Reblogged from Science on the net
A specific call of Horizon 2020 promotes cooperation between Europe and Africa for scientific research, funding project for €80 billion between 2014 and 2020: €24.5 billion for strengthening research in science, €22.6 billion for strengthening industrial leadership in innovation and €31 billion addressed to societal challenges, like global warming, sustainable transport, food or renewal energy. Actually, Italy has been active in this field for years, especially in South Africa and Egypt, through programs of bilateral scientific and technological cooperation under the authority of the Unit for Scientific and Technological Cooperation of the Directorate General for the Promotion of the Country System.
SOUTH AFRICA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, under the Programme for Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Italy and South Africa for the years 2014 – 2016, has launched a call for the collection of joint research projects to develop between the two countries, which closed on 28 February. The call was open to researchers, universities and research centers, and included physics, astrophysics and radio astronomy, information and communication technologies, biotechnology, nanotechnology and advanced materials, medicine, health environment, and renewable energy.
Furthermore, since the Europe-Africa cooperation is also one of the objectives of Horizon 2020, preference will be given to projects that are part of multilateral research programs of the European Call. More in detail, the initiative aims at two types of projects: the first group concerning the mobility of researchers, with support for up to three years 2014-2016 and a loan in annual installments, while the last category is about bilateral projects of great importance.
Cristina Da Rold 