INCOBRA - Increasing International Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Brazil and the European Union

On 21 November 2016 the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) has organized a workshop titled “JPIs on the Global Stage: Opportunities for International Cooperation” in Brussels with the scope of two H2020 funded initiatives: BILAT USA4.0 and INCOBRA[1].

The goal of the workshop was to create awareness about the JPIs and their strategic agendas among the funding bodies from major partner countries and to facilitate exchange of knowledge and cooperation with leading funding agencies from USA, Brazil and Canada.

50 participant representing 9 JPIs, major funding bodies and organizations from U.S., Brazil and Canada, European funding agencies as well as the European Commission, other networks and high level groups such as Belmont Forum, GPC and SFIC have discussed the international cooperation opportunities and challenges within the framework of JPIs. JPIs presented their research priority topics and action plans within 1-2 years including the upcoming calls and other coordination and networking actions.  Representatives from USA, Brazil and Canada presented shortly their institutions, interest areas, framework conditions as well as experience and challenges for international cooperation. 

With regard to the H2020 Programme, the new implementing arrangement between the EC and the USA which facilitates cooperation between US organisations and Horizon 2020 participants as well as the H2020 co-fund mechanism of 8 Brazilian State funding agencies has been mentioned.

In addition to the presentation and discussion sessions 70 individual meetings have been organized to provide all participants the opportunity to meet and discuss in detail the international cooperation modalities and processes bilaterally.

At the end of the workshop following conclusions have been outlined:

• There is an strong interest  for collaboration on both sides (JPI and 3^rd country Agencies) to tackle global challenges jointly
• International Cooperation will gain more importance in the future in terms of impact assessment of JPIs
• International participation in JPIs is higher than international participation figures in H2020
• …for every challenge there is an opportunity and also an economic prospect.
• Cooperation could be extended to other multipliers beyond funding agencies such as CONFAP (BR) and COL (USA)
• Cooperation opportunities are not limited to joint funding activities but also include other activities such as exchange of experts, workshops, etc.
• A good starting point for 3^rd country agencies can be being observer in a JPI and then developing activities towards becoming active important member
• Participation in JPI network and actions needs time at the initial stages for understanding procedures; on the other hand experience and capacity building within the 3rd country institution is a key for effective collaboration
• …there is a big potential for setting the international agenda and pushing JPIs as real world class leaders in societal challenges.
• Experience and competences in the field of international cooperation developed through the  ongoing actions within JPIs should be taken as input for the 9^th FP preparations.

For more information about the workshop and presentations:

https://www.b2match.eu/jpisgoglobal2016