The Global Research Area in Action event was organised by the Informal Group of RTD Liaison Offices (IGLO) in Brussels as a follow-up from a previous event, held on 17 October 2016, during which representatives of IGLO, third country stakeholder organisations and the wider public discussed a number of legal, financial and practical obstacles to the participation of third countries in Horizon 2020.
The aim of the Global Research Area in Action event was to facilitate the discussions of national experts on the current rules for participation of third countries in Horizon 2020 in the context of the programme’s on-going interim evaluation and to enable them to come up with a set of specific suggestions for improved rules for participation of third countries in Framework Programme 9 (FP9).
The suggestions included in this report are the outcome of the discussions held by over 50 national experts from EU Member States/Associated Countries and representatives of third countries (National Contact Points, S&T Counsellors from diplomatic missions to the EU, etc.), which took place during the event. Each of the four discussion groups addressed several aspects related to the participation of international partners in Horizon 2020, namely the appropriateness of the current policy framework, financial rules, legal rules and practical problems, and made recommendations for the future.