On the basis of the concept note and the feedback received from participating countries, the following topics have been identified as potentially interesting for discussion in the context of this MLE:
- The design and development of national strategies for R&I international cooperation (indicatively: criteriaused for choosing objectivesand for selecting thematic priorities and target countries or regions, governance aspects, influence of other factors such as science diplomacy and coherence with EU actions/ policies).
- How to design the most relevant toolbox (combining tools such as mobility schemes, joint programming, joint calls for proposals, establishment of joint labs, research infrastructures, etc.) to be used in implementing national strategies for R&I international cooperation.
- How framework conditions for R&I international cooperation (such as reciprocity, intellectual property rights, openness of national research programmes to entities from other countries, open science, ethics, etc.) are catered for within national strategies for R&I international cooperation.
The purpose of the Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) is to facilitate the exchange of information, experiences and lessons learned, as well as to identify good practices, in relation to the various approaches at national level towards international cooperation in R&I and to the design of national roadmaps/frameworks (i.e. objectives, process, timeframe, indicators, existence of international benchmarking processes, etc.). A set of recommendations will be drafted at the end of the exercise, taking up the main findings of the MLE and providing insights for Member States, which want to launch their own national frameworks.
The exercise will adopt a hands-on “learning by doing” approach supported by external expertise. In addition to tacit learning, there will be a final written report drawing on the lessons derived from the three topics discussed within the workshops. The report will identify practices (both successful and unsuccessful), include a set of concrete operational recommendations, lessons learned and success factors based on robust evidence about the impacts of the measures and the contextual factors that may explain the impacts. It will contain a solid policy-oriented Executive Summary.
