Cost - European Cooperation in Science and Technology

COSTEuropean Cooperationin Science and Technology

Participation of SwitzerlandAnnual Report 2014

2

Impressum

Published by: State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI

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www.sbfi.admin.ch

Editor: Eva Klaper

Layout: Thomas Lüthi

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Printed by: FOBL, 3003 Bern

Languages: E

ISSN 2296-3871

Download: www.sbfi.admin.ch/cost_annual_14

© 2015 State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI

Schweizerische EidgenossenschaftConfédération suisseConfederazione SvizzeraConfederaziun svizra

Swiss Confederation

Federal Department of Economic Affairs,Education and Research EAERState Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERICOST

Einsteinstrasse 2CH-3003 BernT +41 58 462 88 82F +41 58 462 78 [email protected]

3

Contents

Introduction 4

Swiss participation in COST in 2014 5

COST events and publications in Switzerland 9

COST at the international level in 2014 10

How Swiss researchers and Swiss research and innovation system can benefit from participation in COST Association?

14

4

During 2014, all COST member countries became members (or cooperating members) of the COST Association. This Association

is the new legal entity of COST; it is an international non-profit association under Belgian law, which was established on 19 Sep-

tember 2013. In the course of 2014, the COST Association gradually took over responsibility from the previous implementing

agent, the European Science Foundation ESF, while the ESF reduced its activities. After 8 years of close cooperation, a smooth

transition of activities from the ESF to the COST Association, owned by its member states, was made possible through efforts on

both sides. In addition, the continuous support of the European Commission was an important factor in this transition period.

On 7 March 2014, the Federal Council took the decision for Switzerland to join the COST Association. Swiss researchers are there-

fore able to benefit from straight forward access to international networks in various research fields as before.

The 2014 Annual Report provides a short overview of COST activities, both in Switzerland and at the international level.

Introduction

Introduction

5

Swiss participation in COST in 2014


Participation in new COST Actions

The Committee of Senior Officials (CSO) approved 80 new COST Actions in 2014. These Actions cover all nine scientific do-

mains, as well as the large field of trans-domain topics. 4 of these new COST Actions were proposed by Switzerland-based

scientists (FP1401, MP1407, TU1403, and TD1401).

In 2014, Switzerland joined 71 COST Actions that had been approved by the CSO in 2014 or earlier. By the end of 2014, Swit-

zerland was involved in 261 of the 368 ongoing Actions (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Number of COST Actions since 1971

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14

Number of COST Actions with Swiss participationTotal number of COST Actions

6


Figure 2: Distribution of commitments by scientific domain and type of institution in 2014 (total CHF 5.3m)

COST is primarily an instrument for higher education institutions, as can be seen from figs. 2 and 3: in 2014, 39% of the al-

locations went to the ETH Domain and 35% went to cantonal universities, while universities of applied sciences secured 13%

(rising from 6% in 2013). Non-profit organisations (NPOs) received 10%, while federal research institutes received 3% of the

funding allocated in 2014.

The universities of applied sciences are strongest in the following domains: FA, FPS, ISCH and TUD (figure 2).

Commitment budget

The overall commitment budget of CHF 23 million for COST-related activities covers the period 2013 – 2016. Of this, CHF 5.3

million was allocated in 2014 to projects in the various COST Domains and Actions.

In the following figures, some details are given for the year 2014 on the commitments to the various Swiss participants and

Domains.

Figure 2 shows that two COST Domains – the Trans domain Actions and the Food and Agriculture domain - were allocated CHF

900,000. Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and Technologies CMST, Earth System Science and Environmental Management

ESSEM and Forests, their Products and Services FPS were allocated around CHF 700,000; Materials, Physical and Nanosciences

MPNS received CHF 500,000 and the other domains (Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health ISCH, Transport and Urban

Development TU, Information and Communication Technologies ICT) were awarded CHF 350,000 or less.

