18-07-16  Another 18mn euros to be spent on Greek-German research and innovation

German Federal Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and ResearchThomas Rachel, Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs Alternate Minister for Research and Innovation Costas Fotakis, and the General Secretary for Research and Technology Thomas Maloutas agreed on the continuation of the successful bilateral  collaboration in the field of Research and Innovation.

“We can build on the exceptional existing Greek-German cooperation, and with the new realities of our joint research programme we can support a stable, long-term development of innovative systems in Germany and Greece. We bring into contact the best minds and we develop networks between the researchers of the two countries,” Rachel said.

“The Greek-German programme in Research and Innovation that was successfully completed in the 2013-2015 period represents a unique multi-thematic bilateral programme, which Germany is carrying out with another EU member-state.

In the framework of the new agreement, projects in the fields of health, bioeconomy, energy, materials, basic technologies of general application, as well as inter-disciplinary cooperation in the fields of the social sciences and humanities, culture and tourism, will be funded.

“The Greek-German research programme is developing into the flagship of cooperation between the two countries,” Rachel underlined.

The aim of the programme is to bolster the link between science and the market in specific areas, to offer support for young academics in both countries, and to expand the synergies with the EU research and innovation programme,  Horizon 2020.

As Minister Fotakis noted, “The cooperation in Research and Innovation must function as a catalyst for the development of  initiatives between the two countries, as an investment in the future of their joint collaboration.”

In the way of funding for the Research and Innovation programme, the two countries will expend a total of 18 million euros (public expenditure), with each spending nine million. The proclamation of the programme will be issued in the immediate future.

Aiming at the more rapid exploitation of the results of the bilateral cooperation, the two ministries agreed to support measures for the transfer of technical know-how and technology to Greece. To that end, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will offer an additional two million euros in 2017-2018, and the Greek General Secretariat of Research and Technology will spend another one million in 2019.