EU-Tunisia Scientific and Technological Cooperation Agreement Draft Road Map 2010-2011 July, 2010 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS pp. INTRODUCTION.3-4 FACILITATING COOPERATION.4 ENERGY 4-5 ENVIRONMENT...5 FOOD, AGRICULTURE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY..6 HEALTH 6-7 INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES 7-8 NANOSCIENCES, NANOTECHNOLOGIES, MATERIALS AND NEW PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES..8 SOCIO-ECONOMIC SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES and SCIENCE IN SOCIETY 8-9 PEOPLE...9 CAPACITIES International Cooperation...10 JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE.11 SYNERGIES BETWEEN S&T AND OTHER EC INSTRUMENTS.....11 2
INTRODUCTION Tunisia is participating in the Barcelona process and is the first Mediterranean country to sign an Association Agreement with the EU on 17 July 2005. The Euro-Med Association Agreement between the European Community and its Member States, on the one part, and the Tunisian Republic, on the other, came into force on March 1, 1998. Under the terms of the Agreement, the EU and Tunisia commit themselves to co-operate in a wide range of areas including: strengthened political dialogue, trade, economic, social and cultural issues. The Agreement foresees also financial co-operation to accompany reform measures in Tunisia. Tunisia is a partner in the European Neighborhood Policy. An Action Plan, which includes mutually agreed priorities and objectives in the areas of political, economic, commercial, justice, security and cultural cooperation is in force since 4 July 2005. Implementation, notably through the sub-committees established under the Association Agreement, is ongoing. Research activities are dealt with in the "Research Development and Innovation" subcommittee. During the INCO programme (FP5-FP6) cooperation with Tunisian researchers and research institutions has been successfully developed. Taking into account of the above elements and considering the importance of Science and Technology for the economic and social development of the country, an S&T Cooperation Agreement has been established between the EC and Tunisia with the aim of facilitating the integration of Tunisia in the European Research Area. The S&T cooperation agreement was signed on June 2003 and has entered into force in April 2004. The short-term expected results produced by the S&T Cooperation Agreement will be the improved capacity in research and the increased participation in activities of common interests within the Research Framework Programme. These common interests, together with priority actions and themes, are identified in the dialogue established within the framework of the Joint Committee that oversees the implementation of the S&T Agreement between the European Commission and the Tunisian national counterparts. Since the date of entry into force of the Agreement 4 Joint Committee meetings took place, the last one on 2 June 2010. In this meeting common priorities and actions for a reinforced cooperation have been discussed. Tunisia is one of the most advanced Mediterranean countries with regard to science and technology and by far one of the most active ones in Euro-Mediterranean cooperation. In regard to FP7 (years 2007-2010). Tunisia is the third MPC showing the highest number of applicant institutions (371 applicants), after Egypt and Morocco. Food, Agriculture & Biotechnologies, Environment and Health are the thematic areas of main interest. The 4th Joint Committee Meeting that took place in Brussels, jointly with the ENP Sub- Committee meeting Research and Innovation, on 2 June 2010 reviewed the progress achieved in the above areas over the year 2009 and part of 2010 and discussed how to 3
enhance Tunisia s participation in FP7. The present road map is based mainly on the outputs of that meeting. FACILITATING COOPERATION Research is a priority in the agenda of the "Tunisia Statut Avancé". The new meeting "format", joint JSTCM / ENP Sub-Committee Research & Innovation, shows to be functional for the creation of synergies between research, development, scientific excellence, capacity building and innovation. This should facilitate cooperation (particularly capacity building) and dialogue between the EU and Tunisia on scientific research as well as innovation. New FP7 activities like ERAWIDE will give further impulse to enhancing scientific research and innovation and can contribute to the socio-economic growth of Tunisia. Tunisia is also involved in the INCO-NET platform "MIRA" and the bilat "ETC" (both funded under FP7-Capacities International Cooperation). These projects will help to improve dissemination and awareness of Tunisian researchers and identify common opportunities of cooperation in FP7. The RELEX plan on research and innovation (12 M ) complements the activities of DG RTD in relation to research system capacity as well as enhancing innovation.. ENERGY The participation of Tunisia in FP7-Energy calls is limited. There are no Tunisian participants in FP7 calls in energy so far There are no specific actions targeting Tunisia in WP2011, all forthcoming calls, published in July 2010, are open to Tunisian participation. Calls in the following areas may be of particular interest to Tunisia: -) Wind: Support to Off-Shore Wind including off-shore and deep water, -) Solar (Reduce costs of manufacturing PV systems, standard PV building components, Improve energy storage and efficiency in CSP power plants and cost reduction), -) Oceans of Tomorrow (off-shore platforms for wind and ocean renewables, Mediterranean and Black Sea governance). As a follow up to the MIRA Energy Workshop, the EC can explore the possibility of discussing the outcomes of the Workshop with the relevant Industrial Initiatives of the SET-Plan. The European Solar Energy Industrial Initiative is particularly relevant in this respect, as the MPCs are especially well placed to participate in the international cooperation dimension of the initiative. 4
