Presented during the Ministerial Round Table on Science and Higher Education. From Bilateral to pan-European Cooperation held over 21-22 May 2010 in Tirana, Albania

1. COST - Networks of succesful European
cooperation
Svetlana Voinova
Coordinator for Balkan Activities
COST Office
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST Office through an EC contract

2. Agenda
• What is COST
• How does COST function
• COST and Western Balkan Countries (WBC)
• Next steps
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

3. It was the first and it is one of the widest
intergovernmental European Networks for
coordination of nationally funded scientific
and technical research
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

4. 1971
Conference of the Ministers of
Research of 19 European countries
convened in Brussels in November
AT, BE, CH, DE, DK, ES, FI, FR, GR, IE, IT, LU, NL, NO, PT, SE, TR, UK, YU
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

5. TODAY 36 COST Countries
The 27 EU Member States
EFTA Member States
Iceland
Norway
Switzerland
Acceding & Candidate Countries
Croatia
FYR of Macedonia
Turkey
Potential Candidate Countries
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Republic of Serbia
COST Co-operating States
Israel
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

6. COST: global participation
COST countries
Neighbouring
countries
Reciprocal
agreements
countries
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

7. COST- Networks based on funded
national research
• “Bottom-up” • Multidisciplinary
• À la carte • “Non-competitive”
• Open Call • Pan-European
• Transparent • Global
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

8. COST is :
a flexible, fast, effective and efficient tool to
network and coordinate nationally funded research
activities at project level (Actions)
bringing good scientists together
under light strategic guidance and
letting them work out their ideas
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

9. Agenda
• What is COST
• How does COST function
• COST and WBC
• Next steps
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

10. COST governance and partnership
contract with the
European
Community
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

11. COST Actions
• Coordinated research effort (4 years)
• Participation of representatives from minimum 5 countries
• Research itself funded through national funds
• Coordination funded by COST, covering
– Science management / working group meetings
– Scientific workshops and seminars
– Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs)
– Training Schools and Research Conferences
– Dissemination
Average funding about 100 000 €
per year per Action
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

12. What is funded by COST?
In the year 2009 COST supported :
• 242 COST Actions
• 900 scientific workshops and meetings (4.3 per working day
over the year) with more than 29 500 participants
• 1200 STSMs with an average duration of 3 weeks (5.6
STSMs starting every working day over the year)
• 90 Training Schools with more than 2000 funded
participants
• 100 high ranking publications
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

13. Agenda
• What is COST
• How does COST function
• COST and WBC
• Next steps
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

14. COST Actions – Participation by
country
250
200
A clear difference
Actions
between COST
and non-COST WBC
150
COST
COST WBC
non-COST WBC
100
50
0 UK DE ES FR IT PL CH DK BE NL GR FI PT NO SE AT IE HU IL CZ SI RO TR LT SK RS HR MK BA AL ME
Countries
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST Office through an EC contract

15. COST Open Call March 2010
120
100
pre-proposals
80
other COST
Number of
WBC
60
40
20
0 IT ES UK DE FR NL BE PT GR RO CH AT FI IE SE DK HR IL PL BG LT CY CZ HU IS SI RS BA LV NO SK TR
COST Countries
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST Office through an EC contract

16. WBC in COST - Status
Membership - HR, RS, MK, BA
Participation in Actions - HR, RS, MK, BA, AL
Express interest - All
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

17. What are the barriers to success ?*
ADMINISTRATIVE AND “Project management“ barriers
BUREAUCRATIC BARRIERS
„EU bureaucratic barriers“
Lack of partners
NATIONAL CAPACITY
BARRIERS Country has low scientific image
SOCIAL, CULTURAL AND “EU scientific superiority”
POLITICAL BARRIERS
Political instability
INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY OF
RESEARCH ORGANISATIONS
Scientific excellence
Personal barriers Not barriers *Source: Barriers in research cooperation of WBC countries
Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar, Zagreb
Steering Platform Meeting on Research for
the Western Balkan Countries, May 2009
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

18. Example: Bosnia and Herzegovina
COST Member since May 2009
Until May 2009 May 2010
Action/Domain Institution Action/Domain Institution
A625/Environment University of Sarajevo ES0601/Environment Federal Hydromet. Instit.
639/Environment University of Sarajevo
A30/Social Sciences Media Centre Sarajevo IS0906/Social Sciences University of Sarajevo
FP0803/Forestry University of Sarajevo
FP0903/Forestry University of Banja Luka
FA0803/Food/Agriculture Veterinary Institute RS
TD0903/Chemistry BiH National Museum
2 Actions, 2 institutions 7 Actions, 5 institutions
Bosnia started benefiting from its COST membership
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

19. Agenda
• What is COST
• How does COST function
• COST and WBC
• Next steps
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

20. Next steps: increase your involvement
and the number of proposals
• Disseminate information on COST
• Leverage COST facilities (e.g. COST days)
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract

21. Thank you for your attention!
www.cost.eu
svetlana.voinova@cost.eu
COST is supported by ESF provides the
the EU RTD Framework Programme COST presentation, 21 May 2010 COST Office through an EC contract