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

ICT (3%)

TU (6%)

ISCH (7%)

MPNS (10%)

FPS (13%)

ESSEM (13%)

CMST (14%)

FA (17%)

TD (17%)

ETH Domain (39%) Universities (35%) Universities of Applied Sciences (13%) NPO (10%) SME (3%)

Switzerland’s total budget for COST-related activities (2013 - 2016)

7


Figure 4: Commitments in 2014: distribution within the ETH Domain (total CHF 2.07m)

Within the ETH Domain (Figure 4), funding was allocated as follows: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials, Science and

Technology (EMPA) 34%, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) 32%, EPF Lausanne 17%,

ETH Zurich 17%.

Swiss Federal Laboratoriesfor Materials Science and Technology EMPA 34%

ETH Zurich 17%

EPF Lausanne 17%

Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL 32%

Figure 3: Distribution of commitments by type of institution in 2014 (total CHF 5.2m)

Confederation (3%)

NPO (10%)

Universities of Applied Sciences (13%)

Universities (35%)

ETH Domain (39%)

0 0.5

0.68

0.54

0.18

1.0 1.5 2.0

1.82

2.01

2.5

8

Figure 6: Payments by scientific domain in 2014 (Total CHF 6.1m)

Budget for COST-related activities (payments)

In 2014, the budget for COST-related activities amounted to CHF 6.1 million. This funding was fully allocated and spent. Figure 6

shows the distribution of payments to the various domains, with MPNS and CMST receiving the highest funding, followed by

Forests, their Products and Services, Earth System Sciences, Transport and Urban Development and the Trans-domain Actions.

The other domains (Food and Agriculture, Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences, Social Sciences and Humanities as well as

Information and Communication Technologies) received funding under CHF 0.4 million in 2014.


226.116

329.357

390.000

403.702

490.000

498.607

601.083

807.094

1.166.383

1.183.988

0 200.000 400.000 600.000 800.000 1.000.000 1.200.000

ICT (4%)

ISCH (5%)

BMBS (6%)

FA (7%)

TD (8%)

TUD (8%)

ESSEM (10%)

FPS (13%)

CMST (19%)

MPNS (20%)

Figure 5: Commitments in 2014: distribution among the universities (total CHF 1.82m)

The funding allocated to cantonal universities in 2014 (Figure 5) was shared among six universities. Particularly active and suc-

cessful was the University of Bern; the distribution was as follows: University of Bern 50%, University of Geneva 20%, Universi-

ties of Lausanne and Fribourg 10% each, University of Basel 9.7%, and University of Zurich 0.3%.

University of Zurich 0.3%

University of Geneva 20%

University of Bern 50%

University of Fribourg 10%

University of Basel 9.7%

University of Lausanne 10%

9

COST events and publications in Switzerland

COST events and publications in Switzerland

SERI/COST supported the following COST meetings in Switzerland:

� FA0907: 5th European Yeast Flavour Conference, Vevey, 5-7 May 2014 (CHF 10,000)

� TD1106: Urban Agriculture in Europe, Lausanne, 10-12 September 2014 (CHF 8,000)

� CM1105: 2nd International Symposium on Functional Metal Complexes that Bind to Biomolecules, Zurich, 22-23 August

2014 (CHF 9,000)

� FP1004 and FP1101: COST Timber Bridges Conference CTBC2014, Biel (CHF 6,300)

� The Swiss Eureka chairmanship organised the “Eureka Innovation Event” on 19 November 2014 back to back with the

Swiss Innovation Forum on 20 November 2014. Both events were a big success with more than 600 and 1000 partici-

pants, respectively. COST participated in both events as a partner organisation of Eureka and presented the possibilities

COST can offer to scientists and to SMEs and industry.