One mean to improve awareness and participation of Tunisia in FP7-Energy is the participation in the Energy INFO Day on 8 July 2010. Information distributed via National Contact Points. Tunisia could monitor the developments of the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE). The RCREEE has ten founding members, including Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen. During the start up phase, RCREEE is sponsored by Egypt, also serving as host country for the Centre, as well as Germany, the EU and Denmark. The Centre issues its own research grants through calls for proposals. To date these grants have covered areas such as CSP and Wind technologies. A Group from DG RTD met with the Centre in March 2009 to learn more about their activities. DG RTD will ensure policy coherence with DG RELEX, which is currently outlining the cooperation strategy (including energy) with Tunisia and the Mediterranean region for the 2011-2013 period. ENVIRONMENT In the last 2010-call there are five Tunisian partners in five ranked proposals requesting a total EU contribution of around 440.000. Two of these partners are in the Africa Call and the rest in the main Environment call. The dialogue between EU and Tunisia took place not only at institutional level (S&T Joint Committee) but also in the context of regional initiatives such as the MIRA Inconet and its initiatives dedicated to the environment. Priorities identified through these dialogues have been taken into account in the 2010 Call (mainly the Africa Call) and they continue to feed the future work programmes, including WP2011. The following topics of potential interest for future collaboration in the region have been identified in the last S&T Committee Meeting: -) numerical climate modelling to support strategies for climate, -) impact on biodiversities and ecosystem, and life cycle, -) capacity building in eco-design, -) water resources. The WP2011 will have an extensive coverage of marine environment with a geographical focus on the Mediterranean and Black Sea, notably through a cross thematic call "The Ocean of tomorrow" under preparation with the participation of four Themes. A potential topic "assess and predict the combined effects of natural and human-made pressures in the Mediterranean in view of a better governance" is foreseen. In the area of the Global Earth Observation (GEO) a SICA action is planned on assessing the ecosystem status, including fisheries, within the Mediterranean marine coastal areas of North African countries. In addition, there are several other collaborative research topics foreseen in the Environment 2011 call that may attract the interest of Tunisian institutes such as on cultural heritage, natural disasters and earthquakes. 5
FOOD AGRICULTURE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY (FAB) In the first three calls under FP7 there are five Tunisian partners in five projects for a total EU contribution of around 657.000. The projects cover issues related to water security, ocean and coastal zone management, climate change and cultural heritage. In the 2010 Call there are five Tunisian partners in five ranked proposals requesting a total EU contribution of around 440.000. Two of these partners are in the Africa Call and the rest in the main Environment Call. There is a good tradition of jointly defining the issues of common concern to be addressed. Tunisia has shown to be very good at exploiting the opportunities offered by FP7. WP 2010 in particular has a strong focus on Africa and the Mediterranean partners with its 10 topics requiring their participation and Tunisia ranks first among the Mediterranean partners in terms of participation in submitted proposals. Tunisian participation spreads broadly from food security topics to environmental protection and making use of biotechnology from water treatment to industrial applications. In the Frame of MIRA a Workshop on Agriculture has been organized by CIHEAM (partner of MIRA) in Bari (July 2009). Tunisia actively participated in this Workshop and identify together with the EC and other MPCs regional priorities for research in this sector. Tunisia is expected to continue to engage in the joint research related to primary production and adaption to climate change, food security and safety, the oceans of tomorrow. Topics of common interest in 2011 include forest research in the Mediterranean, through the setting up of an ERA NET, and food security remains high on the cooperation agenda with research on reductions of post harvest losses, the role of aquaculture to improve food security and to eradicate poverty, neglected zoonoses at the animal-human interface, and coping with the natural and human made pressures in the Mediterranean. Interaction EC-Tunisia will be continued in view of identifying priorities for collaboration. HEALTH Tunisia's participation in FP7 HEALTH is limited with currently only four running projects for a total EU funding of 986'408. Three new projects have been selected following the last 2010 call. Three of the running projects deal with different aspects of Leishmaniasis, with the participation of the Institut Pasteur in Tunisia. The MIRA project plays an important role in promoting cooperation: a Health Workshop was organized in Malta (July 2009) in order to identify and develop 6
