RESEARCH: EU-Australia collaboration

Research collaboration between the European Union and Australia has been ongoing since European settlement in Australia. The very fact that almost 90% of Australians claim European ancestry is evidence of the strong linkages between Europe and Australia.

Research collaboration between the European Union and Australia was formalised in 1994 with the Science & Technology Agreement - the first ever such agreement that the EU had concluded with a third country. The Agreement allows for European and Australian researchers to take part in each others programs primarily on a self funding basis.

In 1997, the Agreement was further expanded to include all areas of research. Since then, Australians and Europeans have collaborated on more than 300 projects with an approximate value of almost € 1.8 billion.

To understand the process of collaboration, it is necessary first to understand the history behind the European Research Area and research collaboration in the EU.

European Research Area - Background

As we enter the century of science and technology, so now more than ever, investing in research will pay dividends for the economic, social and environmental betterment of the world.

However, although Europe produces a third of the world's scientific knowledge, looking back to the year 2000, the research landscape in Europe was worrying. The average research effort in Europe amounted to only 1.8% of GDP compared to 2.8% in the US and 2.9% in Japan. Researchers accounted for only 25 in every 1000 of the industrial workforce in Europe. Even more worrying was that European researchers appeared to be deserting their home shores, choosing instead to live and study in the US.

In 2000, the EU met at the Lisbon European Summit where is set out the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Jobs. As part of thism, the EU set itself the goal to become the most dynamic and competitive knowledge economy in the world. In order to achieve this goal, the EU had to improve its research capacity.

The Treaty on European Union (now the Treaty of Lisbon) provided a legal basis for measures to help support European cooperation in research and technological development. This broader European policy is necessary to eliminate the duplication, fragmentation, isolation and compartmentalisation of national research efforts and systems occurring amongst the Member States in the EU. Better integration of Europe's scientific and technological area is an indispensable condition for invigorating research in Europe. This will ensure that Europe can move beyond the simple addition of a Member State plus one (i.e. the European Commission) towards something more dynamic and cohesive. The EU needs to create a "critical mass" in new areas of knowledge as well as better allocation of resources overall.

The European Research Area - Actions to enhance research in the EU

So in 2000, the European Research Area (ERA) was born. Its goals were to:

• Ensure better networking of existing centres of excellence in Europe and the creation of virtual centres;
• Develop a common approach to the financing of large research facilities;
• Better coordination in planning and implementation of European research activities and closer collaboration between the various Science and Technology organisations;
• Encourage investment in research and innovation systems;
• Encourage more mobility for European researchers - including the introduction of a European dimension to scientific careers, encouraging more women back into the role of research and stimulating young people's interest in research; and
• Improve the attractiveness of Europe for researchers from the rest of the world.

Since 2000, many actions have been taken to progress the creation of the European Research Area. These actions include:

• The EU Research Framework Programme, which is designed to support the creation of the ERA. New initiatives launched in conjunction with the 7th Framework Programme (2007-2013), such as the European Research Council, will have an important impact on the European research landscape. The future European Institute of Technology also has the potential to play a substantial role in creating world-class 'knowledge and innovation communities'.
• Initiatives have been launched to improve the coordination of research activities and programmes . They include the European Technology Platforms, through which industry and other stakeholders develop shared long-term visions and strategic research agendas in areas of business interest, and the bottom-up 'ERA-Net' scheme which supports the coordination of national and regional programmes.
• Policy coordination is addressed through the 'open method of coordination' and the use of voluntary guidelines and recommendations. This is stimulating a process of debate and reforms at national level, which has resulted in all Member States setting national Research and Development (R&D) investment targets in the context of the overall EU 3% of GDP R&D investment objective and taking measures to improve their research and innovation systems.
• The EU has adopted a ' broad-based innovation strategy ', which will improve the framework conditions for research and innovation. In November 2006, a European patent strategy was proposed to overcome the deadlock on the Community patent.
• EU cohesion policy and its financial instruments - the Structural Funds - give strong priority to the development of research and innovation capacities, particularly in less developed regions. This can help the whole of Europe to participate in and derive full benefit from the European Research Area.

