roadmap for eu - usa s&t...
TRANSCRIPT
October 2018
Roadmap for EU - USA S&T cooperation
1. USA AS A PARTNER OF THE EU The United States of America (US) is a long standing partner of the European Union, relations being formalised
in 1990 with the adoption of the Transatlantic Declaration. Following the 2007 US-EU Summit, a Declaration on
Enhancing Transatlantic Economic Integration and Growth laid the foundation for a growth-driven dialogue.
Since then, the Transatlantic Economic Council has become an important forum for economic dialogue between
the EU and the US. The European Union and the United States have the largest bilateral trade relationship and
enjoy the most integrated economic relationship in the world.
[Latest EU-USA Summit]
The statement by EU and US leaders following the EU-US Summit in March 2014, underlined a commitment of
the parties "to expand cooperation in research, innovation and new emerging technologies, and protection of
intellectual property rights as strong drivers for increased trade and future economic growth". In this context
specific references were made to space cooperation, the Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance and the
GPS/Galileo agreement. Equally prominent in that section were references to the Transatlantic Economic Council
to “continue its work to improve cooperation in emerging sectors, specifically e-mobility, e-health and activities
under the Innovation Action Partnership”.
Other important references were made to the EU-US Energy Council, where the partners “remain committed to
close cooperation on energy research and innovation in areas including energy efficiency, smart and resilient
energy grids and storage, advanced materials including critical materials for safe and sustainable energy supply,
nuclear energy and interoperability of standards for electric vehicles and smart grid technologies”, as well as
“knowledge-sharing on carbon capture and storage, and on the sustainable development of unconventional
energy resources”.
[EU-USA non-S&T cooperation agreements]
Euratom and the United States signed a bilateral cooperation Agreement on fusion energy research in 2001 and
the ITER Agreement in 2006. In fission research, Euratom signed a Technical Exchange and Cooperation
Arrangement on Nuclear Technology research with the US Department of Energy (2003) and another one on
Nuclear Safety research with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2009). Both sides are members of the
inter-governmental multilateral agreement Generation IV International Forum (GIF) on research for the next
generation of nuclear reactors. Bilateral energy research cooperation is framed under the US-EU Energy Council,
in particular within the Working Group II on Technology, Research and Development, while as members of the
Mission Innovation initiative both sides and the other partner countries are aiming to strengthen and accelerate
global clean energy innovation.
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[EU-USA S&T cooperation agreements]
Research and innovation cooperation between the EU and the US is governed by the Agreement for Scientific
and Technological Cooperation, which entered into force in 1998. The EU-US S&T cooperation agreement was
renewed for an additional five years in October 2018 and is now valid until 14 October 2023. The Joint
Consultative Group (JCG) which oversees this cooperation agreement last met in October 2017.
[R&I landscape in USA]
The United States is still leader in top-class science, technology but also innovation. However, indicators such as business
innovation surveys and productivity growth suggest that the US lead is narrowing in spite of its world-class universities and
very large global technology companies. R&D and patenting by businesses have also grown less rapidly.
The US federal investment in research and development (R&D) largely stagnated after 2010, with recent years
seeing a gradual recovery to pre-crisis levels. US business however has maintained its commitment to invest in
R&D, particularly in growing, high opportunity sectors. Gross domestic expenditure on research and development
(GERD) is rising and the share performed by the business enterprise sector stays close to 60%.
Throughout a large country like the US certain States like California or Massachusetts play a dominant role in
the overall global scientific impact of the country. Interestingly, while the United States is the current world
leader in R&D, other countries are catching up and the gap to the followers is shrinking.
The US provides innovation-friendly framework conditions and its investment climate makes it an attractive
place to commercialize innovative products, services and solutions. In addition, the US has one of the world’s
strongest legal systems for the protection of intellectual property rights.
The U.S has established a global network of scientific cooperation and is also a privileged partner country for
many EU Member States in science, technology or innovation cooperation.
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Figure 1: Expenditures in Research & Development and researchers per million inhabitants
2. State of play of EU-USA S&T cooperation
2.1. On-going FP7 and Horizon 2020 cooperation
EU-US scientific cooperation takes place under the auspices of the Joint Consultative Group, the EU-US Space
Dialogue, the Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance, the Energy Council and the Transatlantic Economic Council.
