evaluation of activities with recommendations for future actions · 2017. 10. 16. · ippt-pan...

STI International Cooperation Network for Central Asian Countries

Evaluation of Activities with Recommendations for Future Actions

Scientific Coordinator Administrative Coordinator

IncoNet CA received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 609508.

“STI International Cooperation Network for Central Asian Countries – IncoNet CA”

Evaluation of Activities with Recommendations for future actions



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AbstractThis document presents a thorough evaluation of the outcome of the co-ordinating activities of the IncoNet CA project with an explicit focus on the Societal Challenges (SC) identified to be of mutual interest for the EU and CA countries, i.e. Energy, Climate Change and Health. In addition, a set of recommendations on EU-CA Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) co-operation are presented, including topics of mutual interest per SC, best means of research cooperation, promotion of innovation in CA, and drivers of EU-CA research cooperation.

Writing TeamGeorge Bonas (CeRISS), Yannis Kechagiaras (CeRISS), Anastasia Vlyzioti (CeRISS), Randa Ahmed (United Nations University), Sabine Klasen (Unit-ed Nations University), Hendrik Meurs (DLR)

EditorCeRISS - Centre for Regional and International STI Studies and Support

Pal. Benizelou 2, 105 56 Athens, Greece

(+30) 210 3210779

(+30) 210 3210657

[email protected]

www.ceriss.eu

Permissions for reproduction Reproductions are permitted under the condition to explicitly state the fol-lowing reference:

Bonas, G., Kechagiaras, Y., Vlyzioti, A., Randa A., Sabine K., Meurs H. (2016): “IncoNet CA”, Evaluation of Activities with Recommendations for future actions. Prepared under the FP7 INCONET CA Project, Centre for Regional & International STI Studies & Support (CeRISS), Athens, Greece


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IncoNet CA Consortium

LIST OF PARTNERS

EU Member States/Associated Countries and International Organizations

Scientific Coordinator Acronym Country

Centre for Regional and International STI Studies and Support

CeRISS Greece

Administrative Coordinator Acronym Country

Instytut Podstawowych Problemow Techniki Polskiej Akademii Nauk

IPPT-PAN Poland

Organization Name Acronym Country

Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan

ASRT Tajikistan

Central Asian Agency of Cooperation for Development

CAACD Kyrgyzstan

Centre for Social Innovation ZSI Austria

Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt

DLR Germany

Eurasian Institute of International Relations

EIMO Kyrgyzstan

GRANT Garant s.r.o. GG Czech Republic

Independent Expert Consulting Board to Promote Scientific Research Activity in Kazakhstan

InExCB-Kz Kazakhstan


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Organization Name Acronym Country

Indo-Uzbek Centre for promotion of S&T Cooperation

IUCP-T Uzbekistan

National Agency for Technological Development JSC

NATD Kazakhstan

Regional Centre for Information and Scientific Development Ltd

RCISD Hungary

Sihtasutus Eesti Teadusagentuur ETAg Estonia

Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação, Consultadoria Empresarial e Fomento da Inovação, S.A.

SPI Portugal

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey

TUBITAK Turkey

United Nations University, Vice Rectorate in Europe

UNU International Organisation


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Table of Contents

ABBREVIATIONS.......................................................................................................... 9

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................................11

BACKROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT ................................................13

1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 17

2. METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................19

3. EVALUATION OF THE COORDINATING ACTIVITIES ΟΝ ENERGY, CLIMATE CHANGE & HEALTH .............................................................................................22

3.1 ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE ACTIVITIES .............................................................23

3.1.A CO-PUBLICATION ANALYSIS ...............................................................23

ENERGY................................................................................................... 24

CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................................................25

HEALTH ...................................................................................................26

3.1.B IDENTIFICATION OF ACTIONS AND STAKEHOLDERS........................ 27

ENERGY................................................................................................... 27

CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................................................28

HEALTH ...................................................................................................29

3.2 POLICY DIALOGUE ACTIVITIES .....................................................................30

3.2.A POLICY STAKEHOLDERS CONFERENCES ......................................... 31

ENERGY................................................................................................... 31

CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................................................32

HEALTH ...................................................................................................33

MAIN IMPACT OF PSCS ..........................................................................34

3.2.B WORKSHOP ON THE STATE OF AFFAIRS AND FUTURE OF THE EU-CA STI COOPERATION ...............................................................34

3.2.C WORKSHOP FOR THE FUTURE OF WATER RELATED RESEARCH COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE EU & CENTRAL ASIA WITH RECOMMENDATIONS .............................................................................35

3.3 OTHER COORDINATION & SUPPORT ACTIVITIES ........................................ 37


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3.3.A PILOT ACTION ON TWINNING GRANTS FOR EU-CA RESEARCH INSTITUTES ............................................................................................. 37

ENERGY/CLIMATE CHANGE ...................................................................38

HEALTH ...................................................................................................38

3.3.B FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR THE PARTICIPATION OF CA COUNTRIES IN EU FUNDING MECHANISMS .............................................................38

3.3.C COOPERATION WITH INNOVATION PLATFORMS ...............................39

3.3.D GRANTS FOR THE PARTICIPATION OF CA IN BROKERAGE EVENTS IN EU ......................................................................................... 41

ENERGY................................................................................................... 41

CLIMATE CHANGE ..................................................................................42

HEALTH ...................................................................................................43

MAIN CONCLUSIONS FOR THE GRANT SCHEME .................................45

3.3.E REPORT ON THE THEMATIC NCPS IN CA ..........................................45

4. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ACTIONS ................................................... 47

4.1 TOPICS OF MUTUAL EU-CA INTEREST .........................................................48

4.1.A ENERGY...............................................................................................48

4.1.B CLIMATE CHANGE ..............................................................................49

4.1.C HEALTH ...............................................................................................52

4.2 BEST MEANS OF EU-CA RESEARCH COOPERATION ...................................53

4.3 PROMOTION OF INNOVATION IN CA ............................................................ 57

4.4 DRIVERS OF EU-CA RESEARCH COOPERATION ..........................................59

5. CONCLUSIONS .................................................................................................... 61


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Abbreviations

ASRT Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan

BE Brokerage Event

CA Central Asia

CCAFS Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security

COST European Cooperation in Science & Technology

CSA Coordination & Support Actions

EIPs European Innovation Partnerships

EIT European Institute of Innovation & Technology

ENEA Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development

ENVSEC Environment and Security Initiative

ERA European Research Area

ERANET Research Networks of the European Research Area

ESFRI The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastruc-tures

ETPs European Technological Platforms

ETIPs European Technological and Innovation Platforms

EU MS/AC European Union Member States & Associated Coun-tries

EUSEW European Sustainable Energy Week

FP7 7th European Union Framework Programme for Re-search & Innovation

GFSR Global Food Security Response

HARC Healthy Ageing Research Centre

ICT Information and communications technology

IncoNet CA STI International Cooperation Network for Central Asian Countries

IncoNet CA/SC S&T International Cooperation Network for Central Asian Countries, South Caucasus and Moldova


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IncoNet EECA S&T International Cooperation Network for Eastern Eu-ropean and Central Asian Countries

INOGATE Energy Technical Assistance Programmes in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia

ISTC International Science and Technology Center

JPI Joint Programming Initiative

KG Kyrgyzstan

KICs Knowledge & Innovation Communities

KZ Kazakhstan

MSCA Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions

NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organisation

NCP National Contact Point for “Horizon 2020”

PSC Policy Stakeholders Conference

R&D Research & Development

SET Plan Strategic Energy Technology Plan

SC Societal Challenge

STI Science, Technology & Innovation

TJ Tajikistan

TRL Technology Readiness Level

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UZ Uzbekistan

WHO World Health Organization


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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report is based on the Deliverable of IncoNet CA “Del. 1.6 – Evalua-tion Report of the Coordinating Activities with Recommendations for fu-ture actions”. It is a comprehensive evaluation of the outcomes of the Coordination and Support Activities (CSA) on Energy, Climate Change and Health (3 Societal Challenges) of the project along its duration (Sep. 2013-Sept. 2016). In addition, it presents recommendations based on the con-clusions of Expert Group meetings, conducted in 2016, during which ex-perts provided recommendations for future thematic activities and actions addressing the EU- CA STI Cooperation.

The analysis of the outcome of the activities of IncoNet CA on the three SCs demonstrated the state of affairs of Energy, Climate Change and Health research and innovation in CA countries but also in CA as a region, as well as the state of affairs of EU-CA STI cooperation on Energy, Climate Change and Health. It also allowed for a critical review of the main activities of the project targeting EU-CA cooperation.

The explicit focus of the IncoNet CA activities on the three SCs allowed for a deeper understanding of the most and the least active SCs in EU-CA STI cooperation, in scientific co-publications with CA but also in funding programmes in CA. It also allowed to focus on mobilising researchers and scientists from these three SCs from both the EU and CA. It gave the oppor-tunity to focus on the stimulation of synergies at the level of joint projects. Finally, it helped to bring closer policy-makers related to these three SCs both from the EU and CA countries, and discuss the challenges and oppor-tunities for future EU-CA cooperation.

The whole set of CSA activities implemented by IncoNet CA revealed the main key/hot issues related to Energy, Climate Change and Health in Cen-tral Asia that would necessitate research collaboration with the European Research Area (ERA).

This report is expected to provide the following impact:

– Support the STI decision-making and decision-shaping of the Euro-pean Commission, the EU MS/AC and CA countries;

– Feed into the policy dialogue between the EU and CA with a view to future STI cooperation;


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– Provide evidence for future actions to be taken up by the forthcom-ing Work Programmes of Horizon 2020 or other EU and CA pro-grammes;

– Facilitate the cooperation among the scientific communities of the EU and CA.


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BACKROUND INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT

The IncoNet CA project – “STI International Cooperation Network for Cen-tral Asian Countries”- supported the advancement of the bi-regional Sci-ence, Technology & Innovation (STI) policy dialogue between the EU and the Central Asian countries, with an explicit focus on the Societal Chal-lenges (SCs) that have been identified to be of mutual interest for the two regions, namely, Climate Change, Energy and Health.

The project was implemented by a large consortium of 16 entities from both EU Member States & Associated Countries and CA covering a broad spectrum of competences (i.e. governmental agencies, research organiza-tions, National Contact Points for STI, innovation actors, etc.).

To achieve its goals, the project adopted a multi-layer approach, focusing on:

– Policy Dialogue

– Supporting the participation of CA researchers in H2020;

– Promoting innovation in the EU-CA STI cooperation.

