Second Meeting of the EU-Republic of Armenia Joint Research and Innovation Committee under Horizon Europe

The second meeting of the EU-Armenia Joint Research and Innovation (R&I) Committee under the agreement associating Armenia to Horizon Europe took place in Yerevan on 5 December 2023, under the co-chairmanship of Ms. Anne Haglund-Morrissey, Deputy Head of the Horizon Europe Association Unit, Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, and Mr. Artur Martirosyan, Deputy Minister for Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia. The meeting was hosted by the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports at the Yerevan State University.

The Armenian co-chair welcomed the EU delegation and highlighted several enacted national R&I policy reforms since the first encounter, notably, a substantial increase of the public funding for Research and Development (R&D), and the reorganisation of the Science Committee as a National Higher Education and Science Committee to enable synergies between scientific research and higher education. Mr. Artur Martirosyan expressed optimism that the new Partnership Agenda will bring further impetus to the EU-Armenia R&I cooperation. Taking into consideration the Armenian ongoing efforts to absorb a substantial amount of displaced people, the Deputy Minister called for extra measures to enhance Armenian participation in Horizon Europe.

The EU co-chair referred to the EU’s strengthened engagement with Armenia, praised the ongoing reform efforts on the Armenian side to strengthening its R&I capacity, and commended Armenian entities for already in the first couple of years in Horizon Europe having surpassed half the net EU financial contribution compared to the figures in Horizon 2020. Ms. Haglund-Morrissey mirrored the strong interest of her counterpart to broadening R&I cooperation in order to achieve tangible progress in Horizon Europe and drew attention to the many open participation opportunities in the Programme, both for Armenian researchers, universities, research institutions and companies.

The EU side recalled the Multilateral Dialogue on Principles and Values in International R&I Cooperation under the Global Approach, the European Research Area (ERA) Policy Agenda and the New European Innovation Agenda and invited Armenia to actively participate in relevant activities. The Armenian side reported on the progress made in relation to three ERA Policy Agenda actions – research assessment, infrastructures and careers – and committed to place ERA priorities in the national research strategy. Subsequently, both parties deliberated on the state of play of the implementation of the EU-Armenia Horizon Europe Association Agreement, including the principle of reciprocity, the financial contribution, and the value of participating in Programme Committee meetings. The discussion also focused on the wide range of activities carried out by the Armenian National Contact Points (NCPs), coordinated by the Armenian Horizon Europe Office – the Scientific and Innovation Partnership Assistance Centre (SIPAC), and the four new Armenian national research programmes open to participations from researchers and research entities based in the EU.

The meeting further touched upon the Armenian participation and participation opportunities in specific areas of Horizon Europe such as the Widening actions, the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, upcoming European Research Council and European Innovation Council calls, and activities in collaboration with the Joint Research Centre. The two sides reiterated their engagement via the Eastern Partnership Informal Working Group and overviewed the implementation process of the 2020 Policy Support Facility. The Armenian side concluded by informing about the merger of a large number of Armenian universities and research institutions into six broad universities, among which four are planned to be hosted by the ambitious ‘Academic City Project’ in a location close to the capital, which also has an ambition to bridge scientific research with commercialisation activities. The EU co-chaired thanked for the fruitful discussions and invited the Armenian side to Brussels for the next meeting in 2024.

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International cooperation with Armenia