research topics for targeted activities. The research subjects Obesity/Diabetes and Rare Diseases (also including genetic disorders) have been identified by the last JCCST meeting and were further discussed and developed in the MIRA workshop on Health. Obesity/Diabetes are now covered by a targeted activity in the forthcoming call (WP2011) entitled " Genetic and environmental factors in obesity and/or diabetes in specific populations". Other topics of potential interest will be considered in WP2011, providing specific opportunities for research collaborations between Tunisian and European researchers on "Development and assessment of comprehensive and integrated interventions and programmes to improve reproductive health and health equity" and "Building sustainable capacity for research for health and its social determinants in low and & middle income countries". A targeted activity on "Rare Diseases" could be the subject of a future initiative. There is also need for more cooperation on health system challenges and cancer. Tunisia indicated its commitment to further increase participation in FP7-Health by mobilising the potential of various Tunisian health research institutions (in addition to the Pasteur Institute which is already well connected to European health research teams). INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES The participation of Tunisia in FP7 has been so far limited with only two projects with Tunisian institutions: -) MEDAR (Speech and Language Technologies) and -) JOIN- MED aiming at strengthening EU-MPC policy dialogue on ICT. Ten proposals have been submitted in the last call (WP2010) which included a wide spectrum of targeted areas, and are currently under evaluation. Tunisia has developed a clear strategic plan for ICT based on the following priorities: -) high capacity networks, -) security of systems and of networks for critical sectors, -) ICT applications in health, energy and environment, -) platform development for mobile, offshoring, -) embedded systems, software industry and methodology, -) audiovisual and multimedia for research. Tunisia also emphasized the key role of high speed ICT infrastructures through Eumedconnect to further develop the connectivity and interoperability for research and education platforms in the region and with the EU. The EC encouraged the participation of Tunisia to ICT 2010 Brussels EXPO 27-29 September 2010. There will be a specific networking session for MPC and an exhibition stand. The ICT Event is a unique gathering point for researchers, business people, investors, and high level policy makers in the field of digital innovation. ICT 7
2010 will focus on the next ICT R&D priorities and information will be given on WP2011-2012. NANOSCIENCES, NANOTECHNOLOGIES, MATERIALS AND NEW PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGIES (NMP) Under FP7, three projects involving Tunisian researchers have been retained for negotiation; one partner under the topic NMP-2007-3.1-2 "New added-value usercentred products" participates in the project "Consumer open innovation and open manufacturing interaction for individual garments" and two partners under the topic NMP-2009-2.6-1 "Novel membranes for water technologies" (SICA - specifically targeting African countries and the Mediterranean partner countries). The two projects involving Tunisian partners are "Capture of evaporated water with novel membranes" and "Development of the next generation bioreactor system". Tunisia is encouraged to participate in the fourth International Dialogue for Responsible Nanotechnology that will be organised by Russia in Autumn 2010. Possible future activities: -) to explore the possibility of cooperation with a regional approach in future topics, -) to invite Tunisian organisations to participate in FP7 projects in nanosciences and technologies, benefiting of the networking created via the new database. SOCIO-ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND HUMANITIES (SSH) and SCIENCE IN SOCIETY (SiS) SSH There are no Tunisian partners in FP7 SSH projects so far. FP7 has to lead gradually to both quantitative and qualitative rebalancing of the international cooperation policy with each region of the world. This rebalancing cannot be addressed to a single country like Tunisia, but has to address the issues of a world region like Africa. SiS There is no SiS project with a Tunisian partner in FP7. No specific activities with Tunisia are on-going in 2010 or foreseen in the 2011 Work Programme of Science in Society in the area of governance and ethics. The Science in Society 2010 Work Programme included provisions to support a SICA (Specific International Cooperation Action) in the area of Gender and Research (SiS-2010-2.1.3-1 Women in Science: Euro-Mediterranean Cooperation). Four proposals have Tunisian partners. 8
