Last March, the consortium of the European SCOPE (Support and Coordination of the Partnering Environment for FET Flagships) project, coordinated by FECYT (Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology), successfully passed the annual review of the European Commission in Brussels. This project, funded by the European Horizon 2020 program for funding R & D & I, has been conceived as a bridge for facilitating the integration and scientific collaboration between the great structure of the two Emblematic Research Initiatives of Future and Emerging Technologies (FET Flagships) in the EU, Graphene (Graphene Flagship) and Human Brain (Human Brain Project - HBP), with the projects, institutions and companies thereto associated, the Partnering Projects. These research groups, working in similar lines but not part of the FET Flagships consortium, are national, regional or European or other projects, with their own funding, which contribute strategic collaborations in mutual interest areas, such as in the preparation of scientific road maps.

In this first year of activity, SCOPE has managed to lay the foundations and instruments necessary for facilitating this integration in a complex environment composed of multiple actors and parallel interests, in which establishing strategic dialogues and synergistic relationships has been a complex challenge at times. With this objective, SCOPE has participated in the HBP Summit 2017 in Glasgow (UK) and in the presentation of the new national projects financed by the ERA-NET FLAG-ERA in Madrid last March, among other events. Likewise scheduled is the presentation of the latest research results of these Associated Projects at the HBP Summit 2018 next October in Maastricht (The Netherlands), as well as the participation with successful cases of researchers from the HBP and Associated Projects during the ICT 2018 congress "Imagine Digital - Connect Europe," to take place in December in Vienna.

FECYT's role as coordinator is neutral and consists in mediating between those responsible for promoting and strengthening relationships within this heterogeneous scientific community in both FET Flagships, through its partners in SCOPE: EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne), which holds the link with the HBP, and ESF (European Science Foundation), the link with the GF.

More than 30 financial grants for attending workshops and congresses of the Human Brain Project

Since its inception last year, SCOPE has awarded seven grants within the support available for young and senior researchers involved in HBP Partnering Projects. SCOPE currently has more than 30 financial grants with an approximate budget of € 50,000 for financing expenses linked to travelling to congresses, workshops or meetings organized by HBP, as well as visits to laboratories by research personnel.

Support for the communication of research results

SCOPE also aims to increase the visibility of the successes achieved by the HPB Partnering Projects and the economic and social benefits of their work.

To accomplish this, FECYT has the participation of SINC, its scientific news agency, which deals with the communication of the results of the leading research of the 26 projects and institutions associated with HBP. So far, SINC has written 8 news items and interviews that have been published in the communication channels of HBP (website, social networks, newsletters and corporate reports).

The SCOPE project also disseminates the collaborative activity that is under way between the researchers of HBP and the Partnering Projects through news published on the HBP website.

Authorship: FECYT

More information:

Sara García-Rodríguez
Project manager and responsible for the communication and dissemination of the SCOPE project

scope_project@fecyt.es

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