International treaties and agreements
International programmes involving cooperation in research are often based on intergovernmental bilateral agreements or memoranda of understanding concluded with ministries responsible for science in other countries. These programmes fall under the category Scientific & Technological Cooperation (S&T Cooperation) and are carried out to stimulate cross-border research projects with partner countries relevant to Austria. Their aim is to enable new and sustainable international partnerships that put Austrian research on a more international footing. They offer a chance to gather experience in international project work and to build up worldwide contacts and networks, especially for researchers in the early stages of their careers.
The Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research (BMBWF) is currently conducting regular calls for proposals on bilateral research projects with 23 countries: Albania, Argentina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Hungary, India, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine and Vietnam. Preparations are now underway on new agreements with Ethiopia and Brazil.
Every year about 300 bilateral and multilateral cooperation projects are funded under the rubric S&T Cooperation.
Originally, bilateral cooperation was in the forefront. Today, S&T Cooperation funding is also appropriated in coordination with other EU Member States to finance multilateral research projects, for instance to implement macro-regional EU strategies such as the EU Strategy for the Danube Region.
To find out about current calls for proposals on S&T Cooperation projects, visit the Austrian Agency for Education and Internationalisation (OeAD) website at Scientific & Technological Cooperation (S&T Cooperation).