Background and objectives
The SEA-EU-NET project will increase the quality, quantity, profile and impact of bi-regional Science and Technology (S&T) cooperation between the ten member countries of the Association of South-east Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Member- and Associated States of the European Union (EU). There is untapped potential in strengthening the participation of South-East Asian (SEA) countries in FP7, and for increased European involvement in SEA S&T. Constraining factors include insufficient awareness of opportunities, inadequate connections amongst researchers, the “distance” hurdle to building the trust and confidence necessary for partnerships, the complexity of S&T programs on both sides, lack of assistance when navigating such programs, and the asynchronous research funding systems between the two regions.
Despite these constraints, there is a significant opportunity to augment the cooperation and raise leverage on regional networks, policies and initiatives developed, for example, through the ASEAN Committee on Science and Technology (COST) in South East Asia. Increasing SEA-EU cooperation requires targeted measures that integrate and strengthen the S&T dialogue in a coherent and sustainable way.
The SEA-EU-NET project, presently supported by 25 key S&T institutions (17 participants and 8 additional members of the steering board), will deliver a wide range of measures to increase SEA-EU cooperation amongst academic, industrial and government stakeholders. In addition to current partner institutions, it also encourages additional SEA partners to join the consortium in the future.
Dialogue activities
Dissemination services will raise the awareness for the S&T potential in the SEA region, inform interested stakeholders from science, industries and policy makers about opportunities for enhanced S&T cooperation, and implement a proactive dissemination strategy.
A number of horizontal events also aiming on raising the awareness and disseminating information will also be implemented.
Although a variety of information websites already exist, none of them has been explicitly devoted to the cooperation with the SEA region. Therefore SEA-EU-NET will create a new EU-SEA internet portal also functioning as a meta-portal as future single access point. Upon existing websites and electronic information provided by previous and ongoing projects inside and outside the FP, as well as on the projects own analytical work, various information levels will be presented.
The annual meeting “EU-ASEAN Bi-Regional S&T Policy Dialogue Platform” will provide a platform for exchange and making policy recommendation. The meetings are foreseen to take place in Paris (2008), Jakarta (2009), Budapest (2010) and Hanoi (2011), alternating between South-East Asian and European venues.
Dissemination activities
It is one of the main objectives to raise awareness for the untapped potential of S&T in the SEA region. The project will inform stakeholder from science, industries, and policy making about opportunities for an enhanced S&T cooperation and the respective framework. Furthermore it will foster active networking among the science communities and R&D oriented, innovative industries in the Member States, Associated States and the SEA partner countries using various dissemination strategies based synergies with existing tools, platforms, and services (e.g. NCP-network, ASEAN-COST, CORDIS-Website, etc.)
There will be a series of national, regional and bi-regional conferences to address various groups of stakeholders from the science community, industries and policy making. The following events are foreseen:
- National and regional Information Days in the SEA on the 7th FP in close cooperation with the respective national stakeholders (governments, Science organisations and Info-points);
- Specific information sessions in EU conferences informing on the S&T potential of SEA;
- Regional conferences in specific research areas in the SEA addressing the future cooperation with the EU;
- Selected targeted political events to raise awareness on the opportunities and challenges of a closer bi-regional cooperation between the EU and SEA addressed to political stakeholders on national, regional and Community level
Monitoring and review activities
The SEA-EU-NET ad-hoc Advisory Group will be responsible for reviewing the project. The group should gauge the impact of the actions of the Consortium and ensure complementarities with the activities of other research institutions. The Advisory Group is composed of up to 6 external experts who are invited for their expertise. The composition of the Advisory Group is decided by the General Assembly during the virtual meeting in preparation of the next physical meeting.