EU Research Framework Programmes: Annual Budgets 1984 and 2013

The EU's 7th Framework Programme (FP7) - An overview

Framework programmes (FPs) are the main financial tools through which the European Union supports research and development activities covering almost all scientific disciplines. FPs have been implemented since 1984 and each Programme covers a period of five years. The current Programme is the FP7 ( 7th Framework Program) which is slightly different to the other programs in that it runs for seven years, from 2006 to 2013. FP7 is designed to build on the achievements of the 6 th Framework Programme towards the creation of the European Research Area and to carry it further towards the development of the knowledge economy and society in Europe.

The budget of FP7 is €53.2 billion, representing about 6% of available Research and Development (R&D) funding across Europe . FP7 funding is primarily spent on providing grants to research actors all over Europe and beyond in order to co-finance research, technological development and demonstration projects. This is a significant increase in R&D funding compared to the FP6, which had a budget of approximately €17 billion. About three quarters of FP7 is put towards the continuation of the previous FPs (i.e. FP6), while about one quarter consists of new actions. Most of the increase under the FP7 will go to the European Research Council, Space and Security, research infrastructures and regional potential. The Framework Programmes complement the national research programs of each of the Member States. It does not, however, replace them.

The Framework Programme is broken into five main pillars:

• Cooperation
• Ideas
• People
• Capacities
• Euratom and the Joint Research Centre.

Cooperation

The bulk of the EU research funding in FP7 goes to collaborative research, i.e. the "cooperation" pillar. This pillar has a budget of almost €32.5 billion - 30% higher than under FP6. The budget will be devoted to supporting cooperation between universities, industry, research centres and public authorities throughout the EU and beyond - including research collaboration with third countries such as Australia.

The Cooperation programme is sub-divided into ten distinct themes. Each theme is operationally autonomous but allows for joint activities cutting across different themes. The ten identified themes reflect what are considered the most important fields of knowledge and technology where research excellence is particularly important to improve Europe 's ability to address its social, economic, public health, environmental and industrial challenges of the future.

FP7 - Indicative breakdown ( € million )

They are:

• Health;
• Food, Agriculture and Biotechnology;
• Information and Communication Technologies;
• Nano-sciences, Nano-technologies, Materials and new Production Technologies;
• Energy;
• Environment (including Climate Change);
• Transport (including Aeronautics);
• Socio-economic Sciences and Humanities;
• Space; and
• Security.

Each of the themes has its own budget and funding is operated through "calls for proposals" throughout the lifespan of FP7. "Calls for proposals" are open to participants all over the world - including Australians.

The Calls are preceded by "Work Programmes" which are published at the beginning of each year. The Work Programmes set out the research priorities for each theme. All the Calls and supporting information is published on the CORDIS website at http://cordis.europa.eu/

Ideas

This program is implemented through the new European Research Council (ERC). The approach is wholly bottom up in nature. Instead of relying on the identification of political or thematic priorities the focus is on supporting the highest quality research from all disciplines by funding individual teams in open competition solely on the basis of excellence. The budget is about €1 billion per year increasing to €1.7 billion by 2013. There will be an independent Scientific Council made up of 22 scientists from various backgrounds. So far they have identified two main schemes - a "Starting Independent Researcher Grant" and an "Advanced Investigator Grant". One Call has already been approved with a budget of €290 million. There have been more than 9000 applications received so far.

People

The "People" Pillar is the European Commission's mobility program. Here, the Commission aims to improve the quality of the human dimension in European Research and Development (R&D) and increase the number of employees working in the European R&D sector. The People program has a budget of €4.7 billion. It is based on the long and successful Marie Curie Actions of the previous FPs and aims to promote a career path in research by encouraging European researchers to stay in Europe and by making Europe more attractive to the best researchers from around the world. The program covers all stages of a researcher's professional life from early stage to the highly experienced. The program is also run through "calls for proposals" and provides the opportunities for researchers to spend time in other countries, to take part in training networks and to receive awards for excellence.

Capacities

Under "Capacities" (with a budget of just over €4 billion), the programme will focus on research infrastructures, special projects in small & medium sized enterprises, regional clusters and international collaboration. In the latter case, this pillar will help build strategic partnerships with non-EU countries in selected fields of science. The programme will engage the best scientists from around the world to look at addressing specific problems that third countries face, on the basis of mutual interest and mutual benefit.

