1. Impact of COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology
NCP_WIDE.NET Workshop
Bonn
13-14 March 2017
Friederike Beulshausen
DLR-Project Management Agency German COST Bureau of the BMBF

2. COST - Intergovernmental Initiative
To support networking activities of researchers in large scale pan- European Networks
for European researchers
enabling them to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives
across all scientific disciplines
through trans-European coordination of nationally funded research activities.”

3. European Cooperation in Science and Technology - COST
Aim: Networking activities of Research in big European Networks
Target Group: Researcher sof all scientific and technological fields (Applied and fundamental research)
Bottom-Up: Researchers decide on the research subject and content of COST- Actions
Funded Networking Activities:
Travelling costs to Workshops, Meetings
Organizer Support of conferences
Short-term Scientific missions, Training Schools, Publications
No funding of research, Personnel costs
Duration of COST Actions: 4 Years
COST Budget: 300 Mio. Euro  COST is financed by Horizon 2020
 Commitment to spend 50 % of COST budget by EC for the benefit of ITCs plus 50 % for 6. Challenge, Integrative Societies
Mindestanforderungen:
mind. 5 COST-Mitgliedsstaaten
Einrichtungsgebundene Förderung, d.h. Wissenschaftler/in kann nicht als Privatperson beantragen
Mission mit messbare Zielen und Ergebnissen
Basiert auf exzellenter Forschung
Überzeugendes Inklusionskonzept, um Ungleichbehandlungen hinsichtlich Alter, Geschlecht und Geographischer Herkunft zu überwinden.
Idee bedeutend für Europa.
Bottom-Up: Forschende bestimmen die Inhalte der COST-Aktionen
Offen für alle Fachrichtungen
Inklusiv: Die Rolle von Wissenschaftlerinnen, jungen Forschenden und Forschenden aus forschungsschwächeren Ländern werden gestärkt.
Expandierend: COST-Aktionen sind offen für weitere Teilnehmer während der gesamten Laufzeit.
Wird alles über die COST Association abgewickelt (Antragstellung, Evaluierung, Projektbegleitung), in Brüssel, ist eine zwischenstaatliche Initiative

4. 37 COST Member Countries EU 28
EU Candidates and EU Potential Candidates:
Bosnia and Herzegovina
fYR Macedonia
Montenegro
Serbia
Turkey
Other Countries:
Norway
Switzerland
COST Cooperating State:
Israel
COST has today 37 COST member countries.
Across the 37 countries Cost has been supporting networking of research activities .

5. COST Action Characteristics Excellent Inclusive Open Pan- European
Bottom-Up
COST
Action
Inclusive
Open
All fields of S&T
All participants
All countries
Global
Large
Scale
Geographical
Early Career
Gender balance
COST supports the networking of researchers through science and technology networks -‘COST Actions’-
open to:
All fields of S&T
All partners: academia, public organizations, SME, industry, NGO, International Organizations)
All countries, also beyond COST: Global cooperation on the basis of mutual interest
All career stages (young and experienced researchers
The COST Action allows researchers, engineers or scholars from COST Member Countries and Cooperating State to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives in a field or topic of common interest.
COST is inclusive:
Geographical balance of COST Countries (COST Member Countries + Israel)
Early Career Investigators: This part addresses the difficulty in gaining visibility and recognition European-wide. COSt wants to entrust young investigators with leader roles under their own responsibility
Gender Balance: Encourage and enable under-represented gender to be intensively involved in all COST activities. COST understand a COST Action as a way to gender equality in science and technology.

6. COST Strategic development in ERA

7. ERA Challenges and COST
To fullfil three “O”s (Moedas, ERA Conference, 23/06/2015
Open innovation
Open Science
Openness to the world
COST position in ERA
Fulfills three “O”s
Fosters innovative, multidisciplinary research subjects
Total bottom-up approach: Openness to all research disciplines (no research fields prescribed)
Possible: International worldwide participation in Actions

8. COST Strategy September 2016
Enhance collaborative bottom-up research
Build on COST’s open inclusive culture to empower researchers all over Europe
Become the leading open networking tool in the ERA
Provide evidence-based information to society and policy stakeholders on emerging scientific and societal challenges

9. COST Inclusiveness Targeted Countries
20 ITCs, representing 55 % of all COST Member states (36 and Israel)
Bulgarien, Estland, Kroatien, Lettland, Litauen, Malta, Polen, Rumänien, Slowakei, Slowenien, Tschechische Republik, Ungarn und Zypern