Presentations:

� Launch Event H2020, Bern, 15 January 2014

� Swiss COST DC Members meeting, Bern, 6 March 2014

� Eureka Metallurgy Cluster, Bern, 8 April 2014

� Université de Lausanne: Journée de la recherche, Lausanne, 6 November 2014

� Euresearch Workshop, Bern, 12 November 2014

� HES-SO : Journée de la recherche sur le réseautage, Lausanne, 27 November 2014

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COST at the international level in 2014

Committee of Senior Officials (CSO)The CSO met four times during 2014 in ordinary meetings (19-20 February; 13-14 May; 16-17 September; 12-13 November)

and once in an extraordinary meeting (by proxy) to approve the signing of the Horizon2020 contract between the COST As-

sociation and the European Commission.

� Membership of the COST Association:

By the end of 2014, all COST member countries had become members of the COST Association. The cooperating state also

became a cooperating member of the COST Association.

Switzerland joined the Association on 11 March 2014 based on a decision by the Federal Council of 7 March 2014. State

Secretary Mauro Dell’Ambrogio signed the membership form for Switzerland on 11 March 2014 on behalf of Federal Coun-

cillor Johann N. Schneider-Ammann.

� COST Association - ESF Transfer Agreement:

The negotiations between COST and the European Science Foundation ESF which finally led to a workable transfer agree-

ment between the two organisations were rather protracted. The most important and perhaps the most difficult issue

was related to the transfer of human resources to the new association. The transfer date of the COST branch of activity,

including personnel and all assets from ESF to the COST Association was agreed to be 30 September 2014.

� COST - H2020 Framework Partnership Agreement and Annual Specific Grant Agreement with the European

Commission:

The proposal regarding the funding of COST under Horizon 2020 was submitted in January 2014, accepted as eligible by

the European Commission, and all technical questions between COST and the Commission could be resolved, so that the

contract was ready by June 2014. The legal format of the contract is a ‘Framework Partnership Agreement’ combined with

a Specific Grant Agreement for each year of Horizon 2020.

The contract was signed in June 2014, with a retroactive starting date of 1 May 2014.

As 50% of the funding from Horizon 2020 comes from the “widening” pillar of Horizon 2020, the CSO established a Work-

ing Group on “Inclusiveness” to monitor the widening aspects related to implementation of the COST H2020 Framework

Partnership Agreement.

The Group reports to the EB and CSO and allows for all “inclusiveness” target countries (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria,

Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxem-

bourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey) to participate in the course of the

7 years of H2020.

� Transition between the Annual Specific Grant Agreements:

At the transition of two framework programmes, and to a lesser extent at the renewal of the Annual Specific Grant Agree-

ment (SGA) between the COST Association and the EU-Commission, COST may suffer from a cash-flow shortage. This is

an effect resulting in part from the reporting and payment scheme used by the European Commission and from the fact

that the COST Association does not have its own working capital. The CSO decided that measures needed to be taken

to prevent COST Actions from having to reduce their activities because of this shortage and agreed to cover such critical

periods, if necessary, with a short term loan from the European Investment Bank.


11

The amount requested will be in the order of EUR 12-15 million per transition; costs for interest depending on duration and

amount of the money effectively used.

� COST Fund:

5th COST Fund: The two CSO delegates Eva M. Klaper (CH) and Damir Jelicic (HR) were appointed as auditors for the 5th

COST Fund for 2014. The Swiss delegate agreed to audit the COST Fund a last time in January 2015 to carry on the experi-

ence from previous years and to support the transfer of the Fund from the Council to the COST Association.

The remaining balance of the 5th COST Fund has been transferred from the Council to the COST Association.

6th COST Fund: The Proposal for a 6th COST Fund was agreed by the CSO (EUR 1 million for the period 2015 to 2020; the

Swiss share of 3.3% is based on GDP in 2012/2013 and amounts to a total of EUR 33,267).

� Reciprocal Agreements:

The reciprocal agreements between COST and New Zealand, South Africa and Argentina had different end dates, and the

CSO agreed to align these dates with the end of FP7 EC-ESF II Grant Agreement activities. These agreements, which were

of a pilot nature, will not be continued as the benefit for European researchers was relatively small.