A. Promotion of Policy DialogueFirst, to promote the EU – CA policy dialogue in STI, the project organized a series of Policy Stakeholders Conferences (PSCs) involving policy makers, representatives of the research communities, as well as representatives of innovation-related structures. These conferences highlighted the common STI interests and strengths and provided recommendations for enhanced EU-CA cooperation in the fields of Climate Change, Energy and Health re-search. The project also implemented an STI Policy Mix Peer Review in Kyrgyzstan which illustrated the interest of this country to implement re-forms in its STI system based on the EU’s expertise and methodology. Last but not least, in the context of the policy dialogue activities the project promoted the participation of CA countries in co-fund schemes with the EU, such as in ERANETs and JPIs. Negotiations are ongoing to initiate such participation.

The preparation of these policy dialogue activities was based on analyti-cal work implemented by the project and, in particular, on the co-publica-tion analysis between EU and CA as well as on the mapping exercise of


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funded STI projects (multilateral, bilateral & national) involving EU and CA researchers.

B. Promotion of H2020Second, to support the participation in H2020, the IncoNet CA organized a broad spectrum of activities, including grants for twinning between EU and CA research institutes/teams and grants for individual researchers to attend Brokerage Events and conferences in EU. Additionally, the project organised information days on H2020 in all the CA countries, including dedicated activities for supporting the CA NCPs. Specific attention was given to the participation of young researchers in this type of events.

C. Promotion of InnovationThird, to support innovation, the project promoted the establishment of links between the European Technology Platforms, the Joint Technological Initiatives in EU, the Knowledge Innovation Communities and the Enter-prise Europe Network with the CA countries through missions between the two regions. In parallel, trainings on innovation management and entre-preneurship were organized in CA, to share the experience of the EU in that field, including a stakeholders’ conference on the European Innova-tion Scoreboard and the Innovation Trend Chart (ITC).

Last, the project, along its duration, delivered a set of ad-hoc activities to address raised needs and support specific requests from the European Commission and from the CA national authorities.

D. Impact of IncoNet CAIncoNet CA has contributed to the creation of stronger links among EU and CA STI policy stakeholders, contributing to the aims of the European Strategy for a New Partnership with Central Asia as well as its latest Re-view (Council Conclusions 2015). The project acted as a “policy dialogue bridge” between the two regions with its cumulative activities –such as the major Policy Stakeholders Conferences, the STI Policy Mix Peer Review in Kyrgyzstan, and the ad hoc policy dialogue activities– having a political and societal impact both in the short and the long term.

In addition, one should mention the high interest from the CA national authorities in the main activities and results of the project as this was il-lustrated by the high-level participation in the organized events (often at ministerial level) and the hosting of the first Policy Stakeholders Confer-ence at the premises of the Kyrgyz Parliament.

One of the key conclusions of the IncoNet CA analytical evidence activities


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was the importance of the topic of water in Central Asia not only because its management constitutes a source of instability in the region but also because Central Asia presents unique characteristics (CA mountain gla-ciers, Aral sea, etc.) that the European scientific community would have a vested interest in investigating, in full accordance with the established Water Diplomacy Strategy of the European Union of 2013. After consulta-tions with the European Commission, the IncoNet CA project organized an Ad-hoc “Workshop for the Future of Water-related Research Collaboration between the EU & Central Asia” that served to elaborate concrete recom-mendations and open the door for future structured cooperation in H2020 and beyond.

The IncoNet CA project identified and addressed with different activities the following target groups:

– Policy-making: European and international policy committees and bod-ies (relevant EC Directorates, European Parliament), as well as national ministries and research and innovation councils in the CA countries and EU MS/AC;

– Policy-delivery: funding bodies, intermediary organisations and pro-gramme managing authorities in CA countries and EU MS/AC, as well as at the European level (incl. Community programmes, initiatives and platforms such as DCI, Tempus and Erasmus Mundus Programme, EIT, ETPs, JTI, KIC etc.), relevant European (e.g. EIB, EBRD/ETC Initiative and Multi-Donor Cooperation) and multinational financing institutions (e.g. OSCE, World Bank, ISTC, ADB) and the UN level (e.g. UNDP, UNESCO, UNECE and UNIDO);

– Research organisations and universities: Researchers and research managers from the academic sector both in the EU (incl. JRC) and CA countries with a focus on the three selected societal challenges;

– Research-based companies: Researchers and research managers from the industrial sector from the CA countries and intermediary organi-sations such as EEN with a focus on the three selected societal chal-lenges;

– Project coordinators: Coordinators of relevant EU projects targeting CA countries in the three selected societal challenges (unilateral, bilateral or multilaterally funded)

– NCPs: NCP systems in the CA countries but also in EU MS/AC;


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1. INTRODUCTION

The IncoNet CA project aims to support the advancement of the bi-regional Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy dialogue between the EU and the Central Asia countries, with an explicit focus on the Societal Chal-lenges (SC) that have been identified to be of mutual interest for the two regions, namely, Climate Change, Energy and Health.

In the predecessor FP Projects (IncoNet EECA1 and IncoNet CA/SC2 projects) the issue of Societal Challenges (SC) attracted particular attention: a pre-liminary investigation on national policies was implemented and resulted in the identification of SCs that were considered of major importance by the CA countries, namely Climate Change, Energy and Health.

In continuation of the previous projects, the present IncoNet CA project supported a whole set of activities with particular emphasis on these three SCs. Throughout the IncoNet CA activities, a linkage was ensured between these three SCs and the relevant SCs of the EU’s Framework Programme on Research and Innovation “Horizon 2020”3.

In this report, a thorough evaluation of the outcomes of the set of the Coordination and Support Activities (CSA) on the three SCs is performed. In addition, recommendations are presented based on the conclusions of Expert Group meetings on Energy (25 April 2016, Athens), Climate Change (17 May 2016, Bonn) and Health (19 May 2016, Bonn) during which the-matic experts as well as IncoNet CA consortium partners participated in order to provide recommendations for future thematic activities and ac-tions addressing the EU- CA STI Cooperation on the three SCs.

In particular, this report is expected to have the following results:

– Evaluation of the main results of the implemented CSA activities on the three SCs with regard to their outcome;

1. More information about the Project “IncoNet EECA” can be found at http://www.inco-eap.net/en/99.php.

2. More information about the Project “IncoNet CA/SC” can be found at http://www.inco-ca.net/en/119.php.

3. The exact designation of the relevant H2020 SCs are “Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy”, “Climate Action, Environment, Resource Efficiency and Raw Materials”, and “Health, Demographic Change and Wellbeing”


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– Identification of topics of particular interest and trends that were iden-tified as of high relevance in EU-CA cooperation with usable conclu-sions;

– Identification of main/key CA STI players active in the EU-CA STI Coop-eration in the three SCs;

– Recommendations based on the overall experience of the project for the future EU-CA STI cooperation through concrete actions, in particu-lar, with regard to topics of mutual interest, potential means of STI co-operation, promotion of innovation and drivers of EU-CA research coop-eration.

The report is divided in three (3) chapters. In Chapter 1, the methodology for the preparation of this report is explained. In Chapter 2, an evaluation of the main outcomes of the IncoNet CA activities on the three SCs is pre-sented. The main outcomes are divided in analytical evidence activities, policy dialogue activities, and other CSA (e.g. twinning grants, grants for participation in Brokerage Events (BEs), etc.). In Chapter 3, recommenda-tions for the EU-CA STI cooperation are presented based on input from EU and CA experts on Energy, Climate Change and Health.


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2. METHODOLOGY

The preparation of this report followed two main stages. At the first stage, three evaluation reports were prepared with the main outcomes of the IncoNet CA Project (one per SC). At the second stage, three expert group meetings took place in order to discuss the main findings of the evalua-tion reports as well as to provide concrete recommendations for EU-CA cooperation (one meeting per SC).

Thereafter, the three evaluation reports and the output of the three expert group meetings were combined together with the aim of preparing this report.

2.1 STAGE ONE (EVALUATION REPORTS)

The main focus of the three evaluation reports is on the major activities of the IncoNet CA Project which are the Analytical Evidence activities, the Policy Dialogue activities, and other Coordination and Support Activities (CSA) related to Energy, Climate Change and Health. It is a horizontal ap-proach in order to evaluate topics of particular interest, most active ac-tors/stakeholders and trends that were identified as of high relevance in EU- CA cooperation along the duration of the project. Provided that not all the activities of the project were oriented to the three SCs, a selection was made.

In particular, the following activities are selected and included in all the three evaluation reports:

• Analytical Evidence Activities are, namely, the bibliometric analysis of joint EU-CA scientific publications, and the identification of actions and stakeholders (multilateral, bilateral and national programmes and projects in CA);

• Policy Dialogue Activities were supported through three Policy Stake-holders Conferences (PSCs) in addressing EU-CA Energy, Climate Change and Health research and innovation cooperation (Astana, Octo-ber 2015; Bishkek, September 2014; Warsaw, May 2016, respectively). On request from the European Commission, two ad-hoc activities were delivered with the aim to support the policy dialogue between the EU and CA countries on the three SCs and these are: The workshop on


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the “State of Affairs and Future of EU - Central Asia STI cooperation on Climate Change, Energy & Health” (Brussels, September 2015) & the workshop for “The Future of water-related research collaboration with Central Asia” (Athens, April 2016);

• Other Support and Coordination Activities implemented by the project are the twinning grants for research institutes, the feasibility study for the participation of CA countries in EU funding mechanisms (ERANETs/Joint Programming Initiatives), the CA cooperation with innovation plat-forms, the grants for the participation of CA researchers in BEs (Broker-age Events) in EU and the report on thematic National Contact Points (NCPs) in CA.

Continuous communication with the Task Leaders was necessary in order to gather all the updated input in view of drafting the three evaluation reports.

Below follows the list of activities included in the evaluation report. The main source of information can be found in parenthesis:

A. Evaluation of Analytical Evidence Activitiesi. Outcome of the co-publication analysis (Report and public presenta-

tions in PPT);

ii. Outcome of the identification of actions and stakeholders (Deliverable 1.1)

B. Evaluation of Policy Dialogue Activities i. Outcome of the Policy Stakeholders Conference (PSC) on Energy, As-

tana, October 2015 (Conclusions of the PSCs/Deliverable 3.2);

ii. Outcome of the Policy Stakeholders Conference (PSC) on Climate Change, Bishkek, September 2014 (Conclusions of the PSCs/Deliver-able 3.1);

iii. Outcome of the Policy Stakeholders Conference (PSC) on Health, War-saw, May 2016 (Conclusions of the PSCs/Deliverable 3.3);

iv. Outcome of the workshop “State of Affairs and Future of EU - Cen-tral Asia science, technology and innovation cooperation on Climate Change, Energy & Health” (Brussels, September 2015; Conclusions of Workshop);

v. Outcome of the workshop for “The Future of Water Related Research Collaboration Between the EU & Central Asia” (Athens, April 2016; Con-clusions of the Workshop).


