| Project of the Month – January 2014

ERA.Net RUS Plus – Further linking Russia to the ERA: Coordination of MS/ AC S&T programmes

The ERA.NET PLUS initiative, which will run from November 2013 to October 2018,  aims at enhancing the coordination of research programmes between the EU Member States (MS)/ Associated Countries (AC) and Russia. The project will implement a Single Joint Call for excellent transnational research projects in the fields of NMP, Health, Environment, SSH and Innovation. ERA.Net RUS Plus is a follow-up to the current ERA.Net RUS action that was set up from 2009 to 2013 to link Russia to the European Research Area. ERA.Net RUS was the first joint call activity in which prominent Russian Funding Parties participated in a multilateral funding scheme.

Project overview

• Acronym: ERA.Net RUS Plus
• Full title: Further linking Russia to the ERA: Coordination of MS/ AC S&T programmes towards and with Russia
• Project start: 1 November 2013
• Project end: 31 October 2018
• Project number: 609556
• Project website: http://www.era.net-rus.eu/index.php

Project Ojectives

The major objective of ERA.Net RUS Plus is to deepen the transnational collaboration between EU MS/AC and Russia and to reduce the fragmentation of research programmes along national funding lines. This joint undertaking will create synergies and strengthen the cooperation among the consortium members. 

Other principal goals of ERA.Net RUS Plus are to further develop the instrumental setting for joint funding activities and thus to provide a solid basis for a joint programmatic approach to be pursued in the near future. This programmatic approach will assure the desired and necessary sustainability of the cooperation between EU MS/AC and Russia and a lasting impact.

ERA.Net RUS Plus will therefore be the next important step in further linking Russia and its key research communities to the European Research Area.

Events

	ERA.Net RUS Plus launch event: In the frame of the new ERA.Net RUS Plus initiative that has officially started on 1 November 2013, the launch event on 27 November 2013 in Moscow aimed at introducing the initiative to all partners and discussing the call implementation. Since a joint call is at the heart of ERA.Net RUS Plus, the procedures of the call were discussed in depth and open issues were clarified. The main objective of the meeting was therefore to finalize call related documents in order to be able to launch the call in spring 2014. The ERA.Net RUS Plus is a new action to foster European and Russian multilateral cooperation in the field of RTD and innovation. The main aim is to form new long lasting mechanisms for RTD cooperation between EU MS/AC and Russia at equitable and mutually beneficial basis.
	Breakfast Session: The Breakfast Session on "Opportunities for Future EU-Russia Joint Projects" held on 27 November 2013 in Moscow aimed at providing an overview over the new framework programs in Russia and the EU. In particular, the Breakfast Session introduced further funding opportunities for joint EU-Russia initiatives in Science, Technology and Innovation by highlighting (among others) the Russian Federal Target Programme, the new Russian National Science Foundation, the new ERA.Net RUS Plus initiative, the RFBR basic research fund and the FASIE support for small businesses.

Project Partners

Contact

Dr. Andreas Kahle
Senior Scientific Officer
German Aerospace Center
Project Management Agency
European and International Cooperation
Heinrich-Konen-Str. 1
53227 Bonn Germany
+49 228 3821-1829
+49 228 3821-1444