Bilateral Cooperation: Science and Technology Agreements with non-EU countries

Bilateral science and technology agreements

The EU has bilateral agreements with 20 individual countries around the world. These agreements are based on common interests and priorities, aiming to increase cooperation in research and innovation.

More information on S&T agreement with Russia

The EU can fund the participation in Horizon Europe actions of entities established in EU Member States, in Associated countries and in low and middle income countries.

In principle, international partners in high income countries bring their own funding to Horizon Europe actions. To facilitate their participation, the respective third countries or territories can decide to establish co-funding mechanisms (CFM). These arrangements can take different forms.

Presently, co-funding mechanisms have been put in place by Australia (AU), Brazil (BR), Canada (CA), India (IN), Japan (JP), Mexico (MX), The People’s Republic of China (CN), Principality of Monaco (MC), Republic of Korea (KR), Switzerland (CH) and Taiwan.

Information on these CFMs can be found in the Complementary Funding Mechanisms Document on the Horizon Europe Participant Portal.

There are two main ways for research entities from non-EU/ non-Associated countries to participate in a Horizon Europe collaborative research project (consortium). If they receive EU funding they participate as a Beneficiary. If they do not receive EU funding (i.e. they bring their own funding to the project), they participate as an Associated Partner. Full and up-to-date details of participation modalities are available in the Horizon Europe Annotated Model Grant Agreement (Beneficiary status is described in full in Article 7. Associated partner status is described in full in Article 9.1).

These modalities can be summarised as follows:

Beneficiaries

Entities that receive EU funding participate in Horizon Europe as Beneficiaries, which means that they must sign the Grant Agreement. They are fully responsible towards the granting authority for implementing the Agreement and for complying with all its obligations. They must implement the Agreement to their best abilities, in good faith and in accordance with all the obligations and terms and conditions it sets out.

They must have the appropriate resources to implement the action and implement the action under their own responsibility. If they rely on affiliated entities or other participants (e.g. Associated Partners), they retain sole responsibility towards the granting authority and the other beneficiaries.

They are jointly responsible for the technical implementation of the action. If one of the beneficiaries fails to implement their part of the action, the other beneficiaries must ensure that this part is implemented by someone else. The beneficiaries (and their action) must remain eligible under the EU programme funding the grant for the entire duration of the action. Costs and contributions will be eligible only as long as the beneficiary and the action are eligible.

Associated Partners

Associated partners are entities that participate in a Horizon Europe project without receiving EU funding. They do not become party to the Grant Agreement (do not sign it), but they implement important parts of the action and are thus involved actively in the consortium. Therefore, the Grant Agreement mentions them and defines their role (rights and obligations). Characteristics of associated partners:

• associated partner participates at own costs (does not receive EU funding)
• associated partner performs action tasks directly. Associated partners do not sign the GA (and are therefore not beneficiaries)
• the consortium (or in case a link exists with a specific beneficiary, the beneficiary) remains responsible towards the granting authority for the action tasks performed by associated partners

Associated partners do not need to have a (capital or legal) link to a beneficiary (but they may have one) and do not need to comply with the eligibility conditions for funding (but they may be eligible, and just choose to participate without funding).

The consortium is responsible for the proper implementation of the tasks implemented by associated partners (proper quality, timely delivery, etc.). They must moreover ensure that they comply with certain obligations that must be extended to the associated partners:

1. Proper implementation
2. Avoiding conflict of interest
3. Confidentiality and security obligations
4. Ethics
5. Give visibility to the EU funding
6. Respect specific rules for the action implementation
7. Information obligations
8. Record-keeping

It is the beneficiaries’ responsibility to ensure that these obligations are accepted by the associated partners (e.g. via contractual arrangements, consortium agreement, etc). Moreover, the beneficiaries must ensure that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 of the Grant Agreement (e.g. granting authority; the European Court of Auditors (ECA); the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)) have the right to carry out checks, reviews, audits and investigations on the associated partners, particular concerning the action implementation.

The European Commission established Euraxess Worldwide to build links between Europe and researchers across the world.

Regional/country representatives working in a series of hubs around the world develop, run and animate networks of researchers (members). They provide information on mobility opportunities for individuals to work in Europe, e.g. Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions (MSCA) and European Research Council (ERC) as well as opportunities for collaborative research offered by the Horizon Europe framework programme.

They act as a first point of contact for researchers around the world who wish to connect or stay connected with Europe and in particular those who are interested in research career or cooperation opportunities in Europe. Membership is free.

Currently Euraxess Worldwide has dedicated representatives in:  

• ASEAN (based in Singapore and Bangkok)
• Latin America and Caribbean States (based in Brazil and Colombia)
• China (based in Beijing); India (based in Delhi); Japan (based in Tokyo)
• South Korea (based in Seoul)
• Australia/New Zealand (based in Sydney)
• Africa (based in Ethiopia)
• North America (based in Washington DC, covering US and Canada)