� Functioning of the COST scientific activities during the transition period:

Concerning the scientific activities during the transition period, as the mandates of the DCs ended on 31 May 2014, and

in order to ensure the finalisation of the evaluation and Action selection of OC-2014-1, the CSO decided to extend the DC

mandates until the end of the hearings (September 2014). In addition, in the context of the launch of the new Grant Agree-

ment between the EC and the COST Association under H2020 and to allow time to develop and prepare the implementa-

tion of a revised scientific structure and procedures for the next seven years, the CSO decided to combine the collection

date of OC-2014-2 with the collection dates in 2015 (2015-1).

� COST scientific committees in Horizon 2020:

The CSO agreed on a new structure with only one scientific committee, but three major tasks - to supervise the evaluation

procedure, select the best COST Action proposals and engage in pro-active (science) strategic tasks. Each COST country will

be represented by one delegate in the Scientific Committee.

Former DC members and DC Chairs in the new context: The CSO decided on rules governing how former DC members and

chairs can get involved in the new COST structures (external expert, evaluation boards, and scientific committee). These

rules are based on the COST “conflict of interest” document.

(Apply: no nominations of former DC Chairs, Vice-Chairs and members to Action MC (or as working group leader) after

serving 8 years or two full mandates for review panel members. Experts: no nominations to Management Committees of

Actions they have evaluated. Participation in science activities as members of working groups – no limitations).

� New COST Actions:

80 new COST Actions were approved by the CSO during 2014. Four of the successful proposals were submitted by Swiss

scientists: FP1401: A global Network of Nurseries as Early Warning System Against Alien Tree Pests (Global Warming),

MP1407: Electrochemical processing methodologies and corrosion protection for device and systems miniaturisation

(e-MINDS), TD1401: Fast advanced Scintillator Timing (FAST) and TU1403: Adaptive Facades Network.

A targeted Network on “Capacity Building in Forest Policy and Governance in Western Balkan (CAPABAL)” was approved

in 2014. Targeted Networks are policy-driven strategic networks operating like ordinary COST Actions.


12

� Requests of COST Association Membership – Montenegro:

Montenegro asked to become a full member of COST. In 2014, the country participated in 13 running COST Actions and

therefore fulfils the requirements for membership. The CSO decided to invite Montenegro (an EU accession candidate

country) as an observer to the 12-13 November CSO meeting which took place in Sofia, Bulgaria.

� Action Evaluation system:

In the context of H2020, the CSO decided to establish a new evaluation system, which is mainly based on positive experi-

ences with the call for Trans-Domain-Proposals for new COST Actions.

Recommendations from the Executive Board on the evaluation procedure based on the report of an external panel, a CSO

Working Group and its own refinements were followed by the CSO after a long and fruitful debate. The CSO agreed on

the following evaluation framework:

Step 0: reception and formal processing of proposals (by COST Administration). Submission, allocation to Science Officers,

eligibility check, allocation to external experts (normally 3), constitution of (normally) 4 to 6 ad hoc review boards.

Step 1: evaluation of S&T excellence by external experts (peer review and consensus report using online tools; consensus is

sought after, but not mandatory).

Step 2: quality check and resolution of disputes by review boards. Review Boards: experts nominated to pool by COST

countries. Similar work load for all review boards. Top (10) proposals suggested to (one) Scientific Committee.

Step 3: final selection of proposals by scientific quality and/or discriminating along COST strategic criteria (if needed) by

Scientific Committee. Threshold: ex ante defined and published.

Final approval of COST Actions remains at the governance level (= CSO).

The monitoring of Actions will also be adapted to the new structures and a formal redress procedure will be put in place.

A new set of accompanying documents (replacing doc 4113/13 and the relevant policy papers on conflict of interest and

resubmission) was published together with the “Rules for Participation in and Implementation of COST Activities”.

