The European Union has agreed to provide additional 40 million Euros to the international Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme. This new amount of funds will place the total amount of funds available under COST Programme in 250 M€ to disbursed until the end of FP7. COST Program funds research projects which bring together scientists from at least five countries and is one of the key elements of EU scientific cooperation.

The extra funding contribution to the international Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) programme, has been agreed over the COST Ministerial Conference organized by the Spanish Presidency of the European Union, held in Palma de Mallorca on June 15th.

Taking into account the progress of the COST operations in recent years and considering its future role in the European Research Area (ERA), the Ministerial Conference concluded that “COST has proved to be a flexible, fast, integrative, effective and efficient tool”. COST has been an essential tool helping to overcome the fragmentation of research in the ERA, in addition to supporting economic development and European competitiveness.

The total budget therefore allocated to COST Programme after this new contribution amount to 250 million Euro to be disbursed over the period of the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). The decision of increase COST budget was taken based on the positive results achieved in its mid-term review and some reforms carried out within COST to adjust its strategy, governance and research management.

As highlighted by the Spanish Secretary of State for Research, Felipe Pétriz, “the profound restructuring of the COST scientific domains has proved to be a major milestone for COST. It has launched COST into the future, facilitating the development of new ideas in the most promising fields of science. The restructuring was not obtained by simply reducing the number of COST domains, but by starting from a 'tabula rasa' and by establishing a completely new structure”.

COST Program is one of the main pillars of joint collaboration in research conducted in Europe, along with the actions carried out under the Framework Programmes (FP) and the EUREKA Programme, as it is designed to fund research projects which involve scientists from at least five countries.

The Conference also recognised the important role COST has to play in European science coordination. Due to its special position, “COST must continue and should be encouraged to develop as a European initiative and a mechanism of prime importance for the implementation and strengthening of the ERA”.

International Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Programme

COST is a collaboration of a total of 36 countries, including EU Member States, 8 Associated Countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Serbia and Turkey) and one cooperating state (Israel). It was set up in 1971 in order to expand and coordinate nationally funded research on a European level.

As one of the three pillars of joint European research - together with the Framework Programmes (FPs) and the EUREKA programme - COST provides funding for research projects that bring together scientists from at least five countries.

Currently, close to 300 projects in 9 key domains (biomedicine and molecular biosciences; food and agriculture; forests, their products and services; materials, physical and nanosciences; chemistry and molecular sciences and technologies; Earth system science and environmental management; information and communication technologies; transport and urban development; individuals, societies, cultures and health) are being carried out with support from COST.