March (2010)

Contents

31 March 2010 - Building the European "i-conomy"

"My job is to work closely with European Commission colleagues, the Member States, business and other stakeholders to help transform Europe into a really vibrant innovation economy, what I call an "i-conomy," says the EC's new research commissioner, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn. Geoghegan-Quinn was speaking on the occasion of the Guglielmo Marconi memorial lecture held in Brussels earlier this month. "Innovation is not limited to the private sector. It must happen in schools and hospitals, crèches, community centres and care homes," she said.

26 March 2010 - Call for Proposals: Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development

The European Commission has a long-standing relationship and cooperation with non-governmental and other civil society organisations as well as with local and decentralised authorities in the field of development.

It is part of the European Union's commitment to fighting poverty and promoting the rule of law and adherence to fundamental freedoms set out in Article 177 (former Article 130u) of the Lisbon Treaty.

The thematic programme Non-State Actors and Local Authorities in Development, introduced in 2007, should be seen as the successor of the above budget-lines.

The overarching objective of this programme is poverty reduction in the context of sustainable development, including the pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and other internationally agreed targets.

The programme's three main components are the following:

• Support to development actions, to be implemented by Non-State-Actors (NSA) or Local Authorities (LA), in close cooperation with the local communities and the most vulnerable population groups, aiming at promoting an inclusive and empowered society in partner countries.
• Support to actions in the EU and acceding countries aiming at raising public awareness of development issues and promoting education for development, to mobilise greater support for actions against poverty and fairer relations between developed and developing countries.
• Support to actions aiming at achieving more efficient cooperation, foster synergies and facilitate a structured dialogue in the area of development between civil society networks and local authorities associations from the EU and acceding countries, within their organisations and with EU institutions.

The global objective of this call for proposals is to support actions presented by Non-State Actors which aim at promoting an inclusive and empowered society in partner countries in order to: benefit populations out of reach of mainstream services and resources and excluded from policy making processes; strengthen the capacity of civil society organisations in partner countries, with a view to facilitating their participation in defining and implementing poverty reduction and sustainable development strategies; and, facilitate interaction between State and non-State actors in different contexts.

Awards range between €500.000 and €4.000.000. For more information go to http://moourl.com/kziab.

Source: European Commission.

15 March 2010 - AMCOST Seeking Biosciences Network Director

The NEPAD/African Biosciences Initiative is seeking a suitable candidate to occupy the position of BecA Network Director. The closing date for applications is 31 March 2010. More information.

8 March 2010 - FP7 IRSES Research Staff Exchange and Networking Partnerships

The current call for proposals for the FP7 International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) instrument provides for short-term staff exchanges and networking activities between research organisations in Europe and their partners in non-European countries, such as South Africa.

Full details about the call, which has a closing date of 25 March 2010, are available via the following link. See also the overview of how the IRSES instrument works here.

Focus on South Africa

South Africa is already participating in several FP7 IRSES projects such as EPIKH (focused on grid computing), ESAP-NUTRES (nutrition research), GENES AND SPECIATION (avian genetics) or LEGIM (legume improvement). Under this call, further such opportunities exist for collaboration through the preparation and submission of an FP7 IRSES proposal.

The Department of Science and Technology through the European South African Science and Technology Advancement Programme (ESASTAP) stands ready to assist South African and European partners who wish to collaborate under IRSES. See for example details of the FP7 IRSES seed funding instrument via the ESASTAP website.

Should you require more information please do not hesitate to contact Daan (Daan.duToit@dst.gov.za) or South Africa's FP7 National Contact Point for FP7 Mobility Instruments such as IRSES, Mamohloding Tlhagale (Mamohloding.Tlhagale@dst.gov.za).

2 March 2010 - Latest Editions of AJSTID Available

The Africa Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development have released the latest editions of the journal - Volume 1 Number 2 and Number 3. For more information, visit the website of the AJSTID.