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| 19 April 2013, Brussels |
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ESASTAP Plus organised a lunchtime briefing and networking event in Brussels. The event was organised with the opportunity of South Africa's Minister of Science and Technology, Minister Derek Hanekom visit to Brussels for a series of high-level engagements with European Commission counterparts. Minister Derek Hanekom offered a speech highlighting South Africa's research and innovation advantages and the willingness to support further cooperation with the EU. Following the Minister's speech Constantine Vaitsas, FORTH (ESASTAP Plus coordinator) presented the project structure, consortium and activities. Mmboneni Muofhe, DST offered a presentation on future plans and priorities for South Africa's research and innovation cooperation with the European Union including South Africa's endeavours in the future Horizon 2020 Framework Programme. Following the presentations, lunch was served and extensive networking took place.
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| 20 November 2012 (Pretoria), 21 November 2012 (Johannesburg), 27 November 2012 (Cape Town) |
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The Department of Science and Technology (DST) held proposal writing training workshops for the African, Caribbean and Pacific Science and Technology (ACP S&T) programme call. The ACP S&T programme call for proposals was launched on 8 October 2012. The second Call for Proposals under the ACP Programme in Science and Technology, builds upon the lessons learnt from the first Call for Proposals launched in 2008. The call covers two themes which are: Energy Access and Efficiency, and Agriculture and Food Security, but also strongly encourages interdisciplinary approaches therefore it is not only limited to the two themes. The call will also cover cross-cutting themes such as: good governance and human rights, gender equality, environment sustainability and climate change. |
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| 14 November 2012 (Pretoria), 15 November 2012 (Cape Town), 16 November 2012 (Port Elizabeth) |
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The South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) in partnership with the European Union funded project entitled "Reinforcing the international cooperation in European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) Food, Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology (FAFB) strengthening the CIRCLE of Third Countries BIO National Contact Points (BIO CIRCLE 2)" organised FP7 FAFB call information sessions and partner identification workshops. The workshops were facilitated by Dr Bongani Ndimba: South Africa's National Contact Point for the FP7 FAFB thematic area and Ms Chiara Pocaterra: BIO CIRCLE 2 project coordinator from Italy. |
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| 6 November 2012 (Cape Town) and 7 November 2012 (Pretoria) |
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At the information sessions, initiatives such as the GMES and Africa initiative to bolster Africa's Earth observation capabilities, the Africa Connect programme aimed at strengthening Africa's high-speed research networking capacities and various actions promoting research and innovation partnerships were presented. With the regard to the latter, the proceedings included a presentation of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Science and Technology Programme's new call for proposals. |
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| 5-6 November 2012, Belgium |
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The workshop brought together a small group of young South African and European researchers (either at doctoral student or post-doctoral level), for shared reflection on how future research and innovation partnerships between South Africa and the European Union could be enhanced. The recommendations formulated by the young researchers and a short report on their perspective of past cooperation was presented to the South Africa – EU Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee upon conclusion of the workshop. |
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| 27 September 2012, Pretoria |
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The workshop was held under the aegis of AERAP (African-European Radio Astronomy Partnerships) and targeted at the astronomy community in South Africa and the rest of the continent. The focus of the workshop was EU-FP7 researcher mobility and training programmes. |
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| 19 September 2012, Brussels, Belgium |
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Organised as a side event to the fifth South Africa-EU Summit the seminar explored new opportunities for South Africa – EU cooperation in harnessing research and innovation to address societal challenges. The seminar reviewed scientific cooperation between South Africa and the EU over the past 15 years and considered opportunities for European researchers to participate in South African programmes related to the proposed Horizon 2020 societal challenge focus areas. |
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| 18 September 2012, Brussels, Belgium |
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The South African Department of Science and Technology (DST) in partnership with the European Commission organised a special conference on "Innovation for Poverty Alleviation" as side event to the fifth South Africa – European Union Summit. The conference presented and celebrated the EU's Sector Budget Support (SBS) Programme on Innovation for Poverty Alleviation to the DST. The event included as keynote speaker His Excellency, President Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa. South Africa and the European Union share the policy conviction that science and technology are critical instruments for sustainable growth and development and can play an essential role in poverty alleviation efforts.
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| 3 September 2012 (Pretoria) and 5 September 2012 (Cape Town) |
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ESASTAP hosted a series of information days on the funding opportunities afforded by the European Commission's FP7 2013 Calls launched in July 2012 in a wide variety of themes.