Based on the work of the Joint Consultative Group (JCG), established under the EU-US S&T agreement,
cooperation on research and innovation with the United States is addressing some priority areas:
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− Marine and Arctic Research
The US has enormous research capabilities in marine and Arctic research. The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the largest organisation of its kind in the world with an annual budget of
more than US$ 5 billion; in 2012 the JRC signed an Implementing Arrangement on scientific cooperation with
NOAA renewed in 2017. The US has access to important waters and territories (including the Arctic). Since the
signing of the Galway Statement in May 2013 and the launch of the Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance
cooperation continues to gather momentum and global international recognition. NOAA who had been tasked by
the Department of State to coordinate the implementation of the Galway Statement on the US side has closely
coordinated the US activities with other agencies like the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). In spite of its formal bilateral genesis (EU-US and EU-Canada), to
all intents and purposes, in the past years the cooperation has become effectively trilateral. The goals are to
better understand the Atlantic Ocean and to promote the sustainable management of its resources. Specific
elements of Horizon 2020 have been designed to advance the Galway Statement implementation. To date, the
EU has invested €140 million of Horizon 2020 funding towards the implementation of the Galway Statement
through Blue Growth calls for proposals. The various Trilateral EU-US-Canada working groups have delivered
excellent results on various cooperation areas (seabed mapping, observing systems, aquaculture, ocean literacy,
ocean health and stressors).
The years 2015-2017 were extremely positive for the international scientific cooperation in the Arctic as a
whole. The Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance was instrumental to prepare for the first Arctic Science Ministerial
and engaged strongly to support the second Arctic Science Ministerial in 2018. Both sides improved greatly the
alignment of funding priorities and programmes between the EU and the US. The European Commission is
continuing and even stepping up the investments in Arctic research and innovation, with an expected average
investment of more than 20 million Euro per year for the last three years of Horizon 2020.
− Bioeconomy
Bioeconomy is a strategic priority in Research and Innovation for the US and for the EU. In the Bioeconomy area,
the EU is launching the International Bioeconomy Forum (IBF). The aim of IBF is to provide a flexible multilateral
approach for international cooperation, capable of adapting to emerging global needs. This new initiative could
support EU-US cooperation on a number of key R&I activities and horizontal activities in the Bioeconomy area.
− Research Infrastructures
Cooperation between the US and European Research Infrastructures is well consolidated. US is involved in the
activities of CERN and other major European initiatives such as Common Language Resources and Technology
Infrastructure (CLARIN ERIC), and the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, both identified as Landmarks on
the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) roadmap.
Research Infrastructures is one of the dimensions that contribute significantly to the marine and Arctic
cooperation with the United States. Shared use of RIs (in the context of already agreed aligned research
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priorities and synchronised or complementary projects) is an emerging topic in the general context of the
Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance.
− Health research
The US is the EU's main partner when it comes to health research either in terms of numbers of US
participations in the Framework Programme (both FP7 & Horizon 2020) projects. Most cooperation with the US
is via the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) but also with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and outside
government such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The EU as well as the NIH mutually opened the
respective health research programmes to US and European scientists.
The EU and US cooperate very well in many multi-lateral initiatives. Some examples are the International Rare
Disease Research Consortium (www.irdirc.org), the International Initiative for Traumatic Brain Injury
(http://intbir.nih.gov/), the Global Research Collaboration for Infectious Diseases Preparedness (www.glopid-r.org),
the Global Alliance of Chronic Diseases (www.gacd.org) and the Global Tuberculosis Vaccine Partnership. Both
the US and the EU have strong capacities and a common vision on how to tackle the most important health
problems. Moreover, both EU and US are members of the Human Frontier Science Programme (www.hfsp.org).
All these areas represent the basis for continuing and extending cooperation in the future.
− Transportation Research (including Aviation)
The main purpose of the EU-US collaboration in surface transport research is to address global societal
challenges and to pursue international standardisation requirements. Mutual benefit, joint priority setting, co-
funding and critical mass through programme level cooperation are the underlying features. This EU-US
cooperation has been growing steadily in recent years. In 2013, the US and EU signed an Implementing
Arrangement (February 2013), covering Cooperative Activities in the Field of Research, Development,
Technology, and Innovation Applied to all Modes of Transport. A steering group has been established to
implement the agreement. Cooperation areas include transport infrastructure, traffic management, road safety,
urban freight logistics and others. An important result of the Implementing Agreement was the organisation of
regular yearly EU-US Transportation Research Symposia. Synchronized calls for proposals were identified as a
preferred cooperation modality, combining focus and flexibility.
While cooperation tends to be more visible and effective at programme level, stimulating bottom-up project
participation is an important element in EU-US "twinning" cooperation. Such twinning is made possible by
collaboration between DG MOVE and DG RTD and US Department of Transport.