EU-Australia collaboration in research, science and technology - Some examples

FEAST

Probably the most successful joint EU-Australia project is the FEAST project. FEAST stands for the Forum for European Australian Science & Technology cooperation and has been in operation since 2001. It is a joint initiative of the European Commission and the Department of Education Science & Training with the secretariat hosted by the Australian National University in Canberra . FEAST aims to highlight existing multilateral and bilateral Science & Technology cooperation between Europe and Australia . It also aims to improve this cooperation, particularly multilateral cooperation, through identifying priorities and enhancing the quality, quantity and visibility of future action.

The specific objectives of FEAST are to:

• Increase the links between European and Australian researchers;
• Better identify, promote, and demonstrate cooperation;
• Improve the process of providing information on Australian and European programmes promoting cooperating between Europe and Australia ;
• Exchange best practices and support cutting edge research; and
• Provide opportunities for present state of the art S&T, and improve the prospects for cooperation in these fields.

More information on this organisation can be found at: www.feast.org

ARENA

Another successful project is ARENA - the Antarctic Research, a European Network for Astronomy which is a network of 20 leading research institutes designed to coordinate the development of enabling technologies and astronomical programmes in Antarctica , with a view to constructing a so-called 'Great Observatory'. Australia 's participation in this network ensures continued technology exchange and builds knowledge base in robotics, harsh environment engineering and computational fluid dynamics, while creating important new astronomical opportunities. There are seven EU countries involved and the programme has a budget of about € 1.3 million.

The OzNano2Life Project

An Australian nanobiotechnology cluster integrated with a European 'Network of Excellence', OzNano2Life is a practical example of a large-scale successful cooperation programme developed between Europe and Australia . The joint nanobiotechnology initiative was created through a strong connection with the EU 'Network of Excellence' (NoE) in nanobiotechnology ('Nano2Life'). The research programme, with partners in Europe, Canada and the US , addresses common priorities in health, in particular frontier nanobiotechnologies. It is due for completion by January 2008. The OzNano2Life partners have tackled key challenges in their research, including:

• an artificial cell;
• novel biosensor technology or biochip array;
• biomimetic nanosprings and novel nanostructures of lipid membranes; and
• nano-scaled biological screening.

In the first two years of its research programme, the network's 13 teams throughout Australia published one book, three book chapters, 51 papers and they made 39 conference presentations and filed two patents.

QERCI

The Queensland-European Research Collaborations Initiative (QERCI) is a joint initiative of the Queensland Government and the EU. It is the first research network to be established between an individual state of Australia and the entire European research community. 2007 is QERCI's first year of operation. The programme is designed to link Queensland researchers to the entire European research community to help foster technological exchange, promote respective capabilities and encourage investment in Queensland. To date, Queensland researchers have been active in FP6 having participated in more than 20 projects with a total value of €93 million.

More projects outlining EU-Australia collaboration in research, science and technology is available on the FEAST website at: www.feast.org

Research collaboration - some success stories

Bacillus Systems Biology

The BASYSBIO project, which involves 15 European research organisations and the University of Newcastle in Australia , seeks to study the regulation of gene transcription in a model bacterium: Bacillus subtilis. The knowledge obtained will lead to applications in the areas of health and the environment, with potential new strategies to combat disease-causing bacteria . The European Union is contributing €12 million (AU$19 million) to the project over a four-year period.

The BaSysBio project will use novel biotechnologies applied to the model bacterium Bacillus subtilis to gain insight into the global structure of the regulatory networks that control the bacterial molecular machine .

By bringing together the best teams in Europe and Australia, specialising in different fields (from molecular biology to bioinformatics), the project will design and adapt high-throughput technologies to facilitate quantitative measurements, and to subsequently develop predictive mathematical models that will make it possible to interpret the experimental data obtained.

Bacillus subtilis has considerable economic potential as a producer of enzymes and metabolites used by a wide range of industries, extending from the pharmaceutical and chemical to the agri-food sectors.

The methodologies and knowledge developed in this project will be applied to two disease-causing bacteria: Bacillus anthracis (responsible for anthrax) and Staphylococcus aureus (responsible for nosocomial infections). BaSysBio will contribute to the development of new biomarkers, enabling advanced tests for detecting such virulent bacteria. The project will also lead to a better understanding of pathogenesis and to the identification of more effective targets for anti-infection drugs, making it possible to address the phenomena of increasing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics.

