INCO

The US Government and the European Commission with the Member States have nurtured their research and innovation systems to be highly productive, driven by excellence and geared towards answering societal needs and increasing economic productivity. It is well documented that increased international cooperation between science powerhouses is a global trend, and that this trend is accelerating with the rise of new science powers. International cooperation in research and innovation has the potential to multiply the return on investment gained from domestic public expenditure.

The project promises to strengthen European research capacity in the USA, promote competitiveness of European research and industry while informing and involving policy-makers and the general public.

Opening the UMI to European partners responds to the need for 21st Century interdisciplinary and multiregional collaboration regarding water sustainability. We have exhausted the 20th century paradigm of technocratic or institutional solutions and are compelled to apply multi-faceted approaches that combine physical, natural, and social sciences, along with governance perspectives.

International cooperation plays an increasingly important role in tackling the major European and global challenges. The 7th Framework Programme (FP7) strongly emphasis international cooperation, increasing international collaboration is implemented by targeting Third Countries and fostering strategic Science & Technology (S&T) cooperation with key Third Countries such as the United States will be particularly needed.

This project seeks to enhance the awareness of and participation in, by European scientists and research organisations, U.S. national collaborative funding schemes in order to help strengthen cooperative research with American counterparts under bilateral science and technology agreements. Because the U.S. federal research funding structure is highly decentralised with many different U.S. government scientific entities involved depending on the fields of interest, accessing potential opportunities requires a clear understanding of the various funding schemes available.