A milestone in EU-US transport cooperation was the launch of the Interoperability Centres for smart grids and e-
vehicles by the Joint Research Centre and the US Department of Energy, followed by cooperation established
under the auspices of the Transatlantic Economic Council.
In Aviation the supply chain is transatlantic so that new global rules and standards could be better advanced
jointly. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) collaborates with the European Aviation Safety Agency
(EASA) including activities for rulemaking and certification. As an example joint flight test campaigns took place
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between the US (FAA, NASA) and the EU in the safety critical domain of High-Altitude-Ice-Crystals, with 39
partners from 16 countries.
− Nanosafety and regulatory research / materials research
In nano safety and regulatory research, cooperation with the US is of special importance and is implemented
through the Communities of Research. The Communities of Research were formed by groups of people, sharing
a significant interest in the field of nanosafety and interacting regularly to advance that interest. They
developed a shared repertoire of resources: experiences, tools, protocols, ways of addressing recurring questions
and challenges to overcome research gaps and barriers and to enhance their professional relationships.
The EU promotes government-level cooperation in the OECD working party on manufactured nano-materials (in
particular through the NanoReg initiative, started already under FP7 and followed by further activities in H2020).
A reinforcement of EU-US raw materials cooperation took place via the signing of an Implementing Arrangement
between DG JRC and the US Geological Survey. Specifically, the cooperation will cover Earth Sciences, Climate
and Land Use Change, Ecosystems, Energy and Minerals, Environmental Health, Natural Hazards and Water.
Figure 2: Participation of the United States in Horizon 2020
Up to October 2017, U.S. entities have participated 1115 times to 845 signed grants of Horizon 2020, receiving
36.7 million euros of direct EU contribution while 107.0 million euros is the non-EU budget of U.S. beneficiaries.
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Regarding collaborative actions1 of Horizon 2020, U.S. applicants are involved 1397 times in 1088 eligible
proposals of which 226 were mainlisted, leading to a success rate of 20.8% (as compared to 17.5% for non-
associated countries and 15.8% overall). U.S. entities have 246 participations (214 times as beneficiaries) in
182 signed grants, receiving 34.0 million euros from EU while 107.0 million euros is the non-EU budget of U.S.
beneficiaries.
Regarding the Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), U.S. entities have participated 853 times
(403 in Individual Fellowships (IF), 259 in the RISE, 167 in the ITN and 24 in the COFUND programme). US
beneficiaries have received 0.2 million euros as direct EU financial contribution. Finally, a total of 390 U.S.
researchers have participated in MSCA actions.
For what concerns support to frontier research, US entities have participated 16 times to signed ERC grants of
Horizon 2020, receiving 2.5 million euros from EU. The US is the country of nationality of the highest number of
ERC non-ERA grantees, amounting to a total of 141 US nationals in Horizon 2020 up to October 2018.
The Implementing Agreement between EC and the US National Science Foundation was signed on 13 July 2012
and a total of 46 scientists of US nationality have visited ERC project teams so far.
With regard to fission research cooperation, nine US entities participated in ten fission projects under the
Euratom FP7 research programme focusing on various aspects of radiation protection, severe accident
management and radioactive waste management. Presently six entities participate in six projects under the
Euratom Programme, complementing Horizon 2020 focusing on the history of nuclear energy, education and
training, materials, innovative small modular nuclear reactors, emergency preparedness and emergency
response and core monitoring techniques.
The cooperation in the field of fusion research encompasses around 315 ongoing collaborative activities,
involving 27 US research institutions and 19 European fusion labs under the bilateral Fusion Cooperation
Agreement legal framework, aimed at supporting ITER and long-term DEMO developments.
2.2. Current framework conditions for EU-USA S&T cooperation
The general framework conditions for EU-US cooperation are improving over various Framework Programmes
and the EU and the US have since several years agreed on a reciprocal opening like for example in the area of
health research.
US participants will continue to be eligible to receive EU funding in projects funded through the Horizon 2020
Health societal challenge, reflecting the reciprocal funding offered to EU participants by the NIH.
While cooperation modes tend to become more visible and effective at programme level, bottom up project
participation is also a strong feature in our EU-US cooperation. Specific attention was given in the last years
1 i.e. excluding projects under ERC, MSCA, SME Instrument and Access to Risk Finance
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(2016-2017) to improving the general framework conditions for EU-US collaboration and eliminating existing
barriers in order to ensure that the scale and scope of EU-US ST&I cooperation can reach its full potential.
