COST : PAST,PRESENT, FUTURE Francesco Fedi President COST Committee Senior Officials

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COST PAST,PRESENT, FUTUREFrancesco
FediPresident COST Committee Senior Officials
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COST

• COST
• COoperation in Science and Technology
• Oldest and widest intergovernmental
  European Network for cooperation in
  scientific and technical research

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COST

• WHY
• does COST exist ?

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• 1900

Guglielmo Marconi
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COST

• - To connect Europe and Canada with e.m.waves
• - The Academia is against
• - Nobody knows of the ionosphere
• - Incredible difficulties
• - The experiment is performed
• - The letter S in the Morse alphabet is heard
  in Canada

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COST

• Guglielmo Marconi would have needed
• support for a new brilliant idea with a
  foreseeable enormous impact of results
• Guglielmo Marconi would have needed
• international cooperation
• Guglielmo Marconi would have needed COST
• i.e.

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COST

• - a fast, efficient,effective, flexible framework
• - to get brilliant scientists together
• - under light strategic guidance
• - to let them work out their ideas

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COST

• 1971
• Conference of the Ministers of Research of 19
  European countries convened in Brussels in
  November 1971

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COST

• opened the possibility of cooperation in the
  field of Scientific and Technical research for
• - the 6 countries of the European Community
• -13 countries not belonging at that time to the
  European Community

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COST

• Conclusion of an intense preparatory work carried
• out in the late 60s
• European response to the international
  challenging
• situation (Jean Jacques Servan Schreiber Le defi
• Americain)
• Strategy adopted by the 6 countries
• to recuperate the delays of Europe in many areas
  of scientific and technical research
• to open the COST cooperation to other 13 European
  countries

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COST

• In 1971 COST research initiatives (Actions) are
  the only form of cooperation in Europe
• In 1974 the European Science Foundation, in 1983
  the First Framework Programme and in 1985 EUREKA
• The existence of these initiatives
  notwithstanding, the interest of the European
  scientific community in COST constantly increased

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COST TO DAY

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COST

• From 7 scientific domains in 1971
• to 12 scientific domains in 2004
• Agriculture, Food Sciences and Biotechnology
• Chemistry
• Environment
• Forests and Forestry Products
• Materials
• Medicine and Health
• Meteorology
• Physics
• Social Sciences and Humanities
• Telecommunications Information Science and
  Technology
• Transport
• Urban Civil Engineering

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COST TO DAY

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Participation of institutions of non-COST
countries
(Total 82)
Ukraine (10)
USA (16)
Algeria (1)
Russia (23)
Armenia (2)
Argentina (1)
Australia (3)
Canada (13)
Others (3)
Japan (6)
China (4)
India (1)
Eritrea (1)
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COST CARACTERISTICS

• Bottom- up approach. The initiative of launching
  a COST Action comes from the scientists and
  technical experts themselves.
• A la carte participation. Only the countries
  interested in the Action sign the relevant
  Memorandum of Understanding. A minimum number
  of 5 signatures.
• Equality of access. Participation is open also to
  the scientific communities of countries not
  belonging to the European Union . COST has
  therefore the ability to anticipate the evolving
  European political situation a bridge to the
  scientific communities of countries of the whole
  Europe.

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COST CHARACTERISTICS

• Concerted Actions.Coordination of research funded
  through national funds. Duplications and gaps are
  avoided. Consequent synergy and work sharing
  allows a more efficient use of national
  resources.
• Multiplier effect.The funds provided by COST are
  less than 1 of the total value of the Actions
  with only about 20 million per year, more than
  30.000 European scientists are involved in
  research whose total value exceeds 2 billion
  per year.

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COST CHARACTERISTICS

• Flexibility. Easy implementation and agile
  management of research Actions through a simple
  structure.
• The Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) highest
  decision-making body made of representatives of
  all COST member countries.
• The Technical Committees (TC) each responsible
  for a particular research domain formed by
  representatives of the COST countries.
• The Management Committees (MC) (one for each
  Action) formed by national experts of the
  signatory countries coordinate the activities of
  the Action.

