STI collaboration between Canada and European Union focus of new report

A new report on Canadian-European collaboration in science, technology and innovation (STI) reveals that researchers from Ontario and Quebec are most active in the European Framework Programme for Science and Technology (FP7) and also have the highest number of scientific agreements with European Union (EU) member states.

The Observatory Report by the European Commission also discovered that, while Canadian participation in European research projects align with agreed upon strategic priorities, most European researchers have participated in Canadian programs related to social science and humanities which are not among the priority areas designated by the two jurisdictions.

The report was issued following negotiations but prior to the finalization of two Canada-EU agreements — the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). The latter has become controversial for its investor-state dispute settlement provision which is opposed by many, including Germany, for giving multinationals too much power over public health and environmental legislation.

The report highlights the ERA-Can+ program, which has a three-year timeframe ending Oct/16. The program's purpose is to enrich the Canada-EU policy dialogue, stimulate transatlantic cooperation and enhance coordination among the participating countries' programs, sector leaders and networks. This includes information sessions and webinars to stimulate Canadian participation in the more recent Horizon 2020 EU Framework Programme, driven by a consortium that includes government departments, Universities Canada and the Public Policy Forum.

The number and nature of STI agreements between Canada and the EU are diverse and complex — an environment the report attributes to the fact that Canada "does not have a research ministry, but research is part of each single (thematic) ministry".

There is no formal agreement between Canada and the EU for agriculture which ranks high among the areas of collaborative research. The social sciences and humanities are also not covered in any agreements although they are "of huge interest for the Canada-EU cooperation. It is by far the strongest collaboration field of Europeans in programmes at the Canadian federal level and very popular for Canadians in FP7", the report states.

The most prominent areas of joint R&D between Canada and the EU are aeronautics, aerospace, health, Arctic and marine science. However, the report notes that information and communications technology had the highest Canadian participation rate in FP5 and FP6 and remains "the most attractive theme for submitted Canadian proposals for FP7".

The bulk of the STI Observatory Report is devoted to exhaustive information on the Canadian-EU ecosystems, past and current collaborations agreements (both federal and provincial), funding programs, financing policy and investments mechanisms. It notes that further investigation on research collaboration would be "more informative" with better data from the Canadian granting councils, the Canadian Space Agency and Genome Canada. The report can be found at www.era-can.net.

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