10. COST Excellence and Inclusiveness Policy
Commitment Horizon 2020: to spend 50 % of COST budget by EC for the benefit of ITCs.
 Encouraging and enabling excellent researchers from less research-intensive countries (ITC) across Europe to set up, lead or join COST Actions
Implementation:
Organisation of COST Info days in ITCs
Easy access to COST at proposal stage and in running Actions
At proposal stage: Provide a concept towards Implementation of E & I and a strategy to attract researchers and stakeholders from ITC.
Increase Leadership positions held by ITC
Organizing and locating Action meetings and events in ITC
Promoting STSM
Since 2012
Increase ITC Participation. ITC members should benefit from the Action!
COST Task force in 2016: Determination of widening measures
to introduce a unified calculation method to monitor the 50% spending target for the benefit of ITC researchers
to implement a set of measures as of 2017
COST Inclusiveness Policy:
Encouraging and enabling excellent researchers from less research-intensive countries across Europe to set up, lead or join COST Actions
Counterbalance research communities’ unequal access to knowledge infrastructures, funding and resources distribution
Contributing to the realization of Horizon 2020 Widening Pillar objectives trough COST Excellence and Inclusiveness Policy
Thus the COST Action have to have a plan and a strategy in order to underline the COST policy

11. Achievements - ITC Participation in COST
Visible increase of researchers from ITC in COST activities in the last 5 years
Increased ITC participation in eligible proposals and in running COST Actions (~ 38 %)
Increased COST budget spent to ITCs
Increased ITCs hosting COST events and participation in networking tools
Researchers from ITC are represented in all running COST-Actions
But:
Still difficult to achieve the goal to spend 50 % to the benefit for ITC
An additional set of measures hast been set up starting in 2017
Introduce a conference Grant for PhD-Students and ECI from ITC.
compare: Share of Researchers from ITC with regard to all researchers in all member states is about 25 per Cent)

12. Participation in running COST Actions State: 30/11/2016

13. IMPACT

14. COST-Action Idea Cooperation Exchange of Know-How
Harmonisation of Know-How/ Common Standards
Education &
Career-Development
New Ideas and Research Approaches
Further Participants from Research
and Industrial enterprises
Common Results
Research Projects
Project Proposals
Publications
Product Development
Identification of Innovations
Stakeholder
& Multiplicators
Idea
Duration: 4 Years

15. COST Research cooperation to the benefit of ITC
Access of researchers to European research community
Visible increase of participation of researchers from ITC in COST- Actions
Early Career Investigators participating in COST
Capacity building of research in ITC
High Degree of cross linking research, Higher density of research (networks) in ITCs and ERA
COST Action meetings and conferences in ITC -> visibility
Involvement of stakeholders, industrial partners
Experience in taking leadership roles in Actions and possibly beyond

16. Benefit of Networking results beyond the COST Action
Long lasting Research collaboration  to create synergies beyond the COST Action
Common bilateral /multilateral proposals / projects
Common application for EU-proposals (H2020)
Intensifying Collaboration between research institutions of European Countries
Creating synergies with widening Instruments (Teaming, Twinning)
COST Action results as preliminary step for development of products/ spin offs, SMEs
CA as basis for new subjects of research in EC Framework Programs
Bottom up and high inter-/multidisciplinarity of COST-Action subjects

17. Action budget returning to ITC countries (per cent of COST countries)

18. COST: To foster impact on national level (1)
CNC:
To increase visibility of COST
To ask Action members for active participation, demanding a motivation letter
To use mentoring by CNCs from non-ITC COST countries (EU15)
To actively involve more partners from SME/ industry
To better exploit COST Action results, Identification of Success Stories

19. To foster COST impact on national level (2)
CNC:
To initiate / intensify cooperation of COST Action members beyond the COST Action: To create synergies with other funding programs
By strengthening cooperation and exchange of know how between CNC and NCPs in order
To better inform COST Action members on funding programs
To look for a cooperation with universities and research institutions – they should develop an international research strategy
… in order to fostser interantiona cooperation and research

20. CONTACT Details
German COST Bureau of the BMBF at DLR Project Management Agency
COST National Coordination
Friederike Beulshausen
Tel
Dr. Sibilla Bohlmann
Tel
COST-Website:

21. Thank you for your attention!