Poland

Funding Measures for Cooperation with Poland

 

Political framework for scientific and technological cooperation

Thanks to its strong economic and political ties to Germany, Poland is second only to Russia in its importance for Germany as an STC partner among Central and Eastern European countries. From Poland's point of view, Germany is also the second most important STC partner after the USA.

Poland has significantly reduced its government spending on research and development since the early 1990s. In 2007, government expenditure on R&D activities amounted to 0.33% of GDP.

The German-Polish cooperation in research is based on the Agreement for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (STC) of 10 November 1989 and has dynamically developed over the last few years. This bilateral cooperation offers an excellent starting point for cooperation within the European framework. Following Poland's accession to the European Union, relations with Poland have taken on a whole new quality in the area of education and research.

Current cooperation partner at government level is the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (MNiSW). The STC Commission is comprised of both German and Polish members and generally meets every two years, alternating between Poland and Germany. It decides on the content and key areas of cooperation as well as on joint activities.

The Polish National Framework Programme identifies the following areas as strategic research areas for 2005 to 2015:

• • Health and environment
  • Agriculture and food 
  • State and society
  • Security
  • New materials and technologies
  • Information technologies
  • Energy and energy sources 
  • Traffic infrastructure

The following website gives an overview of the history and structure of the Polish research landscape as well as of current research policy: The Researcher's Mobility Portal- Poland.

Key areas of German-Polish cooperation

As part of its initiative to promote Germany as a key location for research, since 2005 the BMBF has participated annually in the largest environmental fair in Eastern Europe, the POLEKO. It is held in Poland in autumn every year. At the BMBF's booth, numerous German research institutions presented their application-oriented projects and products and were able to recruit future cooperation partners from the Polish business and science communities. This initiative was so successful that the BMBF also participated at this year's POLEKO.

In the field of clinical neurosciences, national programmes in Germany and Poland were linked with the second joint call for proposals. As a result, 23 German-Polish projects were able to receive funding during the period 2002-2010. The conditions for developing cooperation within the European scope were thus created. During the time 2007-2010, Germany and Poland have been working together with nine further partner countries in the ERA-Net NEURON (Network of European Funding for Neuroscience). Germany is involved in eleven projects and Poland in one project.  

The subject of sustainability is moving to the forefront of bilateral activities through the national framework programmes “Action-Oriented Sustainability Concepts” and “Vulnerability of the Earth System”. At two German-Polish workshops on the subject of “Sustainable Development” (in Katowice and Cottbus in October 2003 and 2005), the key subjects discussed were “Education for Sustainability”, “Sustainable Production Technologies”, “Sustainability in Agriculture” and “Sustainable Tourism”.
On 9 December 2008, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education signed an agreement on cooperation in the area of sustainability research. The aim is to intensify cooperation in the fields of sustainable development, innovation, climate change, renewable energy sources and environmentally friendly technologies. It was against this background that the third Polish-German conference was held on "Sustainable development - from scientific research to political implementation" in Poland in November 2009.
Since 2005, the BMBF has been participating with a trade fair booth and accompanying events at the international environmental fair POLEKO. At the initiative of the German Embassy in Warsaw, a German-Polish innovation forum was subsequently held on “Renewable Energies” and “Eco-Innovation” in November 2009 and 2010. With the help of the forum, the aim is to mobilise strengths that exist in both countries to create competitive solutions for generating, distributing and efficiently using renewable energies as well as eco-innovations.

In the area of environmental technology, the German-Polish research network INCREASE (International Cooperation on Research in Environmental Protection, Process Safety and Energy Technology) plays an important role. The activities of INCREASE, which include the participation of 14 German and 20 Polish research institutions, have met with a very positive response from the business community and were the launching pad for the establishment of the international network ENVITEC-Net.
At present, ReGasNet, a German-Polish network for gas treatment technologies and processes for the use of regenerative gases in fuel cells, is being funded through the Call for Proposals "Networks for Renewable Energy Research" under the BMBF's Strategy Fund. Thirteen German and three Polish research institutions and companies participate in ReGasNet. The strategy fund also supports two further networks involving German and Polish participation in the field of renewable energies.

A highlight of bilateral cooperation

German-Polish research forum
On 22 April 2008, the first German-Polish research forum was held in Leipzig. Federal Minister of Education and Research Annette Schavan and her Polish counterpart Barbara Kudrycka opened the forum, in which some 250 high-ranking representatives from politics, higher education, science and research set the course for a closer cooperation between the two countries.

At the core of this was the goal of supporting and fostering young scientists and strengthening partnerships and networks. Content-related focal areas were environmental research and sustainable development as well as humanities and social sciences.

The forum was the first of its kind between the two countries. It presented the achievements of German-Polish research cooperation to date and highlighted possibilities for future cooperation. Working groups accordingly gave proposals and recommendations on six topic areas. In a podium discussion, representatives of leading science and agency organisations in both countries expressed their opinions on the prospects offered by cooperation.  

In line with the importance attributed to research and technology in the two countries, cooperation in this area has developed dynamically over the last few years. Direct proximity, close bilateral relations, EU membership and diverse cooperation structures all characterise the nature of the cooperation. With regard to the topics of cooperation, of particular note are the areas of life sciences, health, sustainability research and environmental research, materials research, physical and chemical technologies, fusion research, humanities and social sciences. Cooperation in particular also takes place under the EU Research Framework Programme.

Developing and strengthening neighbourly relations and dialogue; creating high-performance R&D networks between research institutions, universities and companies, contributing towards strengthening the European Research Area, regional cooperation, exchange and promoting young scientists.
Internationalisation and the furthering of European integration represent opportunities for Germany's science and research landscape and for the economy.

Funding for collaborations with Poland

In view of the EU eastward enlargement, the BMBF has launched the funding programme “International Cooperation in Education and Research; Central, Eastern, and South Eastern European Region” (which is a so-called “regional call for proposals”) since 2004, with the aim to promote research projects of German scientists with partners from Central- and Eastern Europe. The aim of these projects is a joint project proposal within the framework of funding programmes of the BMBF or the 7^th EU Research Framework Programme. Various consortia from Germany and partners from Poland participate in this announcement with project proposals. Furthermore, measures on the development of concepts for the establishment of joint research bases are promoted. The aim is to forge closer links between the staff, organisation, and funding structures of Polish and German research institutions and research activities in companies by establishing these joint research bases.

 

Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian institutions participated together with partners from Poland and the Nordic countries in numerous projects under the funding programme “Ideas competition to establish and expand innovative R&D networks with partners in the Baltic Sea Region - Circum Mare Balticum“, (“Baltic Sea - call for proposals“) which was announced by the BMBF in 2010 and has the aim to initiate interdisciplinary, innovative R&D networks in the Baltic Sea with the participation of all Baltic States. Subject areas of the projects supported under the funding programme are energy research, environmental research and technology, ICT, marine research, innovation as well as health research and biotechnology. Aim of the new funding programme that was once again launched in 2011, is to exploit innovation potential by international cooperation and to strengthen international competitive advantages of German companies and research institutions in the Baltic region together with their partners.

 

As part of the BMBF's initiative to promote Germany as a key location of research, funding is provided for initiatives that present the attractiveness of Germany and its research environment to important partner countries like Poland.

Within the scope of this initiative, the BMBF has participated annually in the largest environmental trade fair in Eastern Europe, the POLEKO, since 2005. It is held in Poland every autumn. At the BMBF's booth, numerous German research institutions exhibited their application-oriented projects and products and were able to recruit future cooperation partners from the Polish business and science communities. This initiative was so successful that the BMBF also participated at this year's POLEKO.