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C. Evaluation of Coordination & Support Activities i. Outcome of the pilot action on twinning grants for research institutes

(Interim report with excel statistics);

ii. Outcome of the feasibility study for the participation of CA countries in EU funding mechanisms (ERANETs/JPIs) in the 3 SCs (Deliverable 1.4);

iii. Outcome of cooperation with innovation platforms (Press releases pub-lished in the project’s web portal www.increast.eu );

iv. Outcome of the grants for the participation of CA in Brokerage Events in EU (Deliverable 4.3);

v. Outcome of the report on the thematic NCPs in CA (Deliverable 4.2).

2.2 STAGE TWO (EXPERT GROUP MEETINGS)

One ad-hoc expert group meeting was performed for each of the three SCs, involving high representatives from institutes, research centres and universities from both the EU and CA countries. The aim of the meetings was to discuss the outcomes of the three evaluation reports of the project (see paragraph 2.1) and provide recommendations for EU-Central Asia Co-operation in the three SCs. Each expert group meeting involved 15 experts with an average CA-EU M/S ration 2:3.

The evaluation reports were forwarded to the identified experts well in advance before the expert group meetings for their information. Experts were invited to fill in a template with their ideas on the main topics of the agenda of the meetings one week before.

Based on their experience, experts made recommendations related to strengthening the EU-CA Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation in the following fields:

– Topics of mutual interest on Energy, Climate Change and Health;

– Means of EU-CA research Cooperation;

– Promotion of Innovation in CA;

– Drivers of Cooperation.

The conclusions of the three expert group meetings were drafted and sent back to the relevant experts in order for them to make final remarks or critical comments.


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3. EVALUATION OF THE COORDINATING ACTIVITIES ΟΝ ENERGY, CLIMATE CHANGE & HEALTH

This chapter presents the main outcomes of the evaluation reports of the Coordinating and Support Activities of the IncoNet CA project on Energy, Climate Change and Health.

The aim of the evaluation reports was to draw some concrete results/find-ings related to the three SCs out of the whole set of activities of the In-coNet CA Project. In particular, related to:

- the state of affairs of the Energy, Climate Change and Health research and innovation in CA countries but also in CA as a region;

- the state of affairs of EU-CA STI cooperation on Energy, Climate Change and Health;

- the main results of the activities of IncoNet CA dedicated to the three SCs.

Below, follows a presentation of the main outcomes of the evaluation re-ports of the three SCs on (a) the analytical evidence activities, (b) the policy dialogue activities and (c) other coordination and support activities.


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3.1 ANALYTICAL EVIDENCE ACTIVITIES

Analytical Evidence Activities consist of activities providing analysis and monitoring of the current state of cooperation between EU and CA as well as trends for future cooperation. The following two IncoNet CA analytical evidence activities focused on the three SCs.

First, the Co-publication Analysis provided an evidence-based approach for the identification of active researchers co-publishing with EU counterparts (and their affiliated institutions) focusing on Energy, Climate Change and Health.

Second, the identification of actions and stakeholders (mapping exercise) presents an accurate overview of research funding as well as of the rel-evant EU-CA stakeholders related to multilateral, bilateral and national programmes and projects in the fields of Energy, Climate Change and Health.

3.1.a Co-publication analysisBibliometric co-publication analyses on Energy, Climate Change and Health between EU/MS - CA countries have been conducted based on Elsevier’s Scopus and Thomson-Reuters Web of Science (WoS).

The data were retrieved in May 2014 for the time period 2003-2013. Co-publications are considered to be the international scientific co-publica-tions with the participation of at least two institutions/organisations in at least two different countries of which one has to be a CA country.

Energy is defined as ‘’Applied Sciences’’ Domain, ‘’Enabling and Strategic Technologies’’ Field and ‘’Energy’’ Sub-Field.

Climate Change includes “Climate Change” and “Global Warming” in ab-stract, title or key-words.

Health is defined as Science Metrix Domain “Health Sciences”.

From 2003 to 2013, out of 14,725 co-publications, co-publications related to Energy were 1,008, co-publications on Climate Change were only 130, while finally 2,147 of all co-publications were related to Health.


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EnergyIn particular, during this period, CA energy-related co-publications con-stantly increase (from 10 to 48 per year). A deeper analysis for each CA Country shows that Uzbekistan has a high share in co-publications, while Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan follow.

In general, the most important co-publication partners with the CA coun-tries in the field of energy are Russia, the EU28, and the US. The first EU country with the highest co-publications’ number is the United Kingdom. Germany and France follow. Institutions with highest output in energy are the Academies of Sciences and the State Universities. Uzbekistan Acade-my of Sciences is the strongest organisation in “Energy” co-publications in the whole region, responsible for almost half of the publications from CA.

Most used author key-words in CA publications related to “energy” (2003-2013) (Source: WoS+Scopus)

The most author-used key-words in CA energy-related publications are:

– Energy Efficiency;

– Coal/Coke;

– Fuels;

– Solar energy;

– Hydrogen;

– Renewable energy resources.


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Climate ChangeAs it was mentioned above, looking at the total publications on Climate Change, it can be concluded that the scientific publication output has been low with a total number of 130 publications (out of a total of 14.725), focusing mainly on Water management/supply. 90 of them have been co-published, revealing that they are more internationalized than the average of other areas/STIs. Country wise, Uzbekistan has been most involved in publications surrounding Climate Change; Turkmenistan the least.

While the regional co-publication output has been relatively small, the most important Climate Change publication partners were Germany (33 pub.) and the US (30 pub.), followed by the United Kingdom (14 pub), Switzerland (12 pub), and Russia (11 pub.). Especially since 2010, the Climate Change publication collaboration with EU MS/AC exceeded the one with the US and Russia, making the EU a driver of climate change research in CA.

Most used author key-words related to “Climate Changge”, (2003-2013)(Source: WoS+Scopus)

The most author used key-words in CA climate change-related publications are:

– Water;

– Temperature;

– Energy;

– Change;

– Irrigation;

– Model;

– Climate.


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HealthThe publication output has been growing continuously over the years 2003-2013 in Health and the share of not co-published and co-published papers has grown to the same extent.

Most co-publications on health are published with partners from the Unit-ed States, followed by Japan, Russia and Germany. However summing up the 28 countries of the European Union and the countries associated to the EU into one group, this becomes the strongest partner by far.

Co-publications with Kazakh or Uzbek participation together account for more than 85% of the total amount of co-publications with CA participation on health. While the two countries each achieve more than 40% of the to-tal amount, the according figure for Kyrgyzstan is only around 7% and a bit over 5% for Tajikistan. Only 1% of the health-related co-publications from Central Asia is published with participation of Turkmen scientists.

Most used author key-words in CA publications related to “Health” (2003-2013) (Source: WoS+Scopus)

Most used key-words in CA health-related publications are:

– Prevalence (91),

– Genotype (49),

– Unclassified drug (47),

– Metabolism (40),

– Mortality (35),

– Tuberculosis (32) and

– Disease association (29).


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3.1.b Identification of Actions and stakeholdersThe IncoNet CA project has identified and screened a large number of multilateral, bilateral and national programmes, projects ongoing or at least ending from 2010 onwards and stakeholders related to Central Asia countries addressing the three SCs, namely, Climate Change, Energy and Health. This activity constitutes a mapping exercise the results of which have become an accessible public database available at the following link http://www.increast.eu/en/2013.php. The database has also been broadly used in order to involve the identified EU and CA organisations and stakeholders in IncoNet CA activities such as the twinning grants, the grants for BEs, the Policy Stakeholders Conferences, etc.

Below follows a presentation of the main results of the mapping exercise on multilateral funding in CA.

Out of 203 projects related to the EU-CA STI cooperation funded by inter-national programmes during the period 2010 onwards, more than 47% (95 projects) are related to Climate Change, 34% (70 projects) to Health and 19% (38 projects) to Energy. These findings demonstrate the trend under international funding in Central Asia: Climate Change is dominant, Health is following with a high percentage, while Energy has a lower abso-lute number in international projects.

It is important to mention that several identified projects included more than one CA country.

EnergyIn Energy, Kazakhstan seems to be the most active country in receiving international funding in the region and, in particular, mostly from GFSR, INOGATE and UNDP. UNDP has also considerable presence in other CA countries except for Turkmenistan.

The major thematic categories/keywords found per international donor were the following;

• For FP7: Clean coal technologies, Renewable Sources of Energy, energy efficiency policies;

• For UNDP: Energy-efficient design, Small-scale hydropower (SHP), Re-newable and Sustainable Energy, Rural Communities, Renewable en-ergy technologies, Sustainable small hydropower (SHP) electricity gen-eration, Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings;

• For INOGATE: Renewable Energy, Sustainable Energy Development, Investment Attraction, Climate Change, Waste management/disposal, Convergence of Energy Markets, Electricity, Energy Efficiency, Energy Security, Gas, Oil;


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• For GFSR: energy saving autonomous subsystems for satellite data transmission, silicon solar cells using a high-current low-energy heavy-ion accelerator, new biomass processing technologies, agricultural waste, biogas, thermo-sensitive polymers, nanostructured organic poly-mer photovoltaic cells (Solar Cells) to convert solar energy into electri-cal energy;

• For World Bank: Energy Loss Reduction, Energy Emergency Recovery Assistance;

• For ISTC: TRISO-coated fuel, very-high-temperature reactor (VHTR).

Climate ChangeIt can be concluded that Climate Change is dominant in international fund-ing with ENVSEC and UNDP in important roles in all five CA countries. FP7 and ISTC are very present in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, while the World Bank is more active in Tajikistan.