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SECRETARIAT

• The Secretariat to CSO provided by the EU Council
  
• The Secretariat to Technical Committees and to
  Actions provided by the EC until 2003 and
  afterwards by the European Science Foundation
  (ESF) through a COST Office located in Brussels.
  COST-ESF MoU and EC-ESF contract . ESF acts as
  implementing Agent and receives from the
  European Commission the funds allocated to COST.

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QUALITY CONTROL

• By the COST TCs assisted by the COST Office
  according to the COST Guidelines
• The assessment of proposals for new Actions. Peer
  review by an Assessment Panel (Rapporteur ,
  Scientific Secretary and external experts).
  Assessment Report presented to and approved by
  the TC.
• The monitoring of the Actions in progress .
  Annual Progress Report presented by the MC
  Chair in the yearly meeting with the relevant
  TC.
• The evaluation of completed Actions. Peer review
  by an Evaluation Panel (Rapporteur, Scientific
  Secretary and external experts). Final
  Evaluation Report presented to and approved by
  the TC .

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RESULTS

• Scientific importance. Thousands of papers. Ph
  Doctors. Recognition of COST scientific Community
  outside Europe.
• Contribution to European competitiveness.
  Contributions to normative and standardization
  bodies. SMEs originating from COST Actions.
  Transfer of results to European Industry.
• Societal importance. Delicate issues arising
  from new technologies. High - standard, industry
  - independent , scientific environment.
• Contribution to the ERA. COST precursor of
  research projects in the FPs. Networks of
  Excellence from COST Actions in FP6.

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The latest four years of COST historyand The
future of COST
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COST

• YEARS 2002-2003
• DARK AGES
• - EC declared its intention to cease to
  provide the scientific secretariat and the
  financial administration
• - Difficulty to ensure adequate funds from FP6
• - Necessity to introduce reforms

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COST

• - Legal Personality
• - No-profit International Association (
  consensus!)
• - MoU COST-ESF ( end 2002)
• - ESF implementing agent and scientific
  secretariat
• - EC-ESF contract ( end 2003)

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COST

• YEARS 2004-2005
• COST REINASSANCE

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COST

• - COST Office ( January 2004)
• - COST budget in FP6 50-80 M in 4 years
• - COST Reforms ( Busch Report)

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COST

• COST REFORMS
• www. cost.esf.org
• News from COST

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COST

• REFORM
• of
• COST GOVERNANCE

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COST

• COMMITTEE OF SENIOR OFFICIALS ( CSO )
• Reinforcement of CSO strategic role ( strategic
  political goals, mission in the ERA)
• Reinforcement of COST governance ( contacts with
  the scientific community, assessment evaluation
  of Actions )
• Voting procedures ( 3/4 majority ). Milestone in
  the history of COST

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COST

• EXECUTIVE GROUP ( JAF )
• Devolution of tasks ( prolongations of Actions,
  non-COST participation)
• Recommendations of new Actions
• Generation, evaluation, revision of documents for
  the CSO
• Monitoring the budget management and the COST
  Office activities

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COST

• COST CSO SECRETARIAT
• Decision of keeping this Secretariat in the
  General Secretariat of the Council of the
  European Union

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COST

• Devolution to ESF of the task of implementing
  agent ( no need of COST legal personality)
• Devolution to ESF of the Secretariat to COST
  Domain Committees and to the Actions
• Devolution to the Actions of the management of
  the Actions themselves ( annual grants)

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COST

• REFORM OF COST SCIENTIFIC DOMAINS
• - Milestone in COST history
• - Copernican revolution
• - COST exploratorium of new ideas in the most
  promising fields of science

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SCIENTIFIC DOMAINS

• Biomedicine and Molecular Bioscience
• Food and Agriculture
• Forests their Products and Services
• Materials, Physical and Nanosciences
• Chemistry and Molecular Sciences Technologies
• Earth Systems Science EnvironmentalManagement
• Information Communication Technologies
• Transport Urban Development
• Individuals, Society, Culture Health

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COST

• - Nominations of new members ( March 2006)
• - New Scientific Domains ( June 2006 )

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Biomedicine and Molecular Bioscience

• All areas of basic medicine and clinical
  research. Normal functions of the human body and
  alterations of these functions in the case of
  diseases.
• All areas of genomics not limited to humans but
  also concerning plants, viruses, micro-organisms
  and animals.

