The importance of international cooperation in research is evident from the metric that one quarter of scientific publications have international co-authorship, according to UNESCO. International collaboration and mobility have long been seen as key for successful research by offering opportunities for expanded approaches and diverse views, although working as a team while coming from different backgrounds, both cultural and educational, might pose certain particular challenges. Furthermore, the scale required for some scientific projects can surpass what is normally available to individual countries, making international cooperation a necessity to the advancement of knowledge in some fields.

Policy can be an important determinant of the opportunities for cooperation, both directly as research policy but also indirectly from decisions in other areas, which might for example hinder researcher mobility. Most recently, geopolitical factors have also re-asserted themselves as a major constraint. However, policy can also be a strong driver in fomenting collaboration across borders, as illustrated by the European Union's Horizon programme, or different cooperation agreements between Japan and the EU.

This 6th joint event organised by STOA and the Science and Technology in Society forum (STS forum) will look at international research cooperation through two prisms: a first session will discuss how policy can help promote research cooperation and what choices may be available in a fragmented world; while a second will explore best practices for successful international research cooperation, through concrete examples of actual practitioners from different areas of research.

Programme

15:00 - 15:20 Opening session

• Christian EHLER, MEP and STOA Chair
• KOMIYAMA Hiroshi, Chairman, Science and Technology in Society forum (STS forum)

15:20 - 16:10 Panel 1: International research cooperation - the policy dimension

Chair: Ivars IJABS, MEP, STOA Vice-Chair

• Signe RATSO, Deputy Director-General, DG for Research and Innovation, European Commission
  
• KIYOURA Takashi, Deputy Director General of Science and Technology Policy Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
• Lina GALVEZ MUNOZ, MEP, ITRE committee Vice-Chair, STOA Panel member
• Salvatore ARICO, Chief Executive Officer, International Science Council (ISC)

16:15 - 17:30 Panel 2: Practical examples of international research collaboration - key best practices

Chair: Pernille WEISS, MEP and STOA Panel member

• Thomas PICHLER, Professor, Faculty of Physics, University of Vienna
  
• NAKA Makiko, Executive Director, RIKEN
• Enrico DI PIETRO, Head of JT-60SA Unit, Fusion for Energy (F4E) and JT-60SA EU Project Manager, Broader Approach (BA)
• IMAZATO Kazuyuki, Director General of Representative Office in Europe, New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO)
  
• Marie-Beatrice MADEC, Innovation Valuation Assessment Director, SOLVAY

17:30 - 18:00 Closing remarks

• YAMAZAKI Takuya, Director-General, JETRO Brussels
• KAJI Misako, Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador for Science and Technology Cooperation
• Marc ANGEL, MEP and EP Vice-President responsible for STOA