The major thematic categories/keywords found per international donor were the following;

• For FP7: Climate change & Carbon cycle research (Economic Aspects & Policies); Anthropogenic changes, anthropogenic land degradation, dust/salt deposits; Caspian Sea network, marine environmental data & information management, environmental challenges; GEO-technolo-gies, Cosmic rays, solar variability, non-anthropogenic climate changes; Critical environmental challenges & Environmental Protection;

• For ISTC: Genetic diversity, conservation, management, and sustain-able utilization of germplasm, Ozone; carbon dioxide; climate change; Issyk-Kul ; atmosphere; laboratory modernization; Toktogul; Water Res-ervoir; Naryn River; water; metamorphism; surface and ground water interaction; water balance; CFM; riparian territory; Atmospheric Brown Cloud; atmosphere; model; aerosol; solar radiation; Atmosphere; strat-osphere; mesosphere; photochemical process; landslide; hazard; as-sess; monitor; seismic model; rocks stress-strain; seismic; hazard; Tien Shan; Uranium wasts, reprocessing; change of climate, increase of temperature, water deficiency, atmospheric and soil drought, growth, development, productivity, genotypes, wheat; Aerosol Pollution, Atmos-phere, Dust-Storm;

• For UNDP: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Environment, Environmental Management; Air Pollution, Climate Change, Disaster Preparedness; PCBs, health and environmental; Climate risk management; Sound Management of Chemicals Considerations; Air Pollution & Climate Change; Information and Communication, Ozone Layer; Biodiversity,


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Protected Natural Areas (SPNA); Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); Interregional cooperation, green growth; Community-Based Dis-aster Risk Reduction; Sustainable Transport & Climate Change; Agro-bi-odiversity, Climate risk management, agro foresty; Greenhouse gases, UNFCCC; awareness-raising & climate change; Environmental Learning, Stakeholder Involvement, Global Environmental Benefits; Sustainable Mountain Pasture Management; Sustainable land management (SLM); Chemical stability and threats to human health and the environment; Radioactive wastes; Sustainable Radio Waste Management in Central Asia; Sustainable multi-sectoral forest management;

• For ENVISEC: Energy-environment analysis; Use of natural resources, Environmental impact assessment (EIA); Uranium, thorium and their daughters contamination of selected sites; Adaptation to climate change, Transboundary Water Commission; Construction of small (1-2 floor) seismically stable houses; Tel’kem valley , radioactive contami-nation, radionuclides; assessment of environment security linkages; Use of natural resources, Environmental impact assessment (EIA); en-vironmental and security risks, Water shortages in Central Asia; Aarhus Convention; Microbiological safety of drinking water; Water quality and aquatic ecosystem, anthropogenic influences, water resources and aquatic food webs; Disaster; landslide; flood; hazard; seismic; Tien Shan dam;

• For INOGATE: River development; Water resources policy, administra-tive management;

• For World Bank: Public Employment for Sustainable Agriculture and Water Resources Management; Water Supply Project; Ferghana Valley Water Resources Management ; Sustainable land management (SLM); Climate change, Infrastructure services for private sector develop-ment;

• For CCAFS: Biodiversity; water; soils; climate change; ecosystems; wheat;

• For NATO: Water, metal, redox, potential, pH, ions, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, conductivity.

Health In Health, ISTC is by far the most active donor, followed by GFSR and UNDP. Mirroring the statistics for all societal challenges, Kazakhstan also attracts most projects specifically related to health. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are again relatively well represented, while Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan much less.


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Kazakhstan mostly receives international funding from ISTC and GFSR and to a less extent from FP7 and WB, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are mainly funded by ISTC and to a less extent by UNDP.

The major thematic categories found were the following:

• For FP7: Human Health Chronic Diseases;

• For ISTC: Infectious Diseases; Bio-Safety; Sanitation and Hygiene; Nu-clear-related diseases; Environment related diseases; Human Health; Genetics; Epidemiology; Chronic disease; Toxic hazards; Nanomaterials;

• UNDP: Infectious Diseases; Environment related diseases; Social inclu-sion (disabled, victims of UXO or mine explosions etc.); Nuclear-related diseases; Sanitation and Hygiene;

• ENVSEC: Sanitation and Hygiene; Nuclear-related diseases;

• GFSR: Nuclear-related diseases; Genetics; Chronic disease;

• World Bank: Health Infrastructure;

• WHO: Premature and newborn babies.

3.2 POLICY DIALOGUE ACTIVITIES

The Policy Dialogue Activities of the project support the bi-regional dia-logue processes between EU MS/AC and the countries of CA in STI. By analyzing and addressing policy demands for STI collaboration in the fields of climate change, energy and health and by formulating recommenda-tions to respond to them, the project encouraged mutual policy learning between the EU MS/AC and the countries of CA. The analysis of the cur-rent STI policy dialogue should improve the mutual policy learning between EU-CA countries.

In this report, main policy dialogue activities related to the 3SCs are includ-ed. First, the three Policy Stakeholders Conferences, one of the principal activities of the project, each dedicated to the EU-CA STI cooperation in the three SCs. In addition, two ad-hoc workshops were organized following a request by the European Commission with a view to support the policy dialogue on issues related to the three SCs: the Workshop for the State of Affairs and Future of the EU-CA STI Cooperation on Climate Change, Energy & Health (Brussels, September 2015) and the ad-hoc Workshop for the Future of Water Related Research Collaboration Between the EU & Central Asia with Recommendations (Athens, April 2016).

Below follow the main outcomes of these activities. Due to the fact that the two ad-hoc workshops produced valuable recommendations for the EU-CA STI cooperation these are embodied in Chapter 4 (Recommendations).


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3.2.a Policy Stakeholders ConferencesThree Policy Stakeholders Conferences (PSCs) were organised to bring to-gether high level policy makers, representatives of the research communi-ties and representatives of the private sector from the EU MS/AC and the four participating CA countries – namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – as well as other key stakeholders active in the region on regional and international policies, research programmes and projects. The aim of the conferences was to take stock and showcase best practices regarding EU-CA scientific cooperation, discuss concrete innovation coop-eration projects, and promote international collaboration, networking, and match-making. In addition, the conferences provided the opportunity to present a good number of projects from the Central Asian region as well as best practice examples with the aim to create synergies among stakehold-ers for future cooperation activities in H2020 and beyond.

EnergyThis PSC took place in Astana, Kazakhstan in October 2015. 105 high-level policy makers and representatives of the academic and scientific commu-nity attended the conference from 18 countries, with speakers from four Central Asian countries (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan) and from several EU MS/AC as well as international or regional organisa-tions, including a delegation from the European Commission headed by Ms. Maria Cristina Russo, the Director of International Cooperation, DG Research and Innovation, Mr. Asset Issekeshev, the Minister of Investment and Development of Kazakhstan and representatives of KIC Inno Energy as well as from the ERANET Geothermal.

One of the EU’s principal objectives in relation to Central Asia is enhancing the energy and environmental security of Central Asian countries and the EU through closer cooperation. Today issues of energy and environmental security are acquiring a new qualitative content, requiring active involve-ment of all CA countries. CA countries (namely Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) possess one of the largest reserves of oil and gas in the world. The reduction of oil and gas prices have a strong impact on renew-able energy sources in CA making it a more promising sector for investing for these countries.

The bottlenecks listed below are not specific to the energy sector. They are of general nature, affecting among others the energy sector:

• the financial support of scientific research;

• the reform of the education system for conducting applied research in collaboration with business;


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• and the innovation model of economic development.

To make progress in these fields, adopting new legislation frameworks, involving NGOs and academia, introducing environmental taxes, and other government incentives could contribute to competitive co-funding of se-lected energy projects and create technology transfer through universities and researchers institutions.

Main recommendations stemming from the conference are the following:

• Long-term investments in the energy sector through further coopera-tion with EU;

• Deeper utilization of the possibility of participation in H2020 calls on Energy;

• Re-positioning of the Energy Institutes;

• Reforms in building a greener economy.

Climate ChangeThe conference on “EU-CA Science Technology & Innovation cooperation in addressing Climate Change” took place in Bishkek from 23-24 September, 2014. 145 stakeholders from EU states, five CA countries and internation-al organizations participated in the extensive exchange regarding regional and international STI policies, research programs and projects.

There is a common belief among Central Asia’s STI stakeholders that Cli-mate Change is an urgent issue that necessitates undertaking measures to cope with current developments and prevent a further deterioration of the situation. However, further awareness raising, especially among the policy makers in their respective countries is necessary in order to develop a more comprehensive regulatory framework.

The scientific results presented show intertwined challenges among all CA states which could lead authorities to regulate at a minimum common denominator. For instance, while high-altitude countries are especially facing threats of rapid glacial melting and sustained droughts and hence difficulties with regards to energy supply (mostly hydroelectric power sta-tions), these difficulties also pose several equally serious threats to the downstream countries. Additionally, CA countries are facing an increase of heat waves. As a result, temperatures in all countries have been rising at an above-average rate in the last years.

On the face of these challenges, it is recommended that the CA countries join their forces with EU and on a regional level.

The increased role of financial instruments, H2020 and other programmes related to R&I could enable the CA countries to extend the number of in-


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ternational initiatives. A recommendation is to create a “platform-on-de-mand” under the framework of IncoNet CA to discuss the coordination and monitoring of these activities.

HealthThe IncoNet Central Asia Policy Stakeholders Conference ‘EU – Central Asia STI cooperation in addressing Health Research & Innovation’ that took place in Warsaw, Poland on 16-17 May 2016, was the third PSC organised by the IncoNet CA project and the fifth one in a series of similar successful forums for policy dialogue between stakeholders organized in the region, which was started by its predecessor project IncoNet CA/SC.

The conference gathered 62 policy makers and representatives of the academic and scientific communities. They represented 52 organisations from 14 European and Central Asian countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nether-lands, Poland, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Health is a significant field of cooperation between the EU MS/AC and CA. During the conference, representatives of international organisations, EU partnerships and programmes presented their current international strat-egies and initiatives operating in the EU MS/AC and in the Central Asia region. In Central Asia countries, the EU is present through several pro-grammes and projects providing Health Research and Innovation opportu-nities. ISTC, GFSR and UNDP are the three major donors in this region.

The overview of the current situation on Health Research and innovation in the CA countries highlighted a general agreement on several critical points for collaboration:

• Active development of effective and cost-effective management ap-proaches;

• Sufficient e-Health service;

• Stronger scientific activity, utilization of research results;

• Development of training and education programmes for the new generation of young researchers;

• Integration of medical science in CA countries to the international and global scientific network, active participation in international projects;

• Using more possibilities to obtain grant support from international research foundations and other international organizations;

• Improvement of obsolete Health system infrastructure and lack of private sector participation;


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• Sufficient financial resources for the conduct of research.