In October 2016 an Implementing Arrangement between the EU and the U.S. was signed to facilitate
cooperation between US organisations and Horizon 2020 participants in cases where the US organisations are
funded by the US and do not receive any funding from the Horizon 2020 programme. It simplifies cooperation
between a selected Horizon 2020 project and a US entity by enabling researchers to organise their cooperation
outside the formal Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement signed for each project, although at the same time remaining
in full respect of it.
In addition since February 2017 a new and simplified partner category has been introduced into the Horizon
2020 Model Grant Agreement, called "International Partners" in expanding the "third party" type participation for
legal entities established in a non-associated third country not eligible for funding. The EU has hence codified
into the Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement the basic idea of the EU-US Implementing Arrangement.
Despite some challenges to more systematically integrate US entities in Horizon 2020 consortia the US remains
the leading 3rd country participant in Horizon 2020 (both in participation and funding). It has benefited in the
recent years from the 'US pilot National Contact Point' – The National Council of University Research
Administrators (NCURA).
3. PRIORITIES FOR THE FUTURE IN S&T COOPERATION
3.1. Areas of future S&T cooperation agreed at latest Joint Committee/High Level
Dialogues
The cooperation priorities for the years to come should be in line with the existing ones. Health research and
cooperation with NIH will be a key area due to the mutual opening of the respective programmes and the level
of engagement will be as in the first years of Horizon 2020.
In the area of transport research there is a clear interest in continuing collaborating in areas where inter-
operability is necessary to ensure smooth and secure transatlantic/global flows. In the years to come US
scientists will find specific calls inviting in particular US cooperation in the areas of:
Automated driving and road automation in general
Air quality and low-emission freight transport systems
Multi-modal inter-urban transport
EU-US cooperation on energy technology research and innovation continues to be promoted under the EU-US
Energy Council and its Technology Working Group but with the Mission Innovation initiative further cooperation is
expected.. Horizon 2020 has put a strong emphasis on clean energy research and innovation in Horizon 2020
compared to previous Research Framework Programmes. Indeed, there is strong potential for EU-US cooperation
as follow up of the Mission Innovation initiative with both sides and all involved partner countries aiming to
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strengthen and accelerate global clean energy innovation with the objective to make clean energy widely
affordable. Related research, development and demonstration issues are expected to become a major driver to
focus the cooperation between the EU and US in the years to come.
The area of marine and Arctic cooperation is expected to further expand as implementation of the Galway
Statement is taking shape. The type of activities could be more programme level cooperation in form of
programme alignment with relevant US partners like NSF, NASA and in particular NOAA. New calls are lined up in
the last work programmes (2018-2020) of Horizon 2020, with an All Atlantic ambition. The G7 initiative 'The
Future of Seas and Oceans' will be supported by a major call for proposals of 18 million € EU funding matching
investment form G7 counties and other global partners.
Horizon 2020 finances a coordination and support action supporting microbiome coordination and the
International Bio-economy Forum that is particularly suitable for coordination with the US research funding
agencies in particular considering the microbiome-related research and programmes existing in the US.
The vast majority of topics comprised in the Focus Area 'Building a low-carbon, climate-resilient future'
encourages international cooperation. Some topics are generally encouraging international cooperation; others
are specifically mentioning major emitters. Despite its withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, it is hoped that the
United States research community will still be able to a certain extent to continue the excellent cooperation, e.g.
in the area of Integrated Assessment Modelling
Nanosafety research issues are of global nature and international collaboration in this area will be crucial for
potential calls to come (2018-2020) under the Horizon 2020 programme. Engaging mutually (EU&US) in
international S&T cooperation is essential to strengthen the attractiveness and economic and industrial
competitiveness and to tackle global societal challenges. Future research projects under Horizon 2020 in this
area are most likely expected to collaborate with similar projects under the established scheme of Communities
of Research with the USA National Nanotechnology Initiate programme , and/or to include direct participation
of relevant US entities. In addition, participation is expected from countries actively involved in the work of OECD
-WPMN, the NanoSafety Cluster and the NANoREG project.
Synthetic Biology is another important field of science that is rapidly establishing itself and for which the
adoption of standards can have an impact in its industrial applications. In recent years DG Research and
Innovation jointly with the Directorate of Biological Sciences of the US National Science Foundation work to
identify common pre-competitive research areas where the United States and the EU could benefit from in the
short-medium term. For example standardisation issues related to synthetic biology are of interest to both sides
and may be suited for upcoming cooperation under Horizon 2020.
