COST IC0702 MC Meeting, Warsaw (PL) 20 October 2008 By Sophie Beaubron ICT Administrative Officer

1. COST IC0702 MC Meeting, Warsaw (PL) 20 October 2008 By Sophie Beaubron ICT Administrative Officer

2. Multigovernmental Agreement Created in 1971 9 Scientific and Technical Domains Participation 35 COST Countries European Commission International Organisations Organisations from Non-COST Countries on Mutual Benefit Basis COST Actions Coordination of research funded otherwise Pre-competitive and bottom-up A tool for networking researchers What is COST ?

3. Coordination of research funded otherwise Nationally, EC, etc COST does not fund the research effort Pre-competitive and bottom-up No strategic objectives No narrow-focussed contracts Based on a research agenda Networking researchers Effective instrument for integration Incubator for proposals Collective scientific knowledge pool Some 1000 institutions/3000 researchers in ICT What is a COST Action ?

4. Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) COST National Coordinators COST Structure COST Secretariat at the Council COST Office Domain Committees (DC) Actions Management Committees (MC) Working Groups (WG)

5. COST Countries The27EUMemberStates EFTA Member StatesIcelandNorway Switzerland Acceding & Candidate CountriesCroatia FYR of Macedonia (FYROM)* Turkey Other CountriesRepublic of Serbia* COST Co-operating StatesIsrael * not associated with FP

6. Contract between the EC and the European Science Foundation (ESF) Under FP6: SSA – Strengthening the European Research Area 80 M€ for 2003-2007 Funded under FP7 Cooperation 210 M€ - 250 M€ for 2007-2013 50% - 80% increase on FP6/year Operated by the COST Office COST Funds

7. Science management meetings Scientific workshops and seminars Short Term Scientific Missions Training Schools Dissemination What is funded ?

8. How to participate ? • COST Countries: • “Open Call” with collection dates • Membership is open to all countries within 12 months of Action approval • After that, approval of MC is required • Non-COST researchers: • Should directly contact Chair of the Action • If “mutual benefit” then official membership • MC Approval, DC recommendation, CSO approval

9. COST Actions: Global Participation Canada - 26 Russia - 44 Moldova - 2 Ukraine - 19 Bosnia &Herzegovina - 2 Georgia - 1 Armenia - 1 Japan - 11 USA - 23 Algeria - 2 China - 8 Rep of Korea - 2 Egypt - 1 China (Taiwan) - 1 Tunisia - 2 Hong Kong - 1 Cuba - 1 Vietnam - 1 India - 1 Colombia - 1 Ethiopia - 1 Malaysia - 1 Brazil - 1 Australia - 21 South Africa - 2 Argentina - 1 New Zealand - 4 181 non-COST country participations in 65 Actions (2007)

10. Antennas, Radio Propagation and Interference Knowledge and Information Management Nanotechnologies and Optical Components Network Design and Analysis New ICT Services User Aspects Wireless and Mobile Communications. ICT Topics

11. ICT in COST e-Society Human-Machine Interaction Intelligent Transport Antennas Networks & Traffic monitoring Security & Trust Algorithms Soft Computing eHealth (Nano) Optics Software Engineering Radio Propagation Agreement Technologies RF & Signal Processing Global Integrated Networks Knowledge & Information Management Communications Information Systems

12. COST-ICT Portfolio e-Society COST 294, 298, 2101, 2102, 2103, IC0601, IC0604 COST 293, 295, 296, 297, 299, 2100, IC0603 IC0703, IC0802, IC0803 COST 292, IC0602, IC0701, IC0702, IC0801 Communications Information Systems

13. Chair: Christian Borgelt Vice Chair: Frank Klawonn Grant Holder:Fundacion para el Progreso del Soft Computing Rapporteur: Leon Van der Torre (LU) Science Officer: Gian Mario Maggio Administrative Officer: Sophie Beaubron CSO Approval date: 16/11/2007 End date: 30/03/2012 16 Parties + 1 Intention (Cyprus) Budget 2008/2009: 83,500 EUR Website:to be set-up IC0702: Combining Soft ComputingTechniques and Statistical Methods to Improve Data Analysis Solutions

14. COST-ICT support: Annual Grant Contracts with Grant Holder institution Contract covers costs (ie, instruments) for: Secretariat (administration + charges) max 15% of scientific expenses Meetings (MC and WGs) Seminars, Workshops, and Training Schools Short Term Scientific Missions - STSMs Publications & Dissemination activities these may be financed centrally at the COST Office for Final Publications Annual Grant Contract

15. Preliminary Financial Report 15 Jan 2009 Work and budget plan for 2009-10 submitted by Chair on behalf of MC, Feb/Mar 2009 Progress Report 6 weeks before APC (27 Apr 2009 – provisional) APC: presentation of the Action’s activities during the past year, by the MC Chair; 8-9 June 2009, Santander, Spain (provisional) Final Financial Report 30 July 2009 Deliverables from MC

16. Support of Early Stage Researchers (1) Short-Term Scientific Missions (STSMs): minimum 1 one week, maximum 6 months; total shall not exceed 3.500 EUR; prior MC approval (or approval of STSM coordinator); learn new techniques, etc. Training Schools: normally between 3 days and two weeks; aim at providing dissemination from the Action activities and intensive training in a new emerging subject (general support for organisation, travel and subsistence for lecturers, fixed grants for attendees) COST Tools (1)

17. Support of Early Stage Researchers (2) Action Think Tank: an early stage researchers‘ network may be created within the action; each year, 1 workshop could involve early stage researchers to strengthen links with each other and with experience scientists Conference Grant: will shortly be established, with 3 grants per Domain per year, of max 3.000 EUR, to participate in an international conference outside the COST Action activities; accepted oral contribution is required for eligibility; selection process COST Tools (1)

18. Near Neighbours: Aim: stimulate the participation of researchers from non-COST Balkan countries (i.e. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina), Mediterranean countries (Algeria, Egyp, Lebanon, Libya, Morroco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia), Eastern European countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine) A dedicated sum has been set aside to fund attendance by researchers from these countries at meetings of COST Actions Up to 2 researchers per country may attend the meetings COST Tools (2)

19. Pilot scheme with Australia and New Zealand (1): Bring European and AU/NZ researchers closer together Specifically addresses researchers involved in COST Actions and provides: STSM grants for European scientists travelling to AU/NZ (covered by COST Office) Travel grants to AU/NZ researchers travelling to Europe to attend a COST meeting (covered by the Australian Academy of Science and the NZ Ministry of Research, Science & Technology) COST Tools (3)

20. Pilot scheme with Australia and New Zealand (2): If no formal contacts exist between Action MC and AU/NZ researchers, the latter need to seek positive feedback for collaborating with a particular COST action Together with the Action Chair, the AU/NZ researchers will launch a formal request for participation as non-COST country institution (approval by MC, DC-ICT and CSO) COST Tools (3)

21. Thanks! sbeaubron@cost.esf.org www.cost.esf.org Questions ?