1 month ago
Ukraine and Germany will kick off a new project on establishment of joint centers for advanced technologies in Ukraine under the leadership of leading scientists. The parties agreed on this during the 12th meeting of the Ukrainian-German working group on scientific and technological cooperation, held today, January 31, 2018, in Kyiv.
Ukrainian partners are expected to cooperate with advanced German universities, research institutes and companies. The project will be supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research of Germany. These may be either entirely new centers, or expanded existing research structures.
From the Ukrainian side, the Ministry of Education and Science will be responsible for implementation of this initiative, in particular, it will provide the Ukrainian project partners with the necessary information and access to additional resources, as well as support in resolving tax and regulatory issues.
"Today, we have agreed on key political issues for the implementation of the project to establish joint centers for front-rank technologies. Subsequent discussions of more concrete steps will be held later with the involvement of a wide range of experts from both countries, " the Head of the Ukrainian delegation, Deputy Minister of Education and Science Maxim Stryha stressed.
The parties also agreed in the second quarter of this year to approve a list of joint Ukrainian-German research projects, which will receive funding and will be implemented in 2019-2020. The relevant competition was simultaneously announced in Ukraine and Germany on December 19, 2018, and applications can be submitted till March 14, 2019.
The Deputy Minister Maxim Stryha placed a special emphasis on the fact that the German Research Foundation (DFG) has already announced plans to establish an institutional partnership with the National Research Foundation of Ukraine, which will encapsulate, in particular, bilateral projects in all areas of fundamental research.
He added that Ukraine and Germany have already marked the 25th anniversary of scientific and technological cooperation which was launched on June 10, 1993. During this time, more than 180 Ukrainian-German research projects have been successfully implemented and co-financed with the support of the Ukrainian and German parties, and dozens of conferences, seminars and forums have been organized and held. In 2016 a new format of bilateral contests was launched, including structural projects. They relate to management in the field of science. Six such projects were approved for implementation in 2017-2018, which are aimed to demonstrate which changes in the management of scientific and innovative activities are needed and how they can be implemented, taking into account German experience.
Apart from that, cooperation between Ukrainian and German scientists within the framework of the EU program on research and innovation "Horizon 2020" is quite extensive. 80 ut of 114 projects are currently being implemented together with German partners.
It should be noted that Ukraine plans to become an associate member of new framework program for research and innovation "Horizon Europe" which is slated for 2021. The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine will submit the relevant application by the end of this year.