| Project of the Month - July 2010

IncoNet CA/SC - S&T; International Cooperation Network for Central Asian and South Caucasus Countries

IncoNet CA/SC addresses the countries of Central Asia (CA) and the South Caucasus (SC) as well as Moldova (MO). The project aims to strengthen their policy dialogue with the EU and to promote science an technology cooperation between the EU and the target regions. The project also benefits from the already ongoing IncoNet EECA project, expanding its activities with a specific focus on CA/SC and Moldova.

General Information

IncoNet CA/SC is an extension of the ongoing project IncoNet EECA - S&T International Cooperation Network for Eastern European and Central Asian Countries. Both projects are funded under the 7th European Framework Programme for research (project numbers:  IncoNet CA/SC 244417; IncoNet EECA 212226). There were two major reasons for this extension:

• Inconet EECA  is 'dominated' by the larger countries in the network (such as Russia and Ukraine), which already have substantial scientific potential and strong links with the EU;
• at the time when IncoNet EECA was implemented, partners from the smaller Central Asian (CA) and South Caucasus (SC) countries were hard to be found.

Primary goal of IncoNet CA/SC is to deepen the cooperation of countries from the European Research Area with countries from the CA/SC region. A significantly improved mutual knowledge about the national S&T landsacpes of both regions will build the foundadtion for enhanced international S&T cooperation activities.

The consortium of the IncoNet CA/SC project aims to:

• identify the most important research organisations and scientific institutions in Central Asian, the South Caucasus and Moldova as potential partners for coopeartion with the European Union;
• analyse and steer the development of scientific cooperation and the related political dialogue;
• improve reserach and development conditions in the participating countries;
• strengthen the structure and capacities of National Contact Points in the target regions and improve their networking;
• enhance the potential of innovation policies and support the participation of the private sector in the EU Framework Programme.

Work packages

The following work packages were defined to structure the tasks within this project:

• WP1: Enhancing bi-regional S&T Policy Dialogue
• WP2: Coordination with other EU policies
• WP3: Strengthening the participation of CA/SC&MO in FP7
• WP4: Supporting the NCPs/NIPs in SC/CA countries
• WP5: Analyses, Monitoring and Review
• WP6: Quality and Sustainability
• WP7: Communication and Dissemination activities
• WP8: Management

Partners

• Centre of Ideas and Technologies, CIT, Armenia
• National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, NAS-RA, Armenia
  http://www.sci.am/ 
• Centre for Social Innovation, ZSI, Austria
  http://www.zsi.at/  
• National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Azerbaijan, ANAS, Azerbaijan   Geology Institute of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, GIA, Azerbaijan
  http://www.gia.az/ 
• Scientific-Research Institute "Geo-technological Problems of Oil, Gas and Chemistry", GPOGC, Azerbaijan
  http://www.gpogc.az/ 
• Archimedes Foundation, ARCHIMEDES, Estonia
  http://www.archimedes.ee/ 
• Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CNRS, France
  http://www.cnrs.fr/ 
• Caucasus School of Business, CSB, Georgia
  http://cu.edu.ge/ 
• Georgian National Science Foundation, GNSF, Georgia
  http://www.gnsf.ge/ 
• Georgian Research and Development Foundation, GRDF, Georgia 
• International Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research- German Aerospace Centre, DLR, Germany
  http://www.internationales-buero.de/en/index.php  
• Foundation of Research and Technology Hellas- Help Forward Network, H-F, Greece
  http://www.forth.gr/ 
• International Centre for Black Sea Studies, ICBSS, Greece
  http://www.icbss.org/       
• General Secretariat for Research and Technology, GSRT, Greece
  http://www.gsrt.gr/ 
• Independent Expert Consulting Board to Promote Scientific Research Activity in Kazakhstan, InExCB- KZ, Kazakhstan
  http://www.nip.kz/ 
• National Centre on Complex Processing of Mineral Raw Materials of the Republic of Kazakhstan, CMRP- Kz, Kazakhstan 
• Central Scientific Library of the Ministry of Education and Science, CSL-Kz, Kazakhstan
  http://www.library.kz/ 
• The National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic, NLKR, Kyrgyzstan
  http://www.nlkr.gov.kg/
• Research Institute of Water- and Hydroenergy Problems of the Kyrgyz Republic Academy of Sciences, IWP, Kyrgyzstan
• Public Foundation EnConsult, EnConsult, Kyrgyzstan
• Academy of Science, ASM, Moldova
  http://www.asm.md/ 
• Society for Development of Scientific Cooperation, SODESCO, Tajikistan
  http://www.tajiknip.org/ 
• Public Organisation, Modern Scientists, MS, Tajikistan The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, TUBITAK, Turkey
  http://www.tubitak.gov.tr/ 
• Indo- Uzbek Centre for Promotion S&T Cooperation, IUCP-T, Uzbekistan Institute of Material Sciences SPA "Physics-Sun", IMS-Uz, Uzbekistan
  http://www.uzsci.net/

Contacts

Dr. George Bonas
S&T Advisor,
IncoNet EECA and IncoNet CA/SC Project Coordinator
International Centre for Black Sea Studies (ICBSS)
4 Xenophontos Str.
10557 Athens, Greece
phone: +30 210 3242 321
fax: +30 210 3242 244
gbonas@eie.gr
http://www.icbss.org/

Ms. Maria Josten
Senior Scientific Officer
International Bureau of BMBF
PT-DLR
Heinrich-Konen-Str. 1
D-53227 Bonn, Germany
phone: +49 (0) 228 3821-415
fax: +49 228 3821 400
maria.josten@dlr.de
http://www.internationales-buero.de/en/index.php

Photos

Impression from the Kick-off Meeting in Istanbul on 29/ 39 April 2010.