International Workshop “Horizon 2020 & International Researchers’ Mobility: EU Supporting Tools”

On October 6, 2014, HSE hosted International Workshop “Horizon 2020 & International Researchers’ Mobility: EU Supporting Tools”. The event was organised by the Centre for International Projects of HSE Institute for statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge under EU 7^th RTD Framework Programme BILAT-RUS-Advanced project (“Advancement of the Bilateral Partnership in Scientific Research and Innovation with the Russian Federation”).

The objective of the event was to promote opportunities for EU-Russia cooperation in science, technology and innovation through dissemination of information on new EU programme Horizon 2020, EU tools for supporting international researchers’ mobility, and Russian Federal Targeted Programme “Research and Development in Priority Areas of Russia’s Scientific and Technological Complex 2014-2020” (FTP — R&D in Priority Areas).

The workshop commenced with an overview of EU programme Horizon 2020 (total programme budget for 2014-2020 is ca. EUR 80 billion), with special emphasis on opportunities for EU-Russia S&T cooperation envisaged in its framework. In her presentation, Maria Putseleva, representative of the Science and Technology Section of the Delegation of the European Union to the Russian Federation, pointed out that despite the fact that under Horizon 2020, Russia is no longer eligible for automatic EU funding, the programme can offer a number of benefits for Russian organisations and individual researchers, such as:

All Calls for Proposals of Horizon 2020 are fully open to Russian participation in all fields and areas.
International participation — Horizon 2020 can connect the best teams and individual researchers from Russia with Europe’s top researchers and innovators.
Horizon 2020 helps to connect Russian scientists and universities with business and industry from around the world.
Horizon 2020 offers access to Europe's knowledge, access to data, access to infrastructures and access to world-leading scientific networks.
Participation in Horizon 2020 provides opportunities to market one's ideas, know-how and technologies internationally.
Russian scientists can be funded in the Marie Sklodowska-Curie mobility programme and by the European Research Council (ERC).

The workshop was continued by a presentation on Russia’s new Federal Targeted Programme “Research and Development in Priority Areas of Russia’s Scientific and Technological Complex 2014-2020” (total programme funding from the federal budget is RUB 202,23 billion). Irina Kuklina, Executive Director of International Centre for Innovation in Science, Technology, and Education, specifically highlighted the opportunities for Russia-EU S&T cooperation envisaged in the frame of the programme. The speaker noted that in the FTP — R&D in Priority Areas, support of international research cooperation is incorporated into block No. 2:

Activity 2.1 Research in the framework of international multilateral and bilateral cooperation (total federal budget: RUB 6,135 billion for the years 2014-2020);
Activity 2.2 Supporting cooperation in R&D with EU countries (total federal budget: RUB 6,180 billion).

Intellectual property rights is one of key issues of international S&T cooperation. In his presentation “Intersectoral Mobility — Intellectual Property Rights & Technology Transfer”, Isser Peer, CEO of Innovation Projects and Development Ltd. & Network Coordinator for Israel, spoke about European IPR Helpdesk, IPR trainings, and Technology Transfer Offices experience.

Furthermore, workshop participants learnt about EURAXESS portal — a unique pan-European initiative providing access to a complete range of information and support services to researchers wishing to pursue their research careers in Europe. In her presentation, Svetlana Dimitrova, Network Coordinator for Bulgaria, made an overview of EURAXESS key initiatives in four areas:

EURAXESS Jobs (assistance to researchers with finding jobs; information on funding opportunities, grants, employment, etc.)
EURAXESS Services (integrated mobility services aimed at allowing researchers to move from one country to another as smoothly as possible)
EURAXESS Rights (information related to the protection of researchers’ rights)
EURAXESS Links (connecting European researchers worldwide).

In addition, Roumen Nikolov, Chairman of the Managing Board of the Institute of Technology and Development (Bulgaria), made a presentation on European Research & Mobility Financing Tools. In particular, the following aspects were highlighted:

Innovation Union: EU Strategy for ERA development
Horizon 2020: Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions
Horizon 2020: European Research Council
Financial Tools for SMEs.

Finally, the floor was given to representatives of four (out of six) Russian National Contact Points (NCPs) selected as a result of an open competition under FTP-R&D in Priority Areas: “Food and Agricultural Biotechnology”, “Environment and Climate Change”, “Research Infrastructures”, and “Aeronautics” (complete results of the competition announced in September 2014 are provided in the table below). In their presentations, representatives of the successful tenderers — organisations that will host Russian NCPs — put emphasis on the perspectives of EU-Russia S&T cooperation in related thematic areas.

		Horizon 2020 Priority Areas			Successful Tenderers — organizations hosting Russian NCPs
		Food and Agricultural Biotechnology			A.N. Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences
		Aeronautics			N.E. Zhukovskiy Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute
		Non-nuclear Energy			National Research University “Moscow Energy Institute”
		Environment and Climate Change			Pushchino State Institute of Natural Sciences
		Research Infrastructures			National Research Technological University “MISiS”
		Information and Communication Technologies			National Association of Research and Educational e-Infrastructures “e-ARENA”

Workshop topics inspired great interest of the participants. In total, over 60 representatives of research and academic communities from Russia and the EU took part in the workshop. The presentations were followed by a Q&A session, which allowed the audience to clarify such issues as opportunities for financial support of Russian teams’ participation in projects under H2020 and FTP-R&D in Priority Areas, rules for participation in Individual Fellowships under Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, IPR ownership and distribution, etc.

By Elena Nasybulina, lead expert of the Centre for International Projects, HSE Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge

Presentations at the seminar:

Horizon 2020: Maria Putseleva

European Research & Mobility Financing Tools: Roumen Nikolov

EURAXESS Cares about Researchers: Svetlana Dimitrova

ФЦП «Исследования и разработки...»: возможности для сотрудничества с ЕС: Irina Kuklina

Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Transfer: Isser Peer

Russian NCPs:

Food safety priorities in ЕС Framework Programme “Horizon 2020”: Irina Sharova

Horizon 2020: Societal Challenge 5: Vadim Sharov

Research Infrastructures in Horizon 2020: Marine Melkonyan

TsAGI–EU Scientific Cooperation National Contact Point Aeronautics: Ol'ga Yarkina