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Food and Agriculture

• Plant, animal , food sciences and technologies,
  agricultural production and processing.
• Biological functions of living organisms.
• Human nutrition.
• Socio-economic aspects and relationship between
  agriculture and the environment.

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Forests their Products and Services

• Sustainable management and conservation of
  forests and sustainable use of their resources.
• Research activities in the areas of forestry,
  wood technology and pulp and paper research.
• Social, economic, ecological, cultural needs of
  present and future generations. Protection of
  forests against harmful effects.
• Use of timber as a sustainable, efficient and
  renewable resource of energy.
• Physical, chemical and biological characteristics
  of the fibres.

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Materials, Physical and Nanosciences

• Material science, covering production,
  characterization, examination, evaluation and
  fabrication.
• Physics concerning the laws governing the
  behaviour of matter and energy.
• Nanosciences for sectors such as energy,
  transport, telecommunications, informatics and
  health.

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Chemistry and Molecular Sciences Technologies

• Discovering, understanding, modelling and
  producing molecular structures and chemical
  processes.
• Chemistry for life ( e.g. pharmacy, medicine,
  public health, agriculture ).
• Energy production.
• Environmental impact.
• Space research processes in space and
  interstellar media, around spacecrafts, resources
  of stars and planets.

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Earth Systems Science Environmental Management

• Earth System and environment conditions,
  meteorology, oceanography, fluid dynamics.
• Improvement of monitoring, understanding and
  forecasting of the natural processes.
• Environmental management with a view of
  minimizing deleterious impacts of both human
  activities and natural disasters on changes in
  climate, availability of freshwater, altered
  cycling of carbon and nitrogen, transfer of
  contaminants to air, land and aquatic systems,
  biodiversity, land cover and soils.

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Information Communication Technologies

• Processing, transmission, storage, retrieval and
  exchange of information and knowledge.
• Information science and technology.
• Communication technology covering physical, and
  functional modelling of all elements of
  communication systems.
• Telecommunication and information systems
  infrastructures including human and societal
  aspects.
• Interaction of electromagnetic waves with
  biological material and radiation hazards.

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• Transport Urban Development

• Transport as an important factor of society and
  economy sustainable development, environmental
  impact, safety, security and energy consumption.
• Mobility of people and goods.
• Specific advantages and intermodal solutions of
  road, rail, water and air transport systems.
• Urban architecture, planning and design
• Urban engineering and construction.
• Urban development and services, urban
  infrastructure, networks and utilities, urban
  safety, security and disaster management.

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Individuals, Society, Culture Health

• Behaviour of individuals mind cognition and
  complexity language development learning
  creativity socialisation identities and
  attitudes, etc
• Social, economic, political, cultural, historical
  and technological structures and processes.
• Cultural diversity with a view of a common
  European future.
• Inter-disciplinary topics linking social
  science/humanities with the natural, medical and
  engineering sciences.

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Italian Representatives

• BIOMEDICINE AND MOLECULAR BIOSCIENCES
• Prof. Maria Rosaria BONSIGNORE
• Instituto di Medicina Generale e Pneumologia -
  Università di Palermo
• FOOD AND AGRICULTURE
• Prof. Antonella BALDI
• Facolta' di Medicina Veterinaria - Università di
  Milano
• FORESTS, THEIR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
• Prof. Giuseppe SCARASCIA MUGNOZZA
• Istituto di Biologia Agroambientale e Forestale
  - CNR Terni

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Italian Representatives

• MATERIALS, PHYSICAL AND NANOSCIENCES
• Prof. Fabio BELTRAM
• Scuola Normale Superiore- Pisa
• CHEMISTRY  AND MOLECULAR SCIENCES AND
  TECHNOLOGIES
• Prof. Antonio LAGANA
• Dipartimento di Chimica- Università di Perugia
• EARTH  SYSTEM SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL
  MANAGEMENT
• Prof. Giampiero MARACCHI
• Istituto di Biometeorologia - CNR Firenze

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Italian Representatives

• INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES
• Prof. Marco LISTANTI
• Dipartimento INFOCOM- Università La Sapienza
  Roma
• TRANSPORT AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
• Prof. Cristina PRONELLO
• Dipartimento di Idraulica, Trasporti e
  Infrastrutture Civili - Politecnico di Torino
• INDIVIDUALS, SOCIETY, CULTURE HEALTH
• Prof. Leopoldina Fortunati
• Università di Trieste

