Summary
DISCOVERY has been designed to support dialogues between Europe and North America (both the US and Canada) and to foster cooperation in collaborative ICT Research and Innovation. DISCOVERY is funded by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation of the European Union. DISCOVERY was launched on 1st January, 2016 and has implemented a range of activities to achieve its mission. Alongside the organization of the ICT Discovery Labs and capacity-building workshops, to promote bi-regional collaboration in ICT priority areas of strategic interest, the cornerstone of the DISCOVERY project is the Transatlantic ICT Forum.
Achievements
DISCOVERY provides the Transatlantic Cooperation Toolkit which includes a set of mechanisms and tools to support dialogues and facilitate cooperation in ICT R&I between Europe and North America (US and Canada). It includes the Transatlantic ICT Forum, DISCOVERY Partner Search Tool, Guidance for ICT R&I Cooperation, and Working Groups on Funding Mechanisms, ICT Policy and Regulations, and Cybersecurity.
Impact in international / European cooperation
The Transatlantic ICT Forum (TIF) has been established to support policy debate and provide opinions and recommendations to transatlantic dialogues and ICT R&I cooperation. Under the umbrella of the TIF, three working groups on key thematic areas in ICT - policy and regulations, funding mechanisms and cybersecurity - bring the Forum high-level expertise and insights on subject matters and work together to enhance the transatlantic collaboration in the field of ICT. TIF provides Input Papers and Policy Briefs on ICT policy and regulations, funding mechanisms for ICT R&I and cybersecurity, including insights and recommendations for transatlantic collaboration in ICT R&I.
The benefits of TIF are:
• Unique platform to promote tri-party EU, Canada and US policy dialogues and transatlantic cooperation in the field of ICT. TIF organises an Annual Conference to realise this mission.
• High-level senior expertise on key thematic areas in ICT. TIF is supported by Working Groups on Funding Mechanisms, ICT Policy and Regulations and Cybersecurity that develop recommendations on transatlantic ICT collaboration in their field of their expertise. Furthermore, transatlantic think tanks provide expert insights to policy recommendations, and funding programmes analysis, adding value to the policy inputs.
• Information on funding opportunities for transatlantic cooperation in ICT. TIF provides a directory to funding agencies from Europe, US and Canada. With the support from the Working Group, the Input Paper on Funding Mechanisms provides current collaborative funding models as well as insights, comparative analysis and recommendations to facilitate transatlantic ICT R&I cooperation.
• Hot topics, project ideas and technical recommendations for cybersecurity collaborations across the Atlantic. TIF provides the Input Paper on Cybersecurity which identifies prioritised cybersecurity focus areas, recommendations and user scenarios to guide transatlantic cooperation in the domain of cybersecurity.
• Comparative analysis of EU, US and Canada ICT policies, with focus on Intellectual Property, data protection, regulatory environment and government support for digital innovation. The Input Paper on ICT Policy and Regulations also provides recommendations on these key areas for transatlantic business and ICT R&I cooperation.
• Follow-up to transatlantic policy dialogues in science and technology. TIF provides timely updates on bilateral EU-US and EU-Canada S&T agreements and other policy dialogues related to ICT through DISCOVERY news and social media channels.
• Networking. TIF offers networking opportunities through workshops, working groups meetings and online DISCOVERY community to engage with policy makers, funding agencies representatives, ICT industry, researchers and academia from both sides of the Atlantic.