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| 26 June 2012, Brussels, Belgium |
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If you are looking for partners for proposals, under the coming FP7 Nanotechnology, Nanosciences, Materials and New Production Technologies (NMP), as well as Security, themes, you may wish to look to South Africa. As part of the European South African Science and Technology Advancement Programme, South Africa's best researchers are being mobilised to offer attractive partnership propositions to European consortia planning participation in these areas. Possible topics in the coming NMP call where South Africa has special expertise to offer include societally beneficial nano- and material technologies, nano-therapies to treat infectious bacterial diseases or mineral extraction and processing. Under the Security call, risk and disaster management, the fight against cybercrime, as well as logistics and supply chain security, number among possible areas where South African experts can add value to European consortia.
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| May & June 2012, South Africa (Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Polokwane, Pretoria) |
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In 2012, FP7 will launch its final and biggest calls for proposals since its inception. Calls will be launched in all thematic areas and all FP7 programmes. Some of the calls have already been launched. South Africa's participation has increased since the beginning of FP7 but there are still sectors and thematic areas which need improvement. ESASTAP, together with the South African National Contact Points (NCPs), recently embarked on road shows to raise awareness of the upcoming FP7 calls and prepare the South African research community to respond to these calls.
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| 17 January 2011, Berlin, Germany |
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Expert researchers, programme owners and other stakeholders from South Africa visited Germany to promote cooperation opportunities and to strengthen SA research collaboration with EU counterparts in ICT and the environment.
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| 20 January 2011, Paris, France |
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Expert researchers, programme owners and other stakeholders from South Africa visited France to promote cooperation opportunities and to strengthen SA research collaboration with EU counterparts in ICT and nanotechnology.
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| 13 October 2011, South Africa |
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FP7 L&F issues such as direct and indirect costs, personnel costs, Third Parties, sub-contractors, flat rates, receipts, financial reporting, etc. was discussed. In addition, the presenters provided an overview of L&F issues under discussion for the next Framework Programme, Horizon 2020.
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| September 2011, South Africa |
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The SA-EU Summit is a high-level event which is aimed at discussing issues of strategic importance including trade, the economy and development. The EU has this level of strategic relationship with very few countries, and South Africa is one of the most recent additions. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) continues to use the Summit to highlight the successful science and technology (S&T) partnership between SA and the EU by hosting supporting events to the Summit each year. The events are critical in broadening the scope of cooperation in common priority areas between the EU and SA researchers. Two supporting events to the Summit were held on climate change, and on minerals and mining. The main aim of the sessions was to review the success and impact of existing cooperation between SA and EU researchers, and also to identify new opportunities for future collaborations.
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| Climate Change Research Cooperation |
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| Minerals and Mining Innovation Partnerships |
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| August 2011, Pretoria and Cape Town, South Africa |
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ESASTAP hosted a series of information days on the opportunities afforded by the European Commission's FP7 2012 Calls launched in July 2011. Mobility programmes such as COST and IRSES as well as the various sources of funding available both locally and internationally for participants in actions and programmes recognised by ESASTAP were presented.
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| June 2011, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban, South Africa |
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The mobility proposal training was provided by Frank Marx, Acting Head of Unit: International Fellowships, Research Executive Agency (REA). REA is a funding body created by the European Commission to foster excellence in research and innovation. The agency manages large parts of the European Union (EU) Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities such as the People Programme.
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| 18 April 2011 and 21 April 2011, Pretoria, South Africa |
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The South Africa – EU Space Dialogue was welcomed as part of the South Africa – EU Strategic Partnership during the first South Africa – European Union (EU) Summit that was held in Bordeaux in July 2008. The Space Dialogue has the objective of bringing together the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST), the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), the European Commission (EC) as well as the European Space Agency (ESA), to review SA – EU cooperation in space and to plan new initiatives to enhance cooperation and to exchange perspectives on space policy developments. Two successful Space Dialogue meetings have been held in Pretoria (2009) and Brussels (2010). The third Dialogue meeting took place in Pretoria on 19 April 2011. In order to provide the SA space research community with the opportunity to engage with the European researchers, DST organised side events to the Dialogue on 18 April and 21 April.
18 April 2011: A review of South Africa - EU cooperation in space and its contribution to the strengthening of the South Africa - EU Strategic Partnership
The objective of the first event was to present the results of the South Africa – EU space cooperation and to review the cooperation. There were several presentations delivered by the DST, EC, SANSA and ESA and SA researchers.
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| 21 April 2011: FP7 funding and opportunities available for the space researchers
The second meeting organised by South Africa's FP7 Space National Contact Point raised awareness of the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) amongst the broader SA research community, highlighted the processes that needs to be followed when applying for FP7 funding and shared opportunities available for the space researchers. |
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