E.U. – U.S.A. Research Collaboration and Funding Opportunities in Horizon 2020

NEW YORK - March 17, 2015 - PRLog -- With nearly €80 billion in funding allocated for over seven years, Horizon 2020 is the E.U.’s largest research and innovation initiative. By taking great ideas from the lab to the market, this program promises many breakthroughs, which are intended to enhance Europe’s global competitiveness. Established as a means of driving economic growth and creating jobs, Horizon 2020 will make it easier for public and private sectors to work together to push the frontiers of innovation.

The program focuses on three overarching priorities: excellent science, industrial leadership, and solutions to global challenges. Horizon 2020 is open to participants from anywhere in the world as the program recognizes the growing importance of internationalizing how knowledge is produced and used. On Monday, March 23, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., join panelists from both sides of the Atlantic at the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) in New York to hear their testimonials and to learn about the different types of international cooperation that Horizon 2020 supports. The presentations will address in detail the main elements of Horizon 2020 with regards to content, types of activities funded, forms of participation, and application procedures.

Dr. James P. Gavigan, Minister Counselor and Head of the Science, Technology, and Innovation Section of the Delegation of the European Union to the United States, will provide an overview of the Horizon 2020 program. In particular, he will explain the cases where U.S.-based participants can or might qualify to receive E.U. funding to cover the cost of their participation in selected Horizon 2020 projects. He will also describe how Horizon 2020 accomodates international cooperation at the individual researcher, collaborative project, or program/agency level. Dr. Gavigan’s main role at the Delegation of the E.U. to the U.S. is to facilitate scientific cooperation at both government agency and stakeholder levels. Current priorities include marine/arctic sciences, materials, health, and transportation research as well as innovation-related aspects of other E.U.-U.S. areas of policy dialogue, e.g. the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).

Dr. Gavigan will be joined by Dr. Joann Halpern, Director of the German Center for Research and Innovation in New York, who will discuss Germany’s participation in Horizon 2020. Dr. Halpern is also an Adjunct Professor of International Education at New York University. Before she joined GCRI, Dr. Halpern was Director of Academic Affairs and Senior Studies and Assistant Professor of International Education at Global College of Long Island University. She currently serves on the advisory boards of the Technical University of Dortmund, University Alliance Ruhr, German Accelerator, and LIU Global.

Dr. Paolo Boffetta, Director of the Institute for Translational Epidemiology and Associate Director for Population Sciences for The Tisch Cancer Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, will provide a testimonial on the benefits of transatlantic cooperation, drawing upon his personal experience as a partner in the EU-funded project CHANCES (Consortium on Health and Ageing: Network Cohorts in Europe and the United States). Since 2009, Dr. Boffetta has been Adjunct Professor at the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and since 2002, Adjunct Professor at the Department of Medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Dr. Boffetta formerly headed the Division of Clinical Epidemiology at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, Germany.

Dr. Manfred Lindau will discuss how support from an ERC Advanced Grant enabled him to return to the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen in 2013 as Head of the Research Group Nanoscale Cell Biology. ERC Advanced Grants offer substantial funding for cutting-edge frontier research of up to €3.5 million for up to five years as well as offer the opportunity to work at a research institution of one’s choice in Europe and to spend 50% of one’s workload there. Dr. Lindau will share how he found his host institution and prepared a strong research plan that takes advantage of the collaborators at the institution. Lastly, he will comment on the importance of good administrative and infrastructure support from the host institution during grant development, contract negotiations, and most importantly, during the actual research project. Dr. Lindau is also Professor of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University.

This informational evening will take place on Monday, March 23, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the German Center for Research and Innovation (871 United Nations Plaza, First Avenue, btw. 48^th & 49^th Streets). To RSVP by March 19, click here (http://form.jotformpro.com/form/50616398556970).

Unable to attend? Follow @gcri_ny (https://twitter.com/gcri_ny) and the hashtag #H2020 for live tweets.

This event is co-sponsored by the German Center for Research and Innovation (GCRI) and the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.

The German Center for Research and Innovation provides information and support for the realization of cooperative and collaborative projects between North America and Germany. With the goal of enhancing communication on the critical challenges of the 21st century, GCRI hosts a wide range of events from lectures and exhibitions to workshops and science dinners. Opened in February 2010, GCRI was created as a cornerstone of the German government’s initiative to internationalize science and research and is one of five centers worldwide.