By developing a better understanding of the systems that allow microbes to adapt to their environment, BaSysBio will facilitate, for example, the exploitation of the ability of micro-organisms to clean up polluted environments.

www.basysbio.eu

Development and test of a new treatment for prostate cancer

DENDRITOPHAGES (Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines) is a FP6 collaborative project between four academic teams from Australia , Austria , Germany and Italy and two SMEs (French and Italian). The project aims to develop a new vaccine technology using a type of white blood cells (Dendritic Dells, DC) for cancer therapy. It works to demonstrate the immune and clinical efficacy, reproducibility and feasibility of anticancer cell vaccines by choosing the best dendritic cell vaccination strategy via adequate pre-clinical studies: DC differentiation and maturation, tumour antigen selection and loading, dose delivery, site and vaccination schedule. Researchers monitor the immune response in correlation with the clinical response after defining the most relevant immuno-monitoring techniques, and will demonstrate the immunological efficacy of DC immunotherapy in prostate cancer.

The goal of anticancer therapeutic vaccines is to prevent metastasis development and tumour progression, as well as provide patients with long-term protection. Clinical studies have shown that there are no side effects associated with this type of treatment, and that immune and clinical responses can be achieved where patients show resistance to conventional therapies.

Results from the project have shown excellent safety and the creation of immune responses after vaccination, as well as positive clinical responses in some of the patients. One patient even showed complete regression of metastases four months after the last vaccination, while other patients showed stabilisation of the disease.

The research group has compared several technologies for obtaining DCs and selected the most appropriate for clinical trial practices. Initial results have been confirmed on a randomised clinical study. The results of this study are based on 49 treated patients, with 15 patients having completed the cycle of six DC vaccinations, with the others progressing due to late stage of the disease. No severe side effects have been related to the therapeutic protocol nor to the DC product. Fourteen patients initiated a T-cell immune response against the antigens presented and ten patients had disease stabilisation. Studies are ongoing in colorectal and prostate cancer.

Australia is the only non-EU collaborator and Associate Professor Miles Prince at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (PeterMac) is the principal investigator. His team is tracking the vaccine once administered to the patient. The aim of tracking is to determine the strategy which is most effective in delivering DCs. The data is being correlated with immunological data examining immune responses to vaccination. This information will be used in conjunction with the pre-clinical data being generated by the European partners to develop an optimised vaccination strategy using DC vaccines for prostate cancer.

GenoMEL - genetic and environmental risk factors for melanoma

GenoMEL is an international research consortium working on the genetics of melanoma, a form of cancer that develops in the pigment producing cells of the skin. At its core are most of the world's leading melanoma genetics research centres. Australia , with groups from Brisbane and Sydney, plays an important role in the project which brings together 22 participants from Europe , North America and Israel . The consortium has incorporated many new complementary centres and disciplines. New members have been found in the diverse fields of molecular genetics, psycho-oncology, multi-media design and medical ethics. A partnership has also been formed with a commercial molecular genetics company to assist in the identification of new melanoma genes.

The first aim of GenoMEL was to establish the proportion of melanoma families with inherited mutations in the p16 gene, the first established melanoma susceptibility gene. At the inception of the consortium, the number of families with established mutations was low. Considerable progress was made in identifying new mutations, which has slowly increased the proportion of families with identifiable mutations. The second aim of GenoMEL is to identify other melanoma susceptibility genes, to understand the impact of inheritance of mutations of gene p16 on melanoma risk and risk of other cancers, and finally investigate the relationship between melanoma susceptibility genes and moles.

The project also studies the influence of the environment on melanoma, in particular via a common questionnaire measuring sun exposure, personal and family history of cancer, phenotyping data (moles count, hair colour, freckling) and results of mutation screening of a blood sample. Early data also suggest that families have increased risk of cancers related to their exposure to smoking or drinking. It is GenoMEL's hypothesis that health education designed to prevent melanoma will be more effective if directed towards those at increased risk. This hypothesis will be tested by questionnaire studies in families and in general populations by correlating the estimation of self-risk with reported behaviour. Finally this risk estimation tool will be published to the community.

www.genomel.org

DESIRE for sustainable land use

The DESIRE project aims to establish alternative land use and management conservation strategies in sixteen degradation and desertification hotspots around the world, based on a collaboration between scientists and local stakeholder groups. Funded under FP6, the DESIRE project is international, bringing together 28 research institutes, including Deakin University in Australia , non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and policy-makers. This participatory approach ensures the acceptability and feasibility of conservation techniques, as well as a sound scientific basis for the effectiveness at various scales. DESIRE employs a bottom-up approach, driven by the stakeholders.

