Internationalisation of STI

International R&D cooperation is becoming more and more important in Ukraine. Cross-border cooperation with the European Union and with its Member States (MS) bilaterally forms one of the pillars of the Ukrainian international R&D cooperation. Since its independence in 1991, Ukraine has strived to open up its national research system towards the international research community. In the early 2000s and, especially, since Russia interfered on Ukraine’s territory in 2014, Ukraine shifted its interest towards the EU.

One of the main priorities for Ukraine’s international R&D cooperation is the integration in the European Research Area (ERA)⁸⁵. This is fostered by multilateral and bilateral cooperation with the EU and its Member States. According to data from 2014, 25 intergovernmental agreements on S&T cooperation between Ukraine and EU MS and countries associated (AC) to Horizon 2020 are in effect. These cooperation partners are (in alphabetical order) ⁸⁶

 EU MS: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain;

 AC to H2020: FYROM, Moldova, Turkey.

The number of grants received for research work from international funds in 2014 decreased by 12.2% compared to 2013. In addition, 4,513 individual scholars used international grants, which is 11.2% less than in 2013 (see Figure 11).

83 Yegorov, I. (2013): ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Ukraine.

84 Yegorov, I. (2013): ERAWATCH Country Reports 2012: Ukraine, p. 27.

85 http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/index_en.htm : accessed on 2 May 2016.

86 Erich Rathske: “Comparative Analysis of EU MS/AC policies and programmes towards Ukraine”, Deliverable 1.5 in the frame of BILAT-UKR*AINA project, 2014, p. 13.

170,6

Weaknesses were mainly found on the side of finances and governance, because the budgetary situation in Ukraine for national R&D as well as international R&D cooperation was unstable and Ukraine faced serious re-organisation efforts on its governance level during the last few years.

NASU is one of the most active organisations in international R&D cooperation. It concluded more than 110 bilateral agreements with more than 50 countries in the world. Most of these agreements are signed with other National Academies of Sciences (such as those of Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Romania etc.) In 2012 most joint projects in the framework of bilateral inter-academy activities were executed with Poland, France, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Figure 11: The dynamics of cooperation with international funds

Ukraine is a third country within the Eastern Partnership and the only country in this region with whom a separate Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement was signed already in 2002 with the European Commission (in force since 2003). Under the terms of this agreement, the Joint Science & Technology Cooperation Committee (JSTCC) was established. In the frame of Joint Committee meetings, both sides provide up-to-date information on current developments in research and innovation policy and related programmes in the EU and Ukraine, respectively.

There are several EU programmes supporting the RTI cooperation between the Union and Ukraine, including:⁸⁷

 FP7 – Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (closed; some projects are still running);

 HORIZON 2020 – Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (succeeding FP7 and currently running);

 Erasmus Mundus;

 Tempus;

 Jean Monnet Programme under the Lifelong Learning Programme;

 INSC and INOGATE – both funded through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI);

 Cross-Border-Cooperation Programmes – funded by ENPI;

 Central Europe Programme – as part of the European Trans-regional Cooperation Programmes.

The association to Horizon 2020 on 20 March 2015 was an important milestone in the EU-Ukrainian RTI cooperation. Moreover, in 2016 Ukraine signed a treaty on associating to the Euroatom programme. This development demonstrates the current political will to establish Ukraine’s future together with the EU. This association to Horizon 2020 was the first full association of Ukraine to any of the EU framework programmes. The success rate (successful applications or participations in applications) of Ukrainian researchers in FP7 was 19.5%. 155 grant agreements were signed, involving 215 participants from Ukraine to whom €30.9m of European funding from

87 Olena Melnyk, Olena Koval: Progress Report on monitoring of Ukraine participation in FP7 and Horizon 2020, p.6, 2015, Deliverable 2.18 in BILAT-UKR*AINA project.

FP7 were allocated. In FP7 Ukraine ranked 7^th among all third countries both in number of participations and in budget share⁸⁸ and was most active (based on signed grant agreements)⁸⁹ in the areas of environment (16), transport (15), INCO (International Cooperation) (15), Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (15), and nanotechnologies (13).

Until 10 October 2016, 61 proposals involving Ukrainian research organisations were selected for funding. The budget allocated to these Ukrainian research organisations was €11.5m.⁹⁰ According to data from the RI-Links2UA project (cut-off date in May 2016), the success rate in terms of participations dropped significantly to around 10% in Horizon 2020, which is below the average EU/AC-success rate of 13%. The success rate of proposals coordinated by Ukrainian parties was then only 4%, which indicates a problem in terms of quality and/or in handling Horizon 2020 adequately. Only 3 successful coordinators from Ukraine were recorded until May 2016.⁹¹ In addition to the EU programmes, Ukrainian research institutions and universities cooperate with international organisations and foundations, such as CERN, NATO, US Civilian Research and Development, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR), the International Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the Executive Council of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, the International Union of Academies of Humanities and Social Sciences (IUA) and the Pan-European Federation of Academies of Sciences (ALLEA).

In Ukraine, international mobility of researchers is mainly stimulated through international projects, schemes and exchange programmes. Since 2011, MESU runs a state mobility programme promoting the education and training of students and post-graduate students as well as internships for scientific and pedagogical staff.⁹² The European Commission supports a wide range of external policy activities aimed at enhancing cooperation in higher education between the EU and third countries. Activities in this field are mainly subsumed under the Erasmus Mundus programme.⁹³ Whereas it aims to intensify cooperation between EU and third country higher education institutions, the Tempus programme⁹⁴ is dedicated to modernising the higher education sector in third countries by supporting its alignment to the Bologna goals. In both of the programmes Ukraine is an active member and eligible to apply for funding. The Tempus programme helped facilitate the internationalisation of Ukrainian higher education institutions and contributed to the initiation of several new research projects and exchange programmes.

88 Ibid.

89 Ibid., p.9

90 This information was provided by MESU as feedback on the draft final PSF Peer Review Report on 9 November 2016..

91 Data taken from RI-Links2UA project: Statistics and Analyses of Ukrainian Participation in Horizon 2020. Frist draft, based on 241 concluded calls, Warsaw/Vienna, September 2016.

92 Olena Koval, Vadym Yashenkov et al.: Overview of the internationalisation of Ukraine in RTDI including recent trends and developments, Policy Brief in BILAT-UKR*AINA project, 2012.

93 http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus_mundus/ : accessed on 2 May 2016.

94 http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/tempus/ : accessed on 2 May 2016.

3. RECOMMENDATIONS TO RAISE QUALITY AND RELEVANCE