The project which will run until 2019, aims at advancing further the EU-SA bilateral STI cooperation, building on the work and results of three preceding actions and responding to the needs and recommendations at the policy dialogue level, in particular to the mandate of the JSTCC and to the adopted Roadmap for cooperation between South Africa and the European Union.
In previous years the ESASTAP project series (ESASTAP, ESASTAP-2 and ESASTAP+) has successfully provided support to the bilateral dialogue. ESASTAP 20201 aims at advancing further the EU-SA bilateral STI cooperation, building on the work and results of three preceding actions.
The project has the following four objectives:
- Enhance the R&I cooperation under the main programmes and thematic areas of common interest
- Enrich and facilitate the policy dialogue
- Foster Innovation partnerships
- Promote greater coordination and synergy
The ESASTAP project series has been instrumental in enhancing the success of the SA-EU science, technology and innovation cooperation. The work of the three generations of ESASTAP projects has been commended by the JSTCC and by other relevant EU and national SA actors with which the bilateral platform established close synergies and links over time.
On the first day of the kick-off meeting, ESASTAP 2020 also hosted its first workshop entitled "ESASTAP 2020 workshop on Science for Policy Advice". The workshop took place on the occasion of the "Global Network of Science Academies-Inter Academy Partnership (IAP) conference on Science Advice and General Assembly 2016" which was held on 28 February to 2 March 2016 in Hermanus, Cape Town, South Africa hosted by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
1 ESASTAP 2020 is funded by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, under the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme.
