184th Meeting of the COST Committe of Senior Officials - Brussels, 19 March 2012 - Main contents

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

Brussels, 20 March 2012 COST PRESSE 130

184th MEETING OF THE COST COMMITTEE OF SIOR

OFFICIALS ^{1 2} Brussels, 19 March 2012

The 184th meeting of the COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) was held in Brussels on 19 March 2012. The meeting was chaired by Dr Angeles Rodriguez Pena (ES), the President of the CSO

COST funding in FP7

The Committee was pleased to note the communication from the European Commission that the remaining additional EUR 10 million to COST from the FP7 had now been released, bringing the total EU funding for COST to EUR 250 million, the maximum amount laid down in the FP7. The release of this additional funding is a follow-up to the recommendations of the "FP7 mid-Term evaluation of COST" in 2010

COST, as an integral part of the Innovation Union and the European Research Area will contribute to the delivery of the Europe 2020 agenda and the Innovation Union goals through the efficient implementation of the COST networking activities

COST, established in 1971, is an intergovernmental framework for cooperation and networking of European research activities. COST does not fund research itself, but supports networking activities such as meetings, conferences, short term scientific exchanges and outreach activities. COST receives financial support for its coordinating activities from the EU RTD Framework Programme (FP)

Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Republic of Serbia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom; Israel (cooperating state)

COST in Horizon 2020

The Committee adopted the position paper on COST in the next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation "Horizon 2020", entitled "The COST Framework - A cornerstone of the ERA " (doc. COST ). The position paper highlights the role of COST as the European framework offering a well-functioning, bottom-up-oriented and open networking instrument. With an increased budget COST proposes to enhance its impact capacity by increasing progressively the number of networking Actions, to reinforce its strategic activities, including fostering scientific excellence, developing S&T for innovation, addressing societal challenges, widening pan-European participation, and fostering networking of early career investigators to strengthen its outcomes and impacts for the benefit of Europe

COST Implementing structure

The Committee had an exchange of views on its implementing structure beyond FP7. The issue will be given high priority to come to timely decisions and to ensure continuity in COST operations between the Framework programmes. The CSO President and the JAF Group were asked to investigate the viability of various options and to provide a roadmap on the decisions that will be needed, in order to provide the Committee an appropriate basis for an evidence-based decision in due course

Next CSO meeting

The next meeting of the CSO is scheduled for 6 - 7 June 2012

For further information call the COST Secretariat at + 32 2 281.68 96 or consult website http://www.consilium, europa, eu/cost

COST