Brussels, 20 Dec 2004
Europe's leading marine research funding organisations are set to increase their joint activities following the launch of a three million euro ERA-NET scheme funded by the Commission.
MarinERA brings together 13 of the continent's leading funding agencies in the marine sciences, representing a combined annual investment of some 100 million euro. A further seven international research organisations and two national bodies are associated to the project.
The overall objective of the ERA-NET initiative is to strengthen the contribution of marine research to achieving the Lisbon, Barcelona and Gothenburg objectives by extracting maximum value from investments made at national level. This, say the participants, will be achieved by bringing together national funding agencies and research organisations to establish a system that complements the EU's research framework programme.
More detailed aims for the MarinERA partners include:
- mapping European marine research programmes and infrastructure to contribute to the development of a European Research Area (ERA) in this field;
- achieving a more cost effective use of Member State resources through improved networking;
- contributing to the development of a European marine research policy;
- providing a basis for the sharing of resources to address issues that are beyond the capabilities of individual Member States;
- advancing the mutual opening of national marine research programmes
For further information on the ERA-NET scheme, please visit:
http:///www.cordis.lu/coordination/era-ne t.htm
Item source: http:///dbs.cordis.lu/cgi-bin/srchidadb?C ALLER=NHP_EN_NEWS&ACTION=D&SESSION=&RCN= EN_RCN_ID:23102