� External Evaluations and advisory panels:

The present structure of COST Domain Committees needed some revision due to developments of the scientific landscape

in Europe and worldwide (more trans-disciplinary research) and also because the existing structure fails to cover all (emerg-

ing) scientific fields to the extent the CSO wishes. Previous discussions about the scientific structure of COST (Domain Com-

mittees and evaluation procedures) among the various COST stakeholders proved to be quite controversial. A high level

external expert panel was consulted regarding the possible organisation of the scientific committee(s) in view of the new

framework under H2020. (See also: COST scientific committees p.11)

The conclusions of the panel reveal a preference for a single Scientific Committee with a more strategic role and for an

evaluation system for new COST Actions involving external experts (peer review) only (similar to the trans-domain proposal

pilot system).

The aim of the proposed new structure is to enable COST to fulfil its mission and address a number of shortcomings. The

proposed structure consists of one COST Scientific Committee composed of highly experienced generalists covering science

policy issues which would have oversight over quality control and monitoring activities.

A FP7 Final Review Report of the COST-ESF FP7 contract was commissioned by the European Commission. The result was

quite satisfying and the CSO took note of this FP7 Final Review Report.


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Executive Board of the COST Association (former JAF Group)1

The COST Association Executive Board met 3 times in ordinary meetings (22-23 January; 15-16 April; 8-9 October) and twice

in extraordinary meetings (1 July; 2-3 September).

� Membership:

The CSO elected two new members of the Executive Board: the Swiss delegate, Eva M. Klaper, and the Slovak delegate,

Milan Dado. They succeeded the two previous JAF members Rita Ward (IE) and Lieve Van Daele (BE) when their mandate

expired at the end of May 2014.

The new French delegate to the CSO, Ms Anne Bonvalet, was elected a member of the Executive Board (EB). She replaces

the former French EB member Mr. Antoine Mercier.

Scientific COST Secretariat (COST Office)The scientific COST Secretariat performed a tremendous job in 2014 in supporting the COST Actions in addition to all the extra

work necessary to transfer activities from the ESF to the COST Association. It prepared a new contract with the European Com-

mission and set up new procedures and IT tools. All those involved in these processes deserve to be acknowledged.

1 This group deals with legal, administrative, financial and strategic matters on behalf of the Committee of Senior Officials (CSO).

GlossaryCOST European Cooperation in Science and Technology

CSO Committee of Senior Officials

EB Executive Board of the COST Association (former JAF Group)

ERA European Research Area

ESF European Science Foundation

EPFL École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

ETHZ Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zurich

FIT Federal Institutes of Technology (collectively refers to EPFL and ETHZ)

H2020 Horizon 2020

JAF Executive Group of the CSO

WSL Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research

EMPA Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research

COST DomainsBMBS Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences

CMST Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and Technologies

ESSEM Earth System Science and Environmental Management

FA Food and Agriculture

FPS Forests, their Products and Services

ISCH Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health

ICT Information and Communication Technologies

MPNS Materials, Physical and Nanosciences

TUD Transport and Urban Development

Others IE = Interdisciplinary Exploratoria , TD = Trans Domain Actions / TN = Targeted Networks


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How can Swiss researchers and Swiss research and innovation system benefit from participation in COST? *

Switzerland Statistics COST Office

The purpose of this note is to present evidence based information on benefits that COST can offer to the research community in

Switzerland, and through them to the Swiss research and innovation system.

COST Actions are flexible, effective and efficient pan-European networks for researchers, engineers and scholars to cooperate

and coordinate nationally funded research activities allowing to jointly develop their own ideas and new initiatives in any science

and technology field. Actions are open and inclusive to all researchers, irrespective of country, career stage or gender. In each Ac-

tion, a Management Committee, composed of members nominated by the COST National Coordinator, is in charge of the Action

coordination, implementation and management. Within the Action, a wide range of networking activities (tools) are supported

by COST, such as meetings, workshops, STSM, and Training Schools. 370 Actions were running in 2014.