Main impact of PSCsBased on their main goals, the 3 PSCs resulted in:

• The identification of the most important regional, international initiatives, common objectives, and operational instruments (pro-grammes), in the fields of Energy, Climate Change and Health re-search and innovation;

• The stimulation of the exchange of views and the creation of new synergies by presenting good practice examples in the area of Re-search and Innovation in Energy, Climate Change and Health under the European Union’s current Framework Programme for Research and Innovation “Horizon 2020” and beyond;

• The strengthening of STI cooperation and innovation as a common in-terest for the EU and CA both at strategic and operational levels; this was guaranteed with the participation of high-level representatives both from the European Commission and the CA governments;

• The formulation of concrete recommendations on the enhancement of the STI cooperation in addressing Energy, Climate Change and Health;

• The shaping of future cooperative initiatives/synergies addressing the three SCs between the EU and the CA countries, e.g. synergies with the ERANET Geothermal, synergies with the ERA-Net for Research Pro-grams on Rare Diseases as well as with the KIC Inno Energy, Climate KIC and EIT Health as well as joint efforts with the ISTC.

3.2.b Workshop on the State of Affairs and Future of the EU-CA STI CooperationThe Workshop on the State of Affairs and Future of EU - Central Asia sci-ence, technology and innovation cooperation, addressed challenges and opportunities related to the EU-CA STI cooperation in the three SCs, took stock of recent achievements of the IncoNet CA project, and provided a forum for an open and constructive discussion among key stakeholders from the EU and Central Asia (CA).

The aim of the workshop was to ensure that:

• messages from/to Central Asia would be equally addressed and transmitted;

• ideas and recommendations for a more efficient STI cooperation,


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with emphasis on the EU’s Framework Programme, would be ad-dressed to the European Commission, the EU MS/AC and the repre-sentatives from the target region;

• concrete supportive actions would be planned as a follow-up.

Main recommendations of the workshop are presented at http://www.ceriss.eu/announcements/62/memo-on-the-state-of-affaires-and-future-of-the-eu-ca-sti-cooperation. One of the main follow-up actions that was agreed during this workshop was the organization of a workshop dedicat-ed to the water-related research collaboration (See below, 3.2.c).

3.2.c Workshop for the Future of Water Related Research Collaboration Between the EU & Central Asia with RecommendationsAs a supportive action, the “Workshop for the Future of Water-related Re-search Collaboration between the EU & Central Asia” was organized on 11-12 April 2016, in Athens.

The workshop brought together scientists as well as policymakers from the EU, Central Asia and beyond with the following objectives:

• To present the current water-related research activities and potential in Central Asia;

• To discuss the state of affairs of international and national policies and programmes supporting water related research in Central Asia, includ-ing opportunities that the European Research Area can provide;

• To showcase best practice examples of regional and bi-regional EU-CA cooperation in the field of water;

• To draft recommendations for the water related research & innovation collaboration between the EU and Central Asia.

The workshop focused on the research activities and cooperation pro-grammes in the EU and Central Asia, highlighting the water related re-search areas, the opportunities, threats and the research needs but also the perspectives for enhanced cooperation between the EU & CA coun-tries in the field of water. Best practice examples of transnational water re-search collaboration in Europe were presented such as initiatives related to the Danube region & the Balkans but also the Jordan-Palestine-Israel ex-ample. Participants commented on the current status, main challenges, obstacles and research needs, in water research in CA that could benefit from international scientific cooperation, as well as on the main possible contributions from CA for international cooperation.


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The quantity and quality of available water, as well as the flow regime (upstream countries need more water in winter, downstream countries need it during vegetation period) is a major challenge in Central Asia. This challenge is also intertwined with the challenges of Climate Change and Demographic pressure which can result to Food Scarcity and soaring food prices.

Scientists in Central Asia face a series of obstacles when it comes to re-search on water related issues. The most important are related to data, effective research and human resources:

a. Data

• Scarcity or lack of data related to water issues;

• Difficult and limited access to available data (research institutions do not provide online information on their past, current and future research projects) ;

• Not centrally available data which result in duplication of projects;

• Lack of established networks among the countries for data standardi-zation, for comparability, data exchange and joint research initiatives;

b. Effective Research

• Poor communication between administration (decision makers) and researchers for the optimal exploitation of the research outputs and, vice-versa, for scientists to focus on the priority challenges for effective water management;

• Methodological gaps in conducting water research within and among CA countries;

• Outdated monitoring and research technologies and insufficient state financing for up-to-date laboratory equipment purchase;

c. Human Resources

• Lack of young generation specialists in the water research sector;

• Low mobility of water researchers even between the CA countries, as well as language obstacles for international cooperation with the EU.

• International achievements of individual scientists, including water re-searchers (publications, citations, impact factors, etc.) are not taken into account in the process of national grant evaluation and support.

Main recommendations of the workshop and usable conclusions are pre-sented at: http://www.ceriss.eu/photos/Water_Workshop_Final_Report %2004%20June.pdf


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3.3 OTHER COORDINATION & SUPPORT ACTIVITIES

The Support and Coordination Activities are important for the advance-ment of EU-CA cooperation within the H2020 Programme. The Twinning Grants for Research Institutes was a tool which enabled the collaboration on the three SCs between EU-CA scientists under common projects’ pro-posals. The Feasibility Study for the Participation of CA countries in EU Funding Mechanisms supported the awareness of the current open and forthcoming ERANETs/JPIs calls related to the three SCs as well as the involvement of CA funding agencies in these schemes. The Cooperation with Innovation Platforms encouraged the promotion of Innovation in CA countries by sharing the best practices and exchanging stakeholders for knowledge-transfer. Additionally, the Grants for the Participation of CA re-searchers in Brokerage Events gave the chance to scientists to participate in selected EU events related to Energy, Climate Change and Health with the aim to promote the research activity and find potential stakeholders for future collaboration. Lastly, the Thematic NCPs in CA provided the over-view of the ongoing support activities for each SC which should contribute to the planning for future cooperation.

3.3.a Pilot Action on Twinning Grants for EU-CA Research InstitutesTwinning is a pilot activity of IncoNet CA and has a long tradition in Europe as a successful instrument in capacity building processes. A call “Twin-ning among Projects” has been implemented as a funding instrument in order to enhance mutual learning, to strengthen cooperation between the EU member states and the countries of Central Asia and to plant the seed for sustainable scientific, technological and innovation EU-CA projects. This goal is practically implemented through granting projects of twinning teams, which will ultimately support the preparations for proposals for EU HORIZON 2020 calls. With the exception of Turkmenistan, all CA countries benefited from this activity.

The grant embraced three innovation related topics on societal challenges which are:

• Climate change;

• Health;

• Energy.


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Twinning teams were supported with up to 10.000 EUR per application.

Energy/Climate ChangeAmong the eleven applications positively evaluated six were dealing with Energy or Climate Change. Topics of eligible submitted proposals for projects were as follows:

– Complex Improvement of Energy Performance of existing buildings in Tajikistan (CIEPET);

– Using halophytic plants for alternative energy production and im-proving of land quality in saline areas of Central Asia;

– Acoustic Relaxation Spectroscopy of Ionic-Liquid Based Nanofluids;

– Improving energy management of small and medium enterprises;

– Internet of Things and Platforms for Connected Smart Objects;

– Composed photosynthetic systems with higher efficiency of sunlight conversion for bioenergy production.

HealthAmong the eleven applications that have been positively evaluated, five were related to Health. The topics of these five projects are listed below:

– Strengthening of safe diagnosis of the highly pathogenic bacterium Bacillus anthracis in Tajikistan;

– Endemic plant species of Central Asia as a source of biologically ac-tive compounds useful in medicine;

– Ultra low power sub/near-threshold CMOS based implantable medi-cal devices recording system interfaced with electrode array;

– Multidisciplinary approach in cardiovascular diseases;

– Histone post-translational modification profiling of the cancer pa-tient samples in Kazakhstan.

In total 47 research institutes profited from this activity.

3.3.b Feasibility Study for the Participation of CA countries in EU Funding MechanismsThe principal objective of this activity is to support CA countries to join on-going and forthcoming ERANETs/JPIs. The activity includes the preparation of a study about theoretical and practical information of ERANETs/JPIs, introduction of ERA.Net RUS Plus as a best practice, as well as three lists


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about the on-going, forthcoming ERANETs and JPIs on the 3 Societal Chal-lenges (SCs). Besides, it covers a consultation process with programme owners and other stakeholders of the EU MS/AC and CA countries in order to identify common ground and readiness for commitment to build a joint structured cooperation activity.

None of the CA countries was involved in any ERANET and JPI until July 2016. However, the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Kazakhstan, (Letter of Interest) the Healthcare Administration of the Al-maty (Letter of Interest), the Ministry of Education and Science of the Kyr-gyz Republic (Letter of Interest), the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Tajikistan expressed their interest to join concrete on-going and forthcoming ERANETs and JPIs. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan mentioned specific ongoing or forthcoming Cofund ERANETs that they are interested in. The Committee for Coordination of Science and Technology Development (DDCTD) under the Cabinet of Ministers of Uzbekistan has not expressed interest on the current or forthcoming ERANET based on the fact that the national research budget of the country is already allocated to research activities for the years 2016 and 2017. Uzbekistan could be interested in participating in ERANETs from 2018 onwards.

IncoNet CA informed the identified ongoing ERANETs and JPIs about the expression of interest of CA national authorities. Most of these ERANETs and JPIs expressed their readiness to cooperate with the afore-mentioned national authorities from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

The feasibility study resulted in creating a path toward involving CA coun-tries in ERANETs/JPIs stimulating the interest of national funding authori-ties regarding joining on-going and forthcoming Cofund ERANETs and JPIs in the 3 SC (Climate Change, Energy, Health) and beyond, informing them about the possibilities for participation based on replies to questionnaires addressed to the ERANETs/JPIs coordinators and continuously facilitating the communication between the national funding authorities and the ap-propriate coordinator of ERANETs/JPIs.

3.3.c Cooperation with Innovation PlatformsThe IncoNet CA Project aims to create synergies between stakeholders in the EU MS/AC-CA countries in the field of Innovation with emphasis on the establishment of links and sharing of good practices between the European Innovation Platforms and structures in CA countries (e.g. innovation agen-cies, technological parks and incubators, etc.). This was achieved through participation of CA innovators related to the three SCs in events organized


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by Innovation Platforms in EU or through participation of representatives of Innovation Platforms in events in CA or events organized by IncoNet CA. The following main progress has been attained within the project:

Participation of CA delegates in ETPs events in EU:• Participation of CA delegates at the SET Plan Conference (Rome, Dec.

