The project ‘STI International Cooperation Network for EaP Countries Plus (EaP PLUS)’ aimed to stimulate cooperation between researchers from the EaP countries and EU MS and to enhance the active participation of the Eastern Partnership countries in the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. Building on the results of the predecessor FP7 project ‘IncoNet EaP‘, the project eliminated remaining obstacles to EU-EaP STI cooperation through a number of innovative and targeted actions:
(a) strategic priority setting through supporting EU-EaP policy dialogue and through maximizing the impact of the association to Horizon 2020
(b) stronger interaction between researchers & participation in H2020, i.e. Info days, cooperation with scientific diaspora, and grants for networking
(c) promotion of the researchinnovation interface supporting communities of excellence, i.e. co-patenting analyses, clustering schemes, promotion of the technology platforms concept to EaP countries
(d) optimal framework conditions and increasing coordination in policies and programmes through training seminars for STI policymakers, increased coordination and synergies between policies and programmes of EU/MS and EaP, i.e. JPIs, COST, national programmes
(e) communication and outreach through innovative actions.
ZSI was mainly involved in analytical work and in policy development activities. Furthermore, ZSI was responsible for the dissemination work package.
Within the work packages, ZSI carried out the following activities:
- Development of STI policy recommendations ‘EU-EaP beyond 2020’
- Co-patenting analysis focusing on international patents
- Organisation of training seminars in Research and Innovation policy
- Coordination of communication, dissemination and exploitation
- Development and maintenance of the web platform, including content management