Fusion energy is one of the four priority areas agreed to expand under the EU-US Energy Council. The bilateral
cooperation in the field of nuclear fission energy research cooperation will continue to focus on nuclear safety
as the highest priority.
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3.2. Potential new areas of future S&T cooperation proposed at latest Joint
Committee/High Level Dialogue, through SFIC, or by thematic services
Collaboration between Europe and the United States in the domain of Research Infrastructures is considered as highly strategic especially in the frame of consolidating the support to the Transatlantic Ocean Research Alliance. Increased cooperation on marine and Arctic Research Infrastructures (interoperability, data management, better use and access, funding strategy, innovation and links with industry) is planned.
The International Cooperation Flagship "Safer and greener aviation in a smaller world" counts for major
allocation of funding in the aviation activities of the WP 2018-20. Topics dedicated to multilateral international
cooperation including US, are: "hybrid-electric propulsion" for 2019 – of major interest from US companies;
"high-speed aviation" for 2020 – in line with NASA activities on civil supersonics.
Following the 2016 Information Society Dialogue and a specific workshop organised with the US National
Science Foundation in 2017, it was intended that EU-US research collaboration in the area of Future Internet
and Advanced Wireless Platforms should be further developed on issues of common interest and of strategic
importance.
In the neurosciences, the difficulty of the challenges requires greater scale and efficiency through enhanced
coordination and cooperation across the globe. The EU is very keen to take part in a global effort in
neurosciences, building on our strong EU-US researchers' community, and on the various initiatives we launched
in the last years.
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ANNEX:
UPCOMING HORIZON 2020 WORK PROGRAMME 2018-20 TOPICS EXPLICITLY ENCOURAGING COOPERATION WITH THE US
Topic identifier Topic title (click topic name to follow link)
2019
ICT-31-2019 EU-US collaboration on NGI
INFRAIA-01-2019 Integrating Activities for Advanced Communities
DT-ART-03-2019 Human centred design for the new driver role in highly automated
vehicles
DT-ART-04-2019 Developing and testing shared, connected and cooperative automated
vehicle fleets in urban areas for the mobility of all
DT-NMBP-12-
2019
Sustainable Nano-Fabrication (CSA)
DT-SPACE-06-EO-
2019
International Cooperation Copernicus – Designing EO downstream
applications with international partners
ICT-06-2019 Unconventional Nanoelectronics
LC-CLA-07-2019 The changing cryosphere: uncertainties, risks and opportunities
LC-MG-1-9-2019 Upgrading transport infrastructure in order to monitor noise and
emissions
MG-2-9-2019 Integrated multimodal, low-emission freight transport systems and
logistics (Inco Flagship)
NMBP-15-2019 Safe by design, from science to regulation: metrics and main sectors
(RIA)
BG-07-2019-20 G7 initiative 'The Future of Seas and Oceans'
SU-SPACE-22-
SEC-2019
Space Weather
2020
LC-SC3-RES-3-
2020
International Cooperation with USA on alternative renewable fuels for
energy and transport
MG-3-05-2020 Towards a high-speed global air transportation demonstration
NMBP-17-2020 Regulatory science for medical technology products (RIA)
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Figure 3: United States – Top scientific areas compared to EU28 in terms of citation impact
of publications
Source: DG Research and Innovation – International Cooperation Data: Elsevier SciVal; extraction date: 6/8/2017; publications' window: 2011-2013; citations' window: 3 years Note: These tables show scientific areas in which the country's academic publications have a higher citation impact than EU28, and whether this difference has decreased, increased or remained the same in the past 8 years. They are grouped in two tables. The top table focuses on areas with high share of publications in the country's total output of publications and the bottom table on those with low share of publications. Scientific areas are based on Elsevier 'All Science Journal Classification'. For each area, the country's share in the world output of publications and the share of international co-publications are also shown.
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Figure 4: United States – Specialisation compared to EU28 in selected technologies based
on PCT patents
Source: DG Research and Innovation – International Cooperation Data: OECD (top table) WIPO (bottom table); extraction date: 6/8/2017 Note: The top table shows the relative specialisation of the 2014 PCT patent output of the country with respect to EU28, calculated as (# of patents of country in technology X / # of patents of country in all technologies) / (# of patents of EU28 in technology X / # of patents of EU28 in all technologies). It also shows whether the relative specialisation has increased, decreased or remained the same in the past 8 years. The selected technologies are classified based on the OECD database. The bottom table shows the same information for the top-13 technologies with the highest specialisation index with respect to EU28 - this time the technology classification is based on the WIPO database. Both tables also show the country's and EU28 total number of PCT patents under
each technology in 2014.