2014) and at an information mission to ENEA infrastructures;

• Participation of CA delegates at the 2nd HARC Conference on Transla-tional Research in Healthy Ageing which took place on 11-13 May 2016 (http://harcconference2016.umed.pl) and organization of a “Central Asia Session” at the EIT Health Innostars event, Lodz, Poland (May 2016);

• A “Central Asia Session” was organized by IncoNet CA at the Climate-KIC Innovation Festival 2015 (Birmingham, October 2015).

Participation of representatives of ETPs in events in CA or in events organized by IncoNet CA:• Representatives from the EU Platforms IMI2, EIT Health Innostars,

H2020 FRESH AIR project, Polish Live Healthier cluster and European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing participated in the Policy Stakeholders Conference on Health (Warsaw, May 2016);

• Representatives from KIC Inno Energy, Climate KIC and EIT Health have participated in the 3 Policy Stakeholders Conferences (PSCs) and other events organized by the IncoNet CA;

• Workshop on the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) for CA stakehold-ers in Dushanbe organized by IncoNet CA (Oct. 2014);

• Participation of EU Platforms at the Innovation Congress in Astana, Panel session “Prospects of KZ-EU cooperation: ETPs and Targeted Technological Programmes of KZ”, 22 May 2014;

• Representatives from EIT Health and Climate KIC participated in the International Innovation Forum in Tashkent, Uzbekistan (11 May, 2016) at the context of the “Republican Fair of Innovative Ideas, technologies and projects”.

The results of this activity can be summarized as follows:

– Development of contacts with the KICs, ETPs and EIPs that were non-existent before;

– Development of a better understanding of the interests of KICs and EIPs in CA, their needs and their understanding of cooperation with the region;


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– IncoNet CA was successful in raising awareness within the EIPs and KICs on CA strengths in the STI sector. Connections on various levels and development of good dialogue;

– IncoNet CA provided unique opportunities for linking CA innovation equivalent structures and stakeholders with EEN and EU innovation platforms (innovation trainings, EEN workshop, CA missions to EU, EU stakeholders’ missions to CA)

Contrary to the strong cooperation with KICs in the context of IncoNet CA activities, communication with the Innovation Platforms was not as ex-pected since the platforms’ structure is vague and it is not easy to identify interlocutors in the platforms. In addition, these schemes follow internal procedures which do not always allow the interaction and exchange of in-formation with third countries.

3.3.d Grants for the Participation of CA in Brokerage Events in EUThe main aim of the launching of the Brokerage Event Grant Scheme was to attract excellent scientists from the CA countries to participate in se-lected Brokerage Events or large scientific events related to the three SCs with a high networking potential in order to establish new contacts with European stakeholders and thus to increase their participation in forming H2020 consortia. As the activity met a high demand, the Project decided to extent the activity with one additional call for grants and two trainings of the grantees.

For each SC, a relevant BE was selected where -in cooperation with the organizers- a possibility was provided to CA participants to present their profiles and research at a “Central Asia Session”.

EnergyOut of 40 CA scientists who received grants for their participation in Bro-kerage Events in EU countries, 17 attended Energy related events, in the following topics:

• Photovoltaic Solar Energy;

• Solar Energy and Buildings;

• Solar District Heating;

• Energy Efficiency;

• Sustainable and Energy Efficient Construction Industry;


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• Renewable energies, Energy-efficient Buildings and districts, ICT for cit-ies, Smart cities and communities, Energy efficient mobility and trans-port;

• Biomass;

• Biomethane production through microbial and thermochemical conver-sion of biomass and waste;

• Water & Energy.

In addition, a “Central Asia Session” related to Energy was decided to take place as part of the E² Tech4Cities – Energy & Efficiency Technologies for Cities – a highly visible brokerage event organised by Enterprise Eu-rope Brussels, hosted by impulse.brussels4 on the occasion of the Euro-pean Sustainable Energy Week (EUSEW) - 2015. Supported by the IncoNet Central Asia project, energy experts from all 5 Central Asian countries ad-dressed by the project (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) participated in the event.

Climate Change14 scientists received a grant for participation in BEs related to Climate Change, in the following topics:

• Climate change adaptation,

• ecosystems,

• product lifetimes sustainability & climate change impact on electronics industry,

• science and politics.

The scientific Climate Change events in which the selected scientists par-ticipated were:

• Going Green – CARE INNOVATION 2014, Vienna;

• Product Lifetimes And The Environment (PLATE) 2015, Nottingham;

• 2nd European Climate Change Adaptation Conference 2015, Copenha-gen;

• World Symposium on Climate Change Adaptation 2015, Manchester;

• BIOGEOMON 2014, Bayreuth.

In addition, one side-event (Central Asia Session) on Climate Change took place during the ASEAN-EU Science, Technology and Innovation Days Event

4. Created in 2003 by the Government of the Brussels-Capital region, the Brussels En-terprise Agency (BEA) has rapidly become the leading partner for any starting or ex-perienced entrepreneur in the Brussel-Capital region. In 2013, BEA was re-baptised impulse.brussels.


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on 17-19 March 2015 in Paris. The side-event on Climate Change focused on potential impacts of Climate Change on Water Management, sustaina-ble use of water resources in CA countries and was supported by several bilateral matchmaking talks organized by Euresearch5, Switzerland.

Health9 scientists received a grant for participation in BEs related to Health.

The scientific events in which the selected scientists participated were:

• 41st Congress of the World Association for the History of Veterinary Medicine (WAHVM) was held at Imperial College London, UK from the 10th to 13th September 2014;

• Horizon 2020 Health European BE, Lyon, France;

• "Euro Science Open Forum 2014" June 21-27, 2014, Copenhagen, Denmark.

In addition, a side-event (Central Asia Session) on Health took place as part of the ASEAN-EU Science, Technology and Innovation Days on 17-19 March 2015 in Paris. The ASEAN-EU STI Days were selected to host this side event as this large scientific event was expected to attract a large number of European stakeholders that look for international cooperation in H2020, which is one of the main aims of the two INCO-NETs (ASEAN and CA).

5. Euresearch is the Swiss network mandated by the State Secretariat for Education, Re-search and Innovation providing targeted information, hands-on advice and transna-tional partnering related to European research and innovation programmes.


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Summary of selected events (by scientists)*

Event Date Place Thematic

ICNPAA 2014 World Congress: 10th International Conference on Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Aerospace and Sciences

15-18 July, 2014 Narvik, Norway

ICT

Going Green – CARE INNOVATION 2014

17-20 November, 2014

Vienna, Austria

CC

EU PVSEC 2014 22-26 September, 2014

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Energy

41st Congress of the World Association for the History of Veterinary Medicine (WAHVM)

10-13 September, 2014

London, UK Health

European Biomass Conference and Exhibition (EUBCE)

1-4 June, 2015 Vienna, Austria

Energy

Product Lifetimes And The Environment (PLATE)

17-19 June, 2015

Nottingham, UK

CC

H2020 Health European Brokerage Event, Partnering for PHC 2015 calls, Round tables and Bilateral Meetings

4 July, 2014 Lyon, France Health

2nd European Climate Change Adaptation Conference 2015

12-14 May, 2015

Copenhagen, Denmark

CC

World Symposium on Climate Change Adaptation

2-4 September, 2015

Manchester, UK

CC

3rd International Solar District Heating Conference 2015

17-18 June, 2015

Toulouse, France

Energy

BIOGEOMON 13-18 July, 2014 Bayreuth, Germany

CC

Euroscience Open Forum 21-26 June, 2014

Copenhagen, Denmark

Health

Eurosun 2014: International Conference on Solar Energy & Buildings

16-19 September, 2014

Aix-Les-Bains, France

Energy

“Regatec 2015”, 2nd International Conference on Renewable Energy Gas Technology

7-8 May, 2015 Barcelona, Spain

Energy

*Some events were attended by more than one researcher.


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Summary of events selected by IncoNet CA for the organization of side-eventsEvent Date Place ThematicASEAN-EU Science, Technology and Innovation Days

17-19 March, 2015 Paris, France

Health, CC

E2Tech4Cities on Energy 17-18 June, 2015 Brussels, Belgium

Energy

Main conclusions for the grant schemeThe activity has made obvious that it is difficult to consider CA as one (homogeneous) region in terms of scientific potential, due to differences on research levels, infrastructure as well as on English language skills. Moreover, some of the countries expressed a crucial need for development aid. In order to make the Grant Scheme a fully beneficial tool for EU/CA cooperation, introductory and follow-up measures/information on H2020 consortia membership are recommended as important steps towards a successful participation and collaboration.

While participants would have appreciated inviting European stakeholders to CA regional events, it turned out that the most beneficial types of events are EU organized BEs on concrete calls, as European scientists interest/trust in scientific quality in the region is still not strong enough. A mecha-nism for regional BE’s hosted in the EU could also be established in order to promote the region and its research activities.

Additional logistical and visa support would be helpful in order to remove travel barriers during the process. Further suggestions were the expansion of thematic fields of research and the reimbursement of costs, preferably by per diem.

As a final conclusion, the Grant Scheme is recognized as a quite effective tool to facilitate the participation of CA countries in Brokerage Events, as the majority of the participants are cooperating with contacts made dur-ing the Brokerage Events several months after the BE and some of them found partners with whom they are preparing H2020 proposals as well.

3.3.e Report on the Thematic NCPs in CAThe Project had a dedicated activity for Thematic NCPs in order to optimize the planning of the NCPs support. NCPs are considered to be an important tool for STI Cooperation and promotion and support of activities related to STI cooperation. Moreover, an awareness campaign for the NCP structures


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was organized in the CA countries, especially addressed to the national policy level in CA countries. The aim of this activity was to review the latest developments on the role of the CA NCPs in the context of H2020, their current activities, and the degree of support by local national authorities.

NCP National Coordinators of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are also partners of the IncoNet CA consortium.