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INTERDISCIPLINARITY

• STRATEGIC WORKSHOPS

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COST Cultural Heritage

• COST STRATEGIC WORKSHOP
• COST AND CULTURAL HERITAGE CROSSING
  BORDERS
• Florence, 19-21 October 2005

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European COoperation in the field of Scientific
and Technical research
COST STRATEGIC WORKSHOPFood and Health The
Way Forward1-3 February 2006Théâtre du
Résidence PalaceRue de la Loi 155B-1040
BruxellesBelgium
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European COoperation in the field of Scientific
and Technical research
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COST

• REFORM OF THE ASSESSMENT AND SELECTION OF
  PROPOSALS FOR NEW ACTIONS
• Increase the penetration and ensure the
  excellence
• - Continuous Call for proposals ( April 2006 )
• Bottom up, any time, visibility,
  trasparency, no-rush
• - Two-stage process Preliminary and Full
  Proposals
• No oversubscription, No disillution
• - External Peer-Reviewers for Full Proposals
• Excellence of proposals
• - Selection procedure ( November 2006 )

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COST

• OTHER REFORMS

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COST

• COST STRATEGY
• - for Young Researchers ( YINs, nominations in
  the MCs of COST Actions)
• - for increasing the COST penetration ( Call
  for proposals, nominations in the new DCs)
• - for the European neighbouring countries
• - for dissemination and monitoring the impact
  of COST results
• - for strengthening the ties with EC ( FPs
  and JRC), EUREKA, ESF

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COST

• ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

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COST

• European Scientific Community
• If COST did not exist
• it would be necessary
• to invent it

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COST

• HIGH LEVEL PANEL
• for the mid-term review of the EC-ESF contract
  for COST
• recognized
• the important role of COST for the Lisbon
  and Barcelona objectives
• recommended
• - to give the entire sum of 80 M from FP6
• - to continue to support COST in the future
• - to increase the level of funding in FP7

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COST

• FUTURE
• - European Commission ( proposer )
• - Council of the European Union ( co-decisor)
• - European Parliament ( co-decisor)

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THE FUTURE OF COST

• EUROPEAN COMMISSION
• PROPOSAL FOR FP7
• The objectives
• to enhance the synergy between FP7 and COST
• to include financial support for the
  administration and coordination activities of
  COST
• are a recognition of the key role of COST in the
  ERA

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THE FUTURE OF COST

• COUNCIL OF THE EU
• In March 2006 concluded
• to enhance the complementarity and synergy
  between the Framework Programme and
  intergovernmental structures such as EUREKA,
  EIROforum and COST
• that financial support for COST will be provided
  so that COST can continue to contribute to
  coordination between nationally funded research
  teams

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THE FUTURE OF COST

• EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
• - Participation in the COST DAY ( November 2004)
• - Report of the Rapporteur to the EP on FP7
• - Exhibition of COST in the EP ( April 2006 )

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Exhibition of COST in the EP (April 2006)
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FINANCIAL SUPPORT IN FP7

• To reach the objectives
• - To increase the number of Actions ( from 200 to
  260 )
• - To increase the support to the Actions ( from
  70 to 90 k )
• - To envisage provisions for the transition from
  FP7 to FP8
• the total budget over the 7 years period (
  2007-2013 )
• is estimated in 280 M

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COST

• UNIQUE EFFECTIVE INSTRUMENT IN THE ERA
• Exploratorium of new ideas in the most promising
  fields of science
• High-level scientific network able to tackle
  problems of societal importance
• Framework able to ensure scientific excellence
  and networking among European researchers
• Effective tool to coordinate nationally funded
  research activities
• Active partner for the European Neighbourhood
  policy towards the scientific communities of
  emerging countries
• Asset for the EU RTD policy with the rest of the
  world

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CONCLUSIONS

• COST expects
• - a full appreciation of its potential
• - an adequate support to its activities
• - the full recognition of its role in the ERA

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CONCLUSIONS

• The expected brilliant future of COST
• is an important opportunity
• for the Italian scientific community