COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) and the European Science

Foundation (ESF) have been informed by the European Commission Directorate-General for Research & Innovation of their decision to allocate an additional EUR 10 million to COST.

This latest allocation raises the total budget for COST to EUR 250 million which was the maximum initially envisaged by the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) subject to a midterm evaluation.

In 2010, the evaluation Expert Panel strongly recommended “that the appropriate process be put in place to allocate the additional EUR 40 million reserved in FP7 for COST”.

In April 2011, the European Commission already invested an additional EUR 30 million. The European Commission’s budget situation now allowed confirming the complementary EUR 10 million.

COST implements networking activities for researchers, contributing to the European Research Area (ERA) goals and participating in the delivery of the Europe 2020 agenda.

“This further increase in the COST budget reveals the European Commission’s trust in our intergovernmental framework’s ability to build excellence-driven networks by connecting highquality scientific communities through a bottom-up inclusive approach throughout Europe and worldwide. With these additional funds, COST will continue to invest in science and technology activities, thus reinforcing COST’s contribution to Europe’s research and innovation capacities by favouring trans-domain multidisciplinary networks and integrating the talent of the next generations,” comments Dr Ángeles Rodríguez-Peña, President of the COST Committee of Senior Officials (CSO).

“The ESF, as implementing agent for COST and the beneficiary of the COST II grant agreement with the European Commission, has indeed been asked to consider the additional annual financing of EUR 13.4 million when submitting the annual Work Programme from now on. We are already preparing the respective annual Amendment 2012 for a total of EUR 43.3 million in cooperation with the CSO and aim for a smooth approval process in June 2012,” adds Martin Hynes, Chief Executive of ESF.

“We are grateful that the ESF with the COST Office will continue to support us in achieving COST’s strategic goals and its shared values of excellence, integrity, commitment and teamwork,” concludes Dr Rodríguez-Peña.

Media contacts:

COST

Inge De Prins, COST Office PR and Communications Manager

inge.deprins@cost.eu | Tel: +32 (0)2 533 38 03 | Cell +32 (0)49452 40 87

ESF

Alistair Kent, Senior Consultant, Kaizo pr & digital communications

Alistair.Kent@kaizo.co.uk | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3176 4709

Shira Tabachnikoff, Head of Communications, European Science Foundation

stabachnikoff@esf.org | Tel: +33 388 767132

COST is the oldest and widest intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, making it possible for the various national universities, research organisations and private industry to work jointly on a wide range of Research and Development (R&D) activities contributing to integration of research communities and share, creation and use of knowledge. COST is presently used by the scientific communities of 36 European countries to cooperate in more than 250 research networks (called COST Actions) that leverage national research funds. www.cost.eu

The European Science Foundation (ESF) was established in 1974 to provide a common platform for its Member Organisations to advance European research collaboration and explore new directions for research. It is an independent organisation, owned by 72 Member Organisations, which are research funding organisations, research performing organisations and academies from 30 countries. ESF promotes collaboration in research itself, in funding of research and in science policy activities at the European level. www.esf.org