Amongst the numerous consequences of climate change, creeping desertification around the world affects more than 250 million people. This newly launched research project is working to fight the phenomenon with new conservation strategies.

The team of researchers encompasses a set of 18 so called " hotspot areas ", or study sites, around the globe, from southern Europe to Australia (Glenelg Hopkins region, Victoria ), Chile and the United States of America, that are affected by desertification related problems. The aim of the €9 million project is to develop alternative strategies for the use and protection of these vulnerable areas. These areas have varied socio-economic contexts in the form of land use and management and cover diverse climates and landscapes. This scope allows DESIRE to develop a " global laboratory " to apply both tested conservation and remediation measures, and find innovative approaches to combat desertification.

Ultimately, the DESIRE project should lead to practical guidelines for responsible land use.

www.desire-project.eu

Strategies for Australian researchers to work with Europe

- Perspective from Dr Mark Matthews

Dr Mark Matthews is the Executive Director of FEAST. Dr Matthews has recently been examining researchers' experiences in collaborating with Europe to develop better strategies for Australians to become more a part of Europe's international research programmes and to understand how to better work with Europe on research, science and technology.

In his consultations, Dr Matthews found that Australian researchers identified the following ten key success factors in building collaboration with Europe in a more 'self-reliant' manner.

1. Improve how we articulate project specific value propositions relating to international research cooperation. We need to get much better at appraising the benefits relative to the costs and in acting on these appraisals. In practice, this means paying far more attention to the range of benefits likely to be obtained. These benefits tend to take the form of gaining access to data that are costly to generate, and doing this several years before publication, plus tacit knowledge on how to interpret these data. Sometimes these data are generated by very expensive post R&D "demonstration" projects. If accessing such data is useful, and valuable in terms of research outcomes, then it is easier to work out whether or not it is worth bearing the transaction costs of international engagement as part of core business. We can do our own informal benefit-cost assessments - but not necessarily financial ones.
2. Be very clear about what the Australian team has to offer that is of use to the Europeans - this will usually be data that they don't have, proprietary analytical methods and the associated tacit knowledge. In some cases our geographical circumstances are key to what we have to offer. We are in the southern hemisphere, we have deserts and different flora and fauna and are surrounded by different oceanographic and atmospheric conditions. Our geology is older and more fragmented. Indeed, what strikes Australian's as the "tyranny of distance" can be an asset not a liability - we are good at science and innovation in very different geographical and geological circumstances.
3. A good strategic fit with the institution's mission can be critical - this will allow funding for international travel to be obtained internally. This is usually a far faster and more flexible source of support than seeking external funding.
4. Recognise that some of the key outcomes from your collaboration with the EU FP (in particular) will arise in the impact/relevance domain - not just in terms of academic publications. If relevance and impact do not feature strongly in your institution's current mission then the EU FP may not be that attractive an option for you in those areas where the work has a strong impact focus.
5. Bilateral research cooperation with researchers in individual Member States tends to complement multi-lateral EU FP collaboration, not substitute for it. Often, Australian partners are brought into FP consortia by an existing European research partner - who acts as your champion.
6. Be clear and realistic about the value propositions presented to business. Some leading global companies have, in reality, little interest in the IP that may be generated from international collaborative projects. Rather, they want to be engaged with internationally engaged researchers who will be able to alert them to rumours and intelligence on major breakthroughs - potentially disruptive technologies that pose risks to corporate net worth. Getting bogged down in negotiations over IP simply undermines this type of industry-academic engagement. Realism is essential.
7. Where possible commit to using and exploiting research capability that you currently have, or will have in the future, irrespective of whether you secure any additional external funding. This makes you a low risk partner in European eyes. This can be critical because they will have to make a special case for including Australians in the consortium.
8. Build your collaborative networks with Europe as part of a long-term strategy, avoid opportunistic searches for partners in Europe once a Framework Programme call has been published.
9. Senior researchers and research managers should not under-estimate the importance of face-to-face contacts with European Union officials. This is seen as a legitimate means of engaging with Brussels and obtaining intelligence on forthcoming initiatives and announcements.
10. If you are a senior researcher with an established track record put yourself forward as an expert evaluator for the FP. This is best done by registering via the online mechanism and then alerting your contacts in Brussels to the fact that you have registered.

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author

this page last updated July 21, 2009