Below follows a table with the Thematic NCPs networks related to the three SCs, in each CA country:

National Contact Points in CA related to Εnergy

Country Local Organisations

KZ – Independent Expert Consulting Board to Promote Scientific Research Activities in Kazakhstan (InExCB-KZ)

KG National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic

TJ Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan is now in the process of nom-inating six thematic NCPs, among which an Energy NCP

UZ Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan

National Contact Points in CA related to HealthCountry Local Organisations

KZ – Independent Expert Consulting Board to Promote Scientific Research Activities in Kazakhstan (InExCB-KZ)

KG – National Library of the Kyrgyz Republic (EIMO)

UZ – Committee for Coordination of Science and Technology de-velopment under Cabinet of Ministers

TJ – Center for Innovative Development of Science and New Tech-nologies of ASRT (CIDS&NT of ASRT)

National Contact Points in CA related to Climate ChangeCountry Local Organisations

KZ -Independent Expert Consulting Board to Promote Scientific Re-search Activities in Kazakhstan (InExCB-KZ)

KG —

TJ —

UZ Ministry of Higher and Secondary Special Education of Uz-bekistan


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4. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ACTIONS

This Chapter provides recommendations related to future EU-CA STI Ac-tions with emphasis on Energy, Climate Change and Health. These recom-mendations are formulated based on the evaluation of the outcome of the Project activities on the three SCs (See Chapter 2 on the methodology).

The main input for recommendations provided in this report came out of the three expert group meetings each focusing on one of the three SCs (Energy: Athens, 25 April 2016; Climate Change: Bonn, 17 May 2016 & Health: Bonn, 20 May 2016).

In addition to these meetings, important recommendations from two ad-hoc policy dialogue meetings are included, i.e. one related to the State of Affairs and Future of EU-CA STI cooperation on the three SCs (Brussels, September 2015) and the other related to Water Research Collaboration (Athens, April 2016).

Based on the evaluation reports as well as the before-mentioned input, this report provides recommendations in the following fields:

• Topics of Mutual EU-CA Research Interest on Energy, Climate Change and Health (as a result of the 3 expert group meetings);

• Best Means of Cooperation on Energy, Climate Change and Health Re-search;

• Promotion of Innovation in CA (as a result of the 3 expert group meet-ings);

• Potential Drivers of EU-CA STI Cooperation (as a result of the 3 expert group meetings);

• Ideas on how to enhance CA countries’ research & innovation coopera-tion with the EU in Horizon 2020 and beyond with follow up actions (as a result of the Brussels Ad-hoc Workshop);

• Recommendations on water research needs in CA and Usable Conclu-sions for the EU-CA STI Collaboration (as a result of the Athens Ad-hoc Workshop).


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4.1 TOPICS OF MUTUAL EU-CA INTEREST

4.1.a EnergyAlong its duration, “IncoNet CA” has identified a number of topics of mutu-al interest between EU and CA researchers in the field of Energy research collaboration. These topics illustrate thematic research trends over the last years either from EU-CA co-publications, from the implementation of multilateral, bilateral and national research projects or from other activi-ties implemented by the project.

In terms of energy efficiency, the following topics have been identified as most active in the recent years:

• Coal/Coke;

• Fuels;

• Clean Coal Technologies;

• Sustainable energy efficiency policies;

• Compound materials;

• Hydro refining oils;

• Energy transfer;

• Oil and gas.

In terms of renewable energy sources, the following topics have been identified as most active in the recent years:

• Solar Energy;

• Solar power engineering;

• Hydrogen;

• Alternative energy of transportation;

• Anaerobic digestion;

• Biogas;

• Biomass (Halophytes).

Other identified topics are related to the Water-energy-food nexus, Hy-dro-technical construction, Hydro-electric power generation and the Climate impact.The expert group assessed that most of these topics remain relevant in the EU-CA cooperation, but urged for more focused collaboration and rec-ommended specific topics of mutual interest in the future that should il-lustrate the research needs of the Central Asia countries, as follows:


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• Heat power co-generation / raw materials;

• Waste heat use;

• Smart Grids;

• High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) / energy supply stability;

• Energy efficiency of industrial processes / building / power plants;

• Clean coal technologies / coal gasification ;

• ICT in energy/ Forecasting of energy production / online monitoring systems;

• Energy economic modelling / Scenario analyses (oil price, devalua-tion, carbon tax, diversification strategy etc.) (medium/long term) ;

• Silicon applications on solar energy ;

• New energy storage technologies;

• Carbon capture/storage technologies;

• Low carbon technologies;

• HVAC – heating ventilation air condition;

• Emissions Trading scheme (ETS) analyses/ commodity exchange studies / resource market modelling;

• Database of quality/quantity of water in CA (nexus);

• Development/renovation of research infrastructure.

Obstacles/ChallengesAnother important element that came out of the meeting is that the the-matic distribution of international R&D funding in CA countries is not always in accordance with that coming from national sources and there is a real need to be aligned to better reflect national/regional requirements. This is unavoidable at least as far as H2020 is concerned, since the research priorities in the two regions, (as well as in the individual countries of the two regions) are different. What is of crucial importance here, is to identify synergies and complementarities in order to take advantage of them on a mutual interest basis. To this end, better information on tools and funding options available through H2020 and elsewhere is a prerequisite.

4.1.b Climate ChangeAlong its duration, “IncoNet CA” has identified a number of topics of mu-tual interest between EU and CA researchers in the field of Climate Change research collaboration. These topics illustrate thematic research trends over the last years either from EU-CA co-publications, from the implemen-


50

tation of multilateral, bilateral and national research projects or from other activities implemented by the project.

Experts have highlighted that the approach in climate services is stake-holder and problem driven and this is why it should involve co-design and co-development of strategies and solutions.

The following general topics have been identified as most relevant in the recent years:

• Risk assessment and management;

• Disaster Risk Reduction;

• Mitigation and Adaptation;

• Soil contamination and erosion;

• Earth observation (use of satellites);

• Sustainable resource management;

• Mitigation of greenhouse gases;

• Monitoring and assessment of glaciers.

The expert group concluded that most of these topics remain relevant in the EU-CA cooperation, but urged for more focused collaboration, and rec-ommended the following specific topics of mutual interest for future col-laboration:

• Involvement of national meteorological institutions in discussions about Climate Change;

• Digitalization of past and present data;

• Importance of identifying past and future climate trends ;

• Development of regional GIS data platforms;

• Use of satellites for research purposes;

• Central Asia climate data portal (e.g. model projections) → acces-sible to EU & CA researchers;

• Implementation of clean technologies for greenhouse gas reduc-tion;

• Climate services provide huge potential for CA countries to suggest projects (e.g. use of European climate models, observation data por-tal);

• Evaluation of Loss & Damage;

• Floods;

• Water – Agriculture nexus;

• Water shortage; quality;

• Ground water;


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• Water saving technologies;

• Rainfall patterns (similarity with European countries, e.g. Spain → exchange adaptation methods);

• Impact of Climate Change on Caspian and Aral seas;

• Problems of small mountain streams;

• Desertification;

• Soil degradation;

• Debris and Mudflow;

• Landslides;

• Risk assessment of mining;

• Forest fire risk;

• Linking carbon markets (CA region inefficient in carbon reduction);

• Energy efficiency in CA – Energy supply and demand.Furthermore, the expert group highlighted the need for interregional col-laboration in Central Asia to better predict the regional impacts of Climate Change. Moreover, the need to exchange methodologies and expertise was emphasized.

Obstacles/ChallengesThe expert group noted a general lack of regional GIS data as well as data sharing. In addition, a lack of communication with stakeholders was in-dicated as a big hurdle to overcome. Finally, the group pointed out the region’s weak representation in the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change).


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4.1.c HealthExperts were asked to name the top three thematic sub-fields of Health for the whole region. The four most often mentioned topics were (in decreas-ing order) are: Infectious diseases, Environment related diseases, Water borne diseases and Drug related diseases.

Current scientific expertise and trending research topics of the CA countries according to the expert group (with the exception of UZ).

Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan

Infectious diseases (TB, HIV, emerging diseases)

x x (x)

Environment related diseases (interlinkages with Climate Change)

x x x

Water borne diseases x x x

Drug related diseases x x x

Cardio-vascular diseases x x x

Food Science x x x

Zoonotic diseases x x x

Biosafety / Biosecurity (Surveillance, Awareness and Capability)

x

Genetic Inborn Diseases x

High-Mountain Influence on Health

x x

Endemic Diseases x x

Transformation of Health System

x x

Malnutrition x

Typhoid Fever x

In addition to this, the experts identified and named the most important thematic areas for future cooperation with the region in the field of health research. Again the experts were asked to name the three most important future fields. The four most often mentioned (in decreasing order) were: Infectious Diseases, One-Health approach, Neglected Diseases6 and Qual-ity insurance of diagnostics and treatment.

6. Neglected diseases as defined by the WHO and with regional relevance: http://www.who.int/neglected_diseases/diseases/en


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4.2 BEST MEANS OF EU-CA RESEARCH COOPERATION

As the evaluation of the activities of the project has demonstrated in Chap-ter 2, “IncoNet CA” has implemented a mix of coordination and support activities to strengthen the EU-CA STI policy dialogue on Energy, Climate Change and Health, but also to increase the cooperation between EU’s and Central Asia’s researchers and scientists through twinning schemes, grant schemes for Brokerage Events, info days, support to NCP network, facilitation of participation in ERANET schemes, etc.

The 3 expert groups positively evaluated the role of this mix of coordina-tion and support activities as a key method for increasing the cooperation between the two regions, however, they provided remarks and recommen-dations for increasing the impact of these activities.

A. It remains very critical to focus on making CA researchers more famil-iar with the ERA landscape, in terms of human resources, research infrastructures and research activities, in particular, the ones that are priorities for the ERA. In order to address this, the experts recommend that the following should be prioritized:

• Enhanced CA mobility towards ERA;

• Accessibility to open research calls in EU/MS for CA researchers (open access);

• “Starting from the soft”: involvement of CA countries in COST Ac-tions; exploitation of vacant PhD positions in EU for CA candidates.

B. The experts critically discussed the role that the H2020 NCPs could play in a third country and recommend that H2020 NCP support should be enhanced. CA national authorities should invest on NCP networks tak-ing into account successful examples, e.g. the case of the Turkish NCP system.

The following NCP-related issues need to be improved to this direction:

• Quality of the NCPs in CA– the role of scientists vs. administrators in the NCP system;

• Understanding the benefits from the NCP system;

• Cooperation with Science Attachés in EU Embassies in CA coun-tries;

• Carrying out missing analysis of existing networks in CA (universi-ties, academia, alumni, etc.);


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• The role of PhD students from CA in the NCP system;

• Criteria for selection of beneficiaries of grants for B2B.

