1. Multilateral co-operation between funding organisations: FWF's perspective & involvement
Reinhard Belocky, FWF
Austrian Science Day
Bratislava,

2. Mission
The FWF (Austrian Science Fund) is Austria‘s central body for the promotion of basic research.
The FWF invests in new ideas that contribute to an advance in knowledge and thereby to further developments.
The FWF is equally committed to all branches of science and the humanities and is guided in its operations solely by the standards of the international scientific community.

3. Responsibilities & Aims
Promotion of:
High-quality scientific research
Education and training through research
Knowledge transfer and the establishment of a science-friendly culture
continued improvement of science in Austria and an increase of its international competitiveness.
enhancement of the qualification of young scientists.
strengthening of the awareness that science represents a significant aspect of our culture.

4. Co-operation between research funding organisations
WHY?
excellent science is internationally connected
fragmentation of the European funding systems is a barrier for co-operation
particularly problematic for smaller countries
co-operation between funding organisations to overcome this obstacle
GOAL:
Scientists should be able to apply for and to carry out joint research projects together with co-operation partners from abroad without (severe) administrative limitations

5. Co-operation between research funding organisations
OBSTACLES (non-exhaustive)
fundamental differences in national systems (existence of comparable funding structures, investigator-based vs. institution-based funding, …)
difference in funding instruments (e.g. thematic calls vs. bottom-up approach)
different quality assessments (e.g. national panels vs. international peer-review, conflict of interest standards, …)
different application and reviewing guidelines
different decision timelines

6. Modes of Co-operation
informal administrative co-ordination, (MoU, ad hoc, ECRP)
joint programme, national funding (CERC3, ESF EUROCORES)
joint programme, (partially) common-pot funding (EURYI, ERA-Nets)
opening of national programmes, cross-border funding (DACH-MfCL)

7. FWF Programme Participation

8. Informal administrative Co-operation
„ad hoc“ administative co-operation
Bilateral Memoranda of Understanding (MoU)
European Collaborative Research Projects Social Sciences (ECRP)
thematically open
high degree of flexibility
high administration effort
limited added value for the applicants

9. Joint procedures, national funding
CERC3 Transnational Projects (since 2002)
ESF European Collaborative Research Projects (EUROCORES)
thematic calls
quality of procedures & decision
duration of procedures
reservation of (national) financial resources
security of funding

10. Joint procedures, common-pot funding
EURYI Award (since 2003)
thematically open, age restriction
national pre-selection
limited common-pot risk
fixed maximal financial contribution per project
funding according national regulations

11. Joint procedures, partial common-pot
ERA-Chemistry Call for Proposals (2005)
thematic call, age restriction
partial common-pot
flexible financing scheme
reservation of national budget
joint application and reviewing procedures
funding according national regulations

12. Opening of national programmes
Money follows Co-operation Line (since 2003)
(Money follows Researcher)
thematically open
reviewing and funding of project partners from abroad according to national procedures
high flexibility
compatibility of organizations involved

13. Transnational Funding Models
Financial volume unknown but flexible (under/oversubscription)
national priorities & earmarked budgets
Common-pot funding
Fixed financial volume (under-/oversubscription?)
No juste retour
Adequate inpayment key unknown
Call topics selection nationally motivated (=ERA?)
Cross-border funding
Money follows Cooperation Line
Money follows Researcher

14. Thank you for your attention!