Prospects for EU-Russia cooperation in science and technology are discussed in an extensive analytical paper published by the Russian Duma in its influential yearbook on innovative development.

Chairman of Board Oleg Luksha at the Russian Technology Transfer Network (RTTN) and Director Svetlana Klessova of inno, a leading European consulting company, emphasize in their article appearing in New Economy: Innovation Insight into Russia that the European Union is a strong priority of Russia’s international cooperation in science and innovation. They provide a detailed analysis into practical aspects of R&D collaboration under EU Framework Programmes for research and technological development, a key component of this cooperation.

The authors refer to specific examples of successful projects under the EU Seventh Framework Programme such as ACCESSRU and ISTOK-SOYUZ with RTTN and inno involvement .

The ACCESSRU project initiated by eight partners from four countries is a component part of ACCESS4EU, a special EU programme aimed at raising awareness among researchers and organisations in EU member states and associated countries of the opportunities for participation in national research and innovation programmes of third countries. The unified ACCESS4EU portal (www.access4.eu ) provides information on the opportunities for European researchers to take part in respective programmes of those countries.

ISTOK-SOYUZ (www.istok-soyuz.eu ) was launched by the European Commission to extend the promising results of the preceding ISTOK.Ru project to countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and to advance its work in Russia. In particular, the project works to test pilot models for infrastructure to support the participation of Russian ICT researchers in FP7 as well as to increase the informational transparency of Russian scientific competencies through the development of the Russian-European Competence Platform, special actions to involve Russian organisations in European technological platforms, etc.

Special emphasize is given in article to Gate2RuBIN project (www.gate2rubin.ru ), a Russian consortium of 3 partner organisations, which has become part of the Enterprise Europe Network (www.enterprise-europe-network.ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm ) in order to create the conditions necessary for establishing partnerships between Russian and European companies and research organisations. The main emphasis in its work has been laid on lending support to internationalization of small and medium innovative and export-oriented companies. It is no accident that the Gate2RuBIN project has gained federal support in Russia.

The yearbook New Economy: Innovation Insight into Russia (http://www.naukakom.ru/comit_papers/newecon_info/ ) has already been published for a third consecutive year at the initiative by the Duma Committee for Science and Research-Intensive Technologies and the Federation Council Committee for Education and Science. It serves as an important tool for such information exchanges and a discussion forum for leading Russian experts in the field of innovation.

The edition is Russia’s first experience of open debates on problems faced by the Russian economy in its transition to an innovative development model among legislators, heads of ministries and agencies, regional leaders, prominent scientists and business people. The very fact that the article by Oleg Luksha and Svetlana Klessova has appeared in such an authoritative national publication will help to raise awareness of the Gate2RuBIN, ACCESSRU and ISTOK-SOYUZ projects in the Russian innovation community and at the top level of government.

The article “Prospects for the Development of EU-Russia Cooperation in the Field of Science and Technology as Exemplified in the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union” (in Russian) can be downloaded at images/RTTN_news_archive/fileslibrary/e92c2290c8_279.pdf

The complete issue of the yearbook is available at http://naukakom.ru/upload/file/IPR3-Book.pdf