EU and Korea welcome closer R&I co-operation
The Republic of Korea, European Council and the European Commission have declared they value the “substantial progress made” in research and innovation collaboration between Korea and the EU.
Korean President Park Geun-hye, European Council President Donald Tusk and European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström made the statement as part of the 8th Republic of Korea-EU Summit held in Seoul.
They welcomed efforts to work closer together on the creative economy as well as the results of the 5th Joint Science & Technology Cooperation Committee in June, where it was decided the Union and the Asian state would “deepen and scale-up” co-operation in key areas, namely nanotechnology, nanoelectronics, energy, satellite navigation and ICT. Efforts are also being made to encourage further collaboration to meet health and biomedical challenges, as well as encourage researcher mobility.
Speaking to the press, the leaders also drew attention to forthcoming joint research projects as part of Horizon 2020, notably in 5G, the Internet of Things and cloud computing. They also welcomed the deal to engage in a twinning collaboration on carbon capture technologies and processes.
The politicians also recognised that since Korea became a member of the Eurostars 2 programme in 2014, co-operation between SMEs of both sides had contributed to further joint research and technological development. The also shared the view that this co-operation should be continued to promote SMEs’ technological competitiveness and encourage entry into third markets.
