EU and South Korea agree to deepen research cooperation

The European Union and South Korea have agreed a range of initiatives to strengthen research cooperation. South Koreans have also been invited to apply for European research funding under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme for research.

Speaking in South Korea, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso noted that higher education links between both sides were weak: “There are fewer researchers from South Korea participating in EU research programmes than researchers from many other countries.”

As a result, agreements struck at the summit would kick-start a range of initiatives designed deliver “enhanced cooperation between our scientists and researchers to build innovation alliances at business and research institutes’ level,” said Barroso.

Mobility of scientists between both South Korea and the EU was “at far too low a level. There are only a handful of exchanges each year. It’s precisely in this area that I also see a lot of possibilities for cooperation with Korea, including the fields of green growth and of new technologies,” he added.

Barroso suggested that environment-friendly economic development and reducing greenhouse gas emissions were areas where closer academic and research relations would quickly produce dividends.

Both sides agreed at the meeting to forge closer links on developing renewable energy technology – especially on photovoltaics and wind power – and on nanotechnologies.

It was also agreed that there would be cooperation on assessments of nanotechnology safety standards and the development of test beds on smart grids able to power electric vehicles.

EU officials told University World News that South Korean researchers were encouraged to apply for funding during the forthcoming July call for proposals under the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for research.

At the same time officials argued at the summit that the South Koreans should do more to open up their research programmes to European counterparts. “Such openings are important for our academics and research centres,” Barroso told his hosts.

He said the commission would develop joint initiatives in energy, industrial technologies and information technology which would include linking of research projects (twinning) and specific items such as joint EU-South Korean workshops.

Better access to R&D programmes in Asia is integral to the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme, which will replace the FP7 from 2014. Commission officials often complain that European researchers have more restricted access to Asian research venues than that offered to their citizens in the EU.

It is the mantra of EU Research Commissioner Marie Geoghegan-Quinn that “it makes sense to bring the best researchers together”, whatever their origins, as she made clear to an ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) meeting in Singapore last month as part of the 2012 ASEAN-EU Year of Science, Technology and Innovation.

Commenting, Professor Bohdan Michalski of the EU-Korea Universities Consortium, said the EU and South Korea were a good fit, with Koreans having a strong track record in turning academic ideas into commercially viable products and services and the EU performing well in basic science and taking risks in financing basic science.

He told University World News: “What [South] Korea could learn from Europe is its ability to risk business funds without [relying on] governmental sponsorship. Business needs to suffer risk…to gain profit in terms of technology, this is what a lot of European companies have understood by now. Another challenge…is how to produce independently-thinking students capable of problem-solving on their own, which modern times require.”

On the plus side for South Korea, it is “one of the countries that had first noticed the importance of the ‘triple helix’: that without cooperation between businesses and universities supported by government, technology won’t develop,” said Michalski. South Korean business “sponsors a lot of laboratories and gives first jobs to best students, a phenomenon that still needs a boost in Europe”.

South Korean universities can offer good practice regarding increasing global ranking positions and improving their international image, said Michalski, who works at the Warsaw School of Social Psychology in Poland.