A.
• SRI International
• The Broad Institute Inc Corporation - Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
• Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
• Project Management Agency at the DLR (German Aerospace Center) (Coordinator)

Related Articles:

• Event: BILAT USA 4.0 kick-off
• Event: Workshop on "Fundamentals of U.S. Sponsored Project Administration"
• Event: Fundamentals of U.S. Sponsored Project Administration
• Event: BILAT USA 4.0 Citizen Science Workshop 2018

Tags: international cooperation, research and innovation policy