1. Participation in COST Actions

Since 2011 Switzerland has participated in a constantly growing number of running COST Actions (Number of approved

Memoranda of Understanding). In 2014, the Swiss research community not only participated to the Management Committee

(MC) of 314 Actions (Graph 1) but had access to all their networking activities.

Graph 1: Running COST Actions with Swiss participation

Graph 2: Swiss participations in networking activities

2. Participation in COST Action networking activities by Swiss researchers, engineers and scholars

The number of Swiss participations to networking activities (meetings, workshops, STSM, Training Schools) is growing since 2011

(Graph 2). In 2014, Swiss participated in 1105 COST Action activities (any before mentioned category), slightly less than in 2013.

239 251

292314

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2011 2012 2013 2014

607

838

1137 1105

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

2011 2012 2013 2014

* This section was kindley provided by the COST Office in Brussels.

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3. COST offers Early Career Investigators from Switzerland an opportunity to increase their visibility and connect

to Pan-European research networks – COST Actions

COST stimulates the participation of Early Career Investigators - ECI (less than PhD + 8 years) in all its networking activities

(meetings, workshops, STSM, Training Schools). In 2014, almost half of Swiss participations in networking activities (as shown

in the previous graph) were from Early Career Investigators-ECI (Graph 3).

Graph 3: Early Career Investigators’ participation in networking activities

4. Swiss research and innovation system benefits more and more from COST Actions’ budget

In 2014, around EUR 1,101,000 benefited Swiss researchers (Graph 4). This includes participations to meetings, workshops,

STSM, Training Schools, Local Organiser Support, but also Swiss Grant Holder institutions’ administrative support – FSAC. Pay-

ment’s made directly by COST (such as participations to the first MC meeting, experts’ honoraria) are not included.

Graph 4: COST Actions networking' budget transferred to Switzerland


293

393

550514

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

2011 2012 2013 2014

€543.688

€794.416

€1.107.536 €1.101.431

€0

€200.000

€400.000

€600.000

€800.000

€1.000.000

€1.200.000

2011 2012 2013 2014

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Graph 6: Swiss researchers trained through COST Actions' training schools

5. Swiss researchers establish more and more collaborative links via an increased participation in Short Term

Scientific Missions (STSMs) and training schools organised through COST Actions

In 2014, Swiss participated in 45 Short Term Scientific Missions (STSMs). 99 Swiss trainees and 39 Swiss trainers were involved

in training schools (Graph 5).

Graph 5: Swiss STSM hosts and participants

6. Swiss institutions gain increasing visibility thanks to meetings, Training Schools and STSMs being hosted in

their premises

In 2014, 16 COST meetings, 3 Training Schools and 119 STSMs were held in Switzerland helping to strengthen the existing net-

works and foster collaboration links between researchers, institutions and ultimately countries. They also allow to increase the

visibility of hosting institutions. Swiss institutions seem to be particularly attractive to researchers coming on STSMs (Graph 6).

49 51

66

4541

69

11099

2027

4639

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

STSM Participants Trainees in Training Schools Trainers in Training Schools

2011 2012 2013 2014

8 513 16

2 4 6 3

69

94 101

119

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

Meetings Training School STSM

2011 2012 2013 2014


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7. Swiss participation in COST Action proposals

In the COST Open Call collection 2014-1, 299 Swiss researchers participated in COST Action proposals (Graph 7). 845 eligible

proposals were submitted in total to the collection 2014-1 (all COST countries).

Graph 7: Swiss researchers in Action proposals

209 210 215203

293

330

299

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

2011-1 2011-2 2012-1 2012-2 2013-1 2013-2 2014-1


Schweizerische EidgenossenschaftConfédération suisseConfederazione SvizzeraConfederaziun svizra

Swiss Confederation

Federal Department of Economic Affairs,Education and Research EAERState Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERICOST

Einsteinstrasse 2CH-3003 BernT +41 58 462 88 82F +41 58 462 78 [email protected]

Cost - European Cooperation in Science and Technology

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