ACCESS2CANADA

Overview

Project title: Supporting EU Access to Canadian Research and Innovation Programmes
Website: www.access2canada.eu // www.access4.eu/canada
Funding from the EU: €499,714
Project start: September 2009
Duration: 36 months
Contact at the European Commission: Philippe Froissard
Project coordinator: Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE)
Contact at the IB: Dr. Olaf Heilmayer

Partners

• Agenzia per la Promozione della Ricerca Europea (APRE), Italy 
• Peter L. Eggleton (Telligence), Canada 
• International Commerce Associates (ICA), Canada 
• Public Knowledge Canada / Savoir Public Canada (PKC), Canada 
• International Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) (IB), Germany 
• Institut Pasteur (IP), France

Role of the International Bureau

The International Bureau of the BMBF (IB) is in charge of Work Package 2 and is also actively involved in the other three work packages. The central task in Work Package 2 is to organize and carry out information events about participation opportunities for German and other European researchers under Canadian research programmes.
The IB is coordinating the development of a joint web portal for all 11 Access4EU projects (www.access4.eu) and is actively involved in the working groups for the development of a joint funding database and a joint dissemination strategy.

Highlights

1/2 October 2010 – Kick-off meeting in Rome
7 December 2010 – Benchmarking workshop: Promoting Canadian-European S&T Cooperation

Project status and interim results

Project start: 1 September 2009

Activities planned until July 2010

18 February 2010 – official launch of the website

All project activities are divided into four work packages (WPs):

WP1 – "Opportunities and obstacles to accessing Canadian research and innovation programmes"

• Take stock of Canadian funding programmes that are open to researchers from EU countries 
• Compile and analyse access conditions 
• Review bilateral R&D agreements 
• Produce an annually updated roadmap about programmes, calls for proposals and bilateral agreements

WP2 – Awareness raising & dissemination

• Draw European researchers’ attention to funding opportunities within Canadian research and innovation programmes 
• Support European researchers’ participation in these programmes through targeted information and advice

WP3 - Monitoring EU participation and feedback to EC and JSTCC

• Gather information on / monitor the participation of EU researchers in Canadian research and innovation programmes
• Report back to the European Commission and issue recommendations that can be used in negotiations about STC agreements  
• Observe changes in access conditions for European researchers who want to participate in Canadian funding programmes during the course of the project 
• Develop proposals on how European–Canadian cooperation in research and innovation can be improved

WP4 – Management

• Coordination of the activities in the Access2Canada project and project management