The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has just published the English Summary of the analysis on the benefit and impact of COST for Germany. The analysis is based on both quantitative and qualitative surveys that evaluate the benefits and impact for researchers of participating in COST.
The main findings show a great benefit and major impact for German research and for the whole European research community. In particular, the summary highlights:
COST’s support for networking leads to important direct and indirect effects at the level of individual researchers and their institutions as well as at the level of research and innovation systems. In addition to the immediate effects, these include the improved quality of the networking of the participating partners (including the building of trust), the promotion of interdisciplinary partnerships, and the stimulation of international publications and follow-up projects. In the longer term, this also results in significant contributions by COST to improving the circulation of knowledge in the European Research Area (ERA), productivity improvements in the research landscape, and contributions to scientific agenda setting (…). Germany is a central anchor in the European Research Area with strong partnerships both within COST Members (including France, Italy and Spain) and the so-called Inclusiveness Target Countries (in particular Poland and Portugal).
Read the whole summary in English here.
Below is an overview of the principal findings of the analysis: 