SSH FP7 has to lead gradually to both quantitative and qualitative rebalancing of the international cooperation policy with each region of the world. This rebalancing cannot be addressed to a single country like Tunisia, but has to address the issues of a world region like Africa. SiS EU-Tunisia collaboration could be pursued on projects of mutual interest with a strong content on ethics and governance. PEOPLE Under FP7, there were 2 successful Tunisian researchers who benefited of a Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship and an Incoming Fellowship to come to Europe. There was no outgoing fellowship to Tunisia. IRSES: following the first call in 2008, amongst the 405 participants in 72 different eligible proposals, 9 different research organisations from Tunisia have participated in the submission of 4 different proposals and all of them have been retained for funding. In the second call in 2009, out of a total of 1026 participants in 177 different eligible proposals, 6 research organisations from Tunisia have participated in the submission of 5 different proposals and 4 of them have been retained for funding in 3 different proposals. Tunisia will raise the awareness of researchers and host organisations of the relevant Marie Curie actions, and particularly in ITN (Initial Training Networks) and IAPP (Industry-Academia Partnerships and Pathways) actions which are mainly contributing to the intersectoral mobility and exposure of researchers to the private sector. The next ITN and IAPP calls will be published on the Cordis website in September 2010 and July 2010 (provided the WP 2011 adoption), respectively, with a respective available budget of more than EUR 300 million and EUR 80 million. Physical involvement of the Tunisian Contact point in all PEOPLE NCP meetings is suggested as well as the possibility to organize a dedicated ad hoc FP7 contact meeting on International cooperation. Tunisia is encouraged to participate in the next Marie Curie info-day planned in Brussels (beginning of December 2010) and in the Marie Curie Conference in Turin on 1-2 July 2010. 9
CAPACITIES International Cooperation Tunisia, via the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, is participating in two current projects financed under the international cooperation activities of the Capacities Programme: INCO.NET MIRA (Mediterranean Innovation and Research Action) and BILAT ETC (European Tunisian Cooperation). The implementation of MIRA started in January 2008 for a four-year period. Tunisia participates in the activities related to capacities building in the MPC for participation in the FP, and support to the Information Points, the support to the MoCo, and the awareness and dissemination activities on the EU-MPC S&T cooperation. The ETC project started in the beginning of September 2009 for a period of three years. Coordinated by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the consortium is composed by three European partners (Innovabic, JO Consulting IT, European BIC Network, BE), and another Tunisian partner (IRESA), and counts with a total budget of almost 500.000 euros. in the frame of the above project, the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research nominated 9 thematic NCP which should work in close coordination with the ETC project. A first call ERA-WIDE (targeting MPCs) was launched in July 2009 and closed last January 19 th 2010. Tunisia submitted 4 proposals out of 17 proposals received for all the MPCs, and 2 of them were retained for fund. A second call ERA-WIDE is foreseen for July 2010 and Tunisia is encouraged to participate. In the frame of the general amendment of MIRA under negotiation, Tunisia will extend its participation to the overall activities foreseen: support to H2020, Euro- Mediterranean Innovation Space, Euro-Mediterranean S&T Observatory, Capacity building, support to the MoCo, dissemination. Also the ETC project is expected to be amended in order to allow a more efficient collaboration with MIRA and the new SRI program financed by RELEX/AIDCO. Tunisia will continue playing an important role in the bi-regional dialogue on S&T, particularly in MIRA. 10
JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE JRC There is a need to identify a Tunisian NCP for JRC and discuss possible cooperation through bilateral meetings/visits. The cooperation between JRS and Tunsisia is still limited. However, current collaborations between the JRC and Tunisia are with: Institut National Meteorologie de la Tunisie, Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer, Institut des Régions Arides, Institut National Agronomique de la Tunisie, Institut National des Sciences et Technologies de la Mer. There is a need to identify a Tunisian NCP for JRC and discuss possible cooperation through bilateral meetings/visits. SYNERGIES BETWEEN S&T AND OTHER EC INSTRUMENTS The RDI funding programme of 12 MEuro is an important achievement of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) Action Plan. This funding is aimed at strengthening capacity in research and innovation and create synergies with research. It is recognised the importance to establish regional collaboration among the existing RDI Programmes in Tunisia, Egypt and Jordan. The EC will explore the possibility of having a regional innovation programme in the future. A Mediterranean regional workshop on research and innovation could be co-organized by DG RTD and DG RELEX in Brussels in Autumn 2010. 11