SAFEFOODERA WORKSHOP Food Safety Research Ideas Forum 30 th October 2006 Increasing the Impact of National Research Programmes through Transnational Cooperation and Opening Angus Hunter Managing Director, Optimat Ltd

My experience ERA Policy Study Author DG Research study on the Design of National Research Programmes Good Practice Guide on Increasing the Impact of National Programmes through Transnational Cooperation and Opening eTranet Project Manager ERA-NET on ICT for Traditional Manufacturing Industries ( ) Veteran of ERA Workshops DG Research (ERA-NET) DG INFSO (CISTRANA) TAFTIE UK ERA-NET Participants

Overview of the study Objectives Factors that encourage or inhibit transnational opening Rationale for the barriers Case studies of programmes that encourage TN cooperation Practical suggestions for national programme designers Scope All 34 countries of European Research Area China, Japan, USA Basic, applied/industrial, SME, mobility programmes Inputs Desk research, CREST interviews, national consultations Empirical programme survey (>300 invited, 127 responses) Expert workshops Manchester Conference (21/10/05) – coordination of national programmes Ouputs Policy report for DG Research and CREST Good Practice Guide for national programme designers and managers

Inequity across ERA

Variable geometry

Limited openness

Benefits of internationalisation

3/21 Prevalence of barriers

Important barriers

5/23 Prevalence of enablers

Important enablers

Strategies based on Objectives Development of knowledge-based industries Corint Programme (Romania) Industrial PhD (Denmark) Research and Technology Innovation Fund (Hungary) Internationalisation (of industry and researchers) Aide à linnovation Programme (France) CIR-CE Programme (Austria) FinNano Programme (Finland) ProInno II Programme (Germany) Torch Programme (China) Increasing scientific competitiveness IWT Programmes (Belgium) NWO Programmes (Netherlands) RPT Programme (Cyprus) Addressing societal or environmental challenges Food Standards Agency (UK)

Conclusions Design of national programmes Complex, dynamic landscape More coordination in basic research More variable geometry in applied/industrial research Limited sign of landscape alignment Barriers to international cooperation Major barriers to opening of national programmes Policy barriers appear to be most important Variation between countries and cultures Strategies to address the barriers Dependent on the objectives of the programme Mobility and basic research programmes have more enablers Interesting differences in enablers across ERA

Stakeholder Issues

Other Issues Perception of legal barriers Lack of empirical evidence of the benefits Enablers need to be embedded in design Lack of opportunity for ERA networking ERA-NET is helping but many not involved Limited transnational design creativity Most ERA-NETs are taking a simple approach based on Joint Calls for international R&D projects

SAFEFOODERA WP4 Joint Activities Investigate the feasibility of establishing a food safety research ideas forum For public funders To facilitate opportunities for joint activities

ETRANET Research Ideas Enablers WP1 Networking 1.2 Programme benchmarking 1.3 Best practice exchange visits 1.6 Twinning activities with other countries WP2 Strategic Activities 2.1 Synthesis of strategic studies Forward looking 2.2 Sectoral observatory MANUFUTURE, etc WP3 Joint Activities 3.2 Analysis of programme synergies Backward looking 3.3 European database of experts/facilities Prerequisite for VUN 3.4 Virtual users network (VUN) WP4 Transnational Research 4.1 National events with users 4.4 Joint programme demonstrator pilots 4.5 EU Conference for domain experts Launch of 1 st Joint Call (pilot) in June Parallel/synchronised Call system Linked to future national programme synergies

Virtual Networking

Other ERA-NETs Most are using the virtual common pot Some national agencies are involved in multiple ERA-NETs Mainly TAFTIE members Promoting the need for harmonised Joint Call systems, etc Worried about proliferation and fragmentation Most (all) have some kind of virtual networking system Are they effective ????

More ERA creativity needed Critical Left Brain I agree that we could benefit from transnational cooperation and involving foreign researchers but its just too difficult Creative Right Brain How can we collaborate with similar programmes in other countries to our mutual advantage