C. There is a need to continue the support of the traditional scheme of grants for participation in EU Brokerage Events. However, select-ed BEs need to be smaller in size, organizers of BEs to be more pre-pared, and the participants should be better prepared to present their strengths/capabilities. Brokerage events might benefit from longer preparatory periods with most preparatory matching done before the event.

As a platform for exchange of scientific developments and brokerage events, the annual European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna is highly suggested, since it offers a mix of scientific sessions as well as side networking events.

Finally, in order to raise EU researchers’ interest in CA, it was recom-mended to organize an EU contribution to the upcoming Astana Energy EXPO 2017.

D. Another recommendation is the need for cooperation beyond the H2020 scheme, i.e. for enhanced bilateral cooperation between EU MS/AC and CA. Bilateral research cooperation is easier for access and flexible. To this direction, strengthening of inter-institutional coopera-tion between EU and CA should be prioritized as well as promotion of cooperation/networking with established research platforms in EU.

E. The facilitation process that “IncoNet CA” implemented for the partici-pation of CA countries in ERANET and JPI schemes presented mixed results. An interest from Kazakhstan (Letter of Interest from the Min-istry of Education & Science and Letter of Interest from the Health De-partment of the Government of the Almaty District), Kyrgyzstan (Letter of Interest from the Ministry of Education and Science) and Tajikistan for specific forthcoming or ongoing ERANETs/JPIs has been recently expressed, while replies from ERANET/JPIs coordinators were positive for the case of Kazakhstan. However, the realization of such synergies is under the political discretion of the CA funding authorities and the ERANET structures.

Experts recommended that ERANET type actions could be an effec-tive alternative tool to monitor the real engagement of the CA coun-tries to the energy research. To this direction, supporting measures are needed, i.e. a CSA type project, including the establishment of regional ERANETs (e.g. ERANET CA) with the participation of leading EU performers.


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F. Grants for Twinning among Energy research institutes were imple-mented as a pilot activity for the first time during the “IncoNet CA”. These grants have established stronger research synergies among ex-cellent EU-CA research institutes, and they are expected to give suc-cessful applications for H2020 in the near future.

The experts believe that, in the future, more twinning partnerships are needed with clear goals:

• to stimulate partnerships among EU and CA research groups by sup-porting mobility (short term visits, lectures and short term research stays or mobility for PhDs including also double degree programmes for undergraduates or doctoral schools);

• to use national grants of EU countries for CA candidates by proactive communication in the CA countries;

• to provide awards for excellent cooperation of research groups from both regions (showcasing feasibility);

• to encourage through joint research the realization of joint publica-tions between the involved institutes.

G. It was recommended that the co-publication network identified by the IncoNet CA project could be at the same time a breeding instrument leading to joint projects.

However, it should be highlighted that a big challenge in EU-CA means of research cooperation lays with the problem of the rather low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the research undertaken by CA researchers (basic, or close to basic research) cooperating under the existing net-works. For example, in Horizon 2020 calls for Secure, Clean and Efficient Energy, the majority of the topics are targeting rather high TRL level (pre-competitive applied research, industrial research, innovation, etc.) making the participation of existing EU-CA networks a challenge. To address this major challenge, capacity building actions in CA are a sine qua non condi-tion.

Last but not least, following the previous recommendations on the means of cooperation between the EU-CA in the three SCs, the following needs are also to be addressed:

• Supporting the development of internationalization strategies of En-ergy/Climate Change and Health related research organisations in CA;

• Closer alignment of national research programs with those of the EU on a mutual interest basis as a good facilitator of cooperation in research in the three SCs;

• On the other hand, the EU needs to develop more country-specific


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approaches towards CA due to increasing divergence of the CA coun-tries;

• Joint access to funding with real industry partners (power plants, smelting & mining enterprises);

• International Energy Agency (IEA) programs and MSCA for higher education support.


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4.3 PROMOTION OF INNOVATION IN CA

The “IncoNet CA” has implemented supportive activities to promote inno-vation in Central Asia with emphasis on the establishment of links (e.g. with the SET Plan and the KICs) and sharing of good practices between the European Technological Platforms (ETPs) and structures in CA countries (e.g. innovation agencies, technological parks and incubators). The com-munication with the Innovation Platforms was not as expected since the platforms’ structure remains vague and it is not easy to identify interlocu-tors in the platforms. In addition, these schemes follow internal procedures which do not always allow the interaction and exchange of information with third countries.

However, the recently announced transformation of ETPs into a new struc-ture, the “European Technological and Innovation Platforms” (ETIPs), could give the possibility in the near future to intensify the cooperation with CA.

On the other hand, CA countries face a number of challenges in the promo-tion of the concept of innovation. Most of CA countries implement schemes for innovation grants addressing mainly researchers to work closer to in-dustry (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan), while there are some examples of establishing technological parks with the support of international donors (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan).

In addition, experts from CA emphasized that the political and economic circumstances in the region (e.g. monopolist structures, public ownership, cases of corruption, lack of venture capital) often create a perception and status of innovation that differs strongly from the one that prevails within the EU.

Until now, the prevailing CA model on innovation has as objective to bring researchers closer to industry and not the opposite, i.e. industry closer to the research community. However, innovation is better served through de-mand based/businesses driven approaches and not the other way round. When there is not a high technology demand on behalf of the existing in-dustry, schemes incentivising in house industrial R&D as well as creation of new high tech companies (spin offs/spin outs) should be considered.

Some of the recommendations provided by the experts are as follows:

• Need for showcasing success stories from EU countries at innova-tion fairs in CA (e.g. Uzbekistan Innovation Fair);

• Campaigns to inform CA stakeholders about the types of innovation support measures in EU and organization of pilot calls (as in the


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OECD Investment Compact for South East Europe);

• Support to establish functional public mechanisms facilitating col-laboration of researchers with business –cooperation with EU agen-cies could help developing useful funding lines/measures in public research funding (i.e. support throughout a whole funding cycle of a programme);

• Cooperation among technological parks/incubators etc. – experi-ence and best practices sharing. Coordination with industry actions seems to be most relevant in this respect;

• Joint actions with technological/industrial leaders in the EU and es-tablishment of support organizations;

• Exploitation of best practice examples implemented in the EU that follow an industry-initiated approach such as the “Vouchers for In-novation” targeting CA SME industry to (a) work closer with research-ers, (b) to apply for patent and licensing;

• Need for stronger ties between universities and technological com-panies. Good practice examples are several exchange initiatives between technological companies and academia in CA countries, such as the Astana Business Campus (ABC) that brings the R&D of international businesses (Samsung, Intel etc.) to universities in Kazakhstan.


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4.4 DRIVERS OF EU-CA RESEARCH COOPERATION

A number of factors should drive the EU-CA cooperation on STI in the three SCs. Access to EU knowledge networks and to further funding instru-ments are evaluated as the most important.

In particular, the following can be set as specific future drivers leading to STI cooperation:

• Know-how transfer from EU to CA, e.g. modelling tools/planning of energy needs;

• Access to H2020 funding for the CA research community;

• Increasing living conditions (salaries) of researchers in CA;

• More sustainable/economic ways to tackle common challenges;

• Creation of capacities for independent research and funding pos-sibilities in the region

• EU as an example of regional research community;

• Changing mentalities and habits on use of water, energy, waste generation etc. ;

• CA as an important region for the Energy security of the EU and for long-term planning energy consumption from natural resources;

• CA energy industry makes a significant impact to the greenhouse gas emissions and irrational use of water resources, which can ad-versely affect the environment of Europe and lead to further climate deterioration;

• Mutual benefitting both for the CA’s young research generation and for the European Research Area.

Obstacles/Restraints One of the biggest restraints to cooperation in STI that the experts criti-cally referred to is the gap between research and policy-making in the CA region. They outlined the parallel processes that need to be connected and lead to the following recommendations in this regard:

• Bring policy makers and researchers together at regional or EU-CA level;

• Learn from EU system for improved decision making;

• Financial investment/incentives for connecting mechanisms;


60

• Assess costs of non-action;

• Use climate services as tool to motivate scientists for more applied research to fit policy making processes.


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5. CONCLUSIONS

This report provided a thorough evaluation of the outcome of the Coordi-nating activities of the IncoNet CA Project focusing on the Societal Chal-lenges (SC) of Energy, Climate Change and Health. In addition, it provided a set of concrete recommendations on the EU-CA STI cooperation with a focus on the three SCs.

In particular, this report:

• Evaluated the main results of the implemented CSA activities on each of the three SCs with regard to their outcome and impact;

• Identified topics of particular interest and trends of high relevance in EU- CA cooperation with usable conclusions;

• Identified main/key CA STI players active in the EU-CA STI Coopera-tion in the three SCs;

• Provided recommendations based on the overall experience of the project for the future EU-CA STI cooperation through concrete ac-tions, in particular, with regard to topics of mutual interest, potential means of STI cooperation, promotion of innovation and drivers of EU-CA research cooperation. It presented also recommendations for the promising field of water research collaboration.

The analysis of the outcome of the activities of IncoNet CA on the three SCs demonstrated the state of affairs of the Energy, Climate Change and Health research and innovation in CA countries but also in CA as a region, as well as the state of affairs of EU-CA STI cooperation on Energy, Climate Change and Health.

The fact that IncoNet CA explicitly focused on the three SCs allowed to have a deeper understanding on the most and the least active SCs in EU-CA STI cooperation, in scientific co-publications with CA but also in funding programmes in CA. It also allowed to focus on mobilising researchers and scientists from these three SCs from both the EU and CA. It also gave the opportunity to focus on the stimulation of synergies at the level of joint projects within these three SCs. Finally, it helped to bring closer policy-makers related to these three SCs both from the EU and CA countries and discuss the challenges and opportunities for EU-CA cooperation.

The whole set of CSA activities implemented by IncoNet CA (through events and conferences) revealed the main key/hot issues related to Energy, Cli-


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mate Change and Health in Central Asia that necessitate research collabo-ration with EU counterparts.

CA has limited participation in Horizon 2020 and this is a challenge bear-ing in mind the specificities of the region. For this reason, it is important to implement incentives for CA researchers as well as to provide support in order to facilitate their participation in H2020 consortia in research fields that CA researchers can provide an added value with their expertise (e.g. water research).

Finally, participation of CA in more structured funding mechanisms (e.g. ERANETs) has limited results until today. To face this, it would necessitate strengthening the policy dialogue activities. Given the fact that IncoNet CA played the role of an unofficial platform for policy dialogue, after its completion (September 2016), the need for such a structured platform is much more evident.


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Evaluation of Activities with Recommendations for Future Actions



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