Nepal eligible for cooperation, partnership and fundng from the EU Research and Innovative Programme

The research institutes in Nepal are eligible to submit proposals for funding from the European Union's seventh Framework Programme (FP-7) to conduct research on different topics related to science and non-science streams.

This important opportunity was highlighted today at an information session organised by the Delegation of the European Union (EU) to Nepal amidst a gathering of prominent research institutes from Nepal including the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology.

Addressing the programme, head of the EU Delegation to Nepal Dr Alexander Spachis said that the EU and its member states have been organising a series of information seminars throughout SAARC countries to raise awareness among research stakeholders about the opportunities that the EU can offer for research and innovation cooperation.

He congratulated the BP Koirala Institute of Health Sciences based in Dharan for doing an outstanding job in research through the sixth  Framework Programme in the past and hoped that many more institutions in Nepal would succeed to get funding in the coming years.

Ambassador Spachis also made public the funding opportunities for research institutes at the Sixth National Conference on Science and Technology organised today by the Nepal Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) in the presence of Prime Minister Dr Baburam Bhattarai, Ministers, secretaries and eminent scientists.

He said that the EU is a world leader in research and innovation and accounted for 24 per cent of world expenditure in research, 32 per cent of high impact publications and 32 per cent of patent publications, while representing only seven per cent of the population.

European research and innovation efforts are set to receive a significant increase in funding with the announcement of the largest set of calls for proposals ever under the EU's seventh Framework Programme (FP7). Worth a total of Euro8.1 billion, projects funded by these calls are open to organisations and businesses in all EU member states, FP7 partner states and specifically eligible countries.

The calls target both innovation and a range of societal challenges, building a bridge to Horizon 2020, the next funding programme for EU research from 2014-2020.