SEE-ERA.NET PLUS - Further integrating key research institutions form Southeast Europe into the European Research Area

SEE-ERA.NET PLUS was a network project tasked with is the realisation of a Joint Call for Joint European Research Projects (JERPS). Building on the experiences and results of the SEE-ERA.NET project, it aimed to promote the further integration of the countries of Southeastern Europe, especially the Western Balkan countries, into the European Research Area (ERA). A total of 23 joint ICT and AGROFOOD projects were funded.

Integration of Southeastern Europe into the European Research Area

SEE-ERA.NET PLUS supported the development of joint research funding between the participating EU member states and the Western Balkan countries. SEE-ERA.NET PLUS was the successor to SEE-ERA.NET and its Regional Programs for Cooperation with South-East Europe (ReP-SEE) programme, which promoted research and development cooperation with the countries of the West Balkans.

As a result of the SEE-ERA.NET PLUS Joint Call published on 1 September 2009, a total of 190 Expressions of Interest (EoI) were submitted. After completing the initial appraisal phase - involving a total of 97 evaluators from 23 countries - the applicants from the top 75 EoI were invited to submit a full proposal (FP) by 15 March 2010. The thematic distribution of the submitted and eligible Full Proposals (FP) yielded 47 FP in the AgroFood sector and 23 in the Information and Communication Technology sector. On the SEE-ERA.NET PLUS Steering Board meeting on 22./23. June 2010 in Belgrade, the best 23 projects were selected for funding. A project overview is available at http://www.plus.see-era.net/pjc/fundedprojects.html.The last projects expired at the end of 2012.

The ERA-NET initiative in SEE-ERA.NET PLUS was funded by the European Commission and supported by a consortium of 17 institutions from 14 countries (in alphabetical order):

Albania
Austria
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
France
Germany
Greece
Croatia
Montenegro
Romania
Serbia
Slovenia
Turkey

It was the first regional ERA-NET PLUS funded by the European Commission. In this context, PLUS meant that the European Commission paid one-third of the costs of research projects to be funded under the joint call for tenders of the participating consortia countries. This distinguished an ERA-NET PLUS from "regular" ERA-NETs, within which the EC support was limited to the coordination costs of the consortia countries.

In the implementation of the joint call for proposals within the 2nd work package ("Implementing the call and monitoring"), the International Bureau was the central actor and brought together all the main tasks from the publication of the call and the provision of the electronic application tool, to the evaluation of the applications up to the central project administration.

Further information is available at http://plus.see-era.net/.