COST is a European research initiative in the field of science and technology. The acronym stands for European Cooperation in the Field of Scientific and Technical Research (Coopération européenne dans le domaine de la recherche scientifique et technique).

Actions

COST actions are aimed at promoting scientific and technical cooperation in the field of pre-competitive research. European research projects implemented and coordinated within the framework of COST are called "COST actions". These actions are networks open to national research projects contributed by the Member States. In general, COST actions run for an average term of four years.

The ministry offers you a list of  COST-actions with Austrian participation in German.

Research priorities

Being closely associated with the scientific community, COST takes up promising new initiatives with a special emphasis on multi- and interdisciplinary fields of work. COST actions are particularly numerous in the natural sciences, for example chemistry, nano-sciences, and interdisciplinary research.

Actors

Austria has been participating in COST, currently the most comprehensive research and development network in Europe, since 1971. COST comprises a total of 34 Member States (among them the 25 EU Members) and is open to participating institutions from third countries, such as Australia, Israel, Japan, Canada, Russia and the United States. Israel was granted the special status of a COST Cooperating State on 30 June 2000.

Formally speaking, the legal entities comprised by COST are the Member States, although in practice COST is a network run and operated by the scientific community.

Researchers, laboratories, universities and private research institutions are involved in COST. Their projects are nationally financed. In Austria, participation in COST is based on contract research, funding from the Industrial Research Promotion Fund, and cooperation with private companies and/or other sources of finance, for example specialised bodies of experts and research institutes.

Tasks – Networking

COST provides an infrastructure which enables scientists from all over Europe to exchange their expertise and co-operate with each other.

COST supports the scientists involved by funding scientific events (workshops and conferences), covering travel expenses for researchers on „short-term scientific missions“ (STSMs) or attending committee meetings, and financing scientific publications. Young researchers, in particular, benefit from an intensified exchange of research information at workshops and use the opportunity to visit other laboratories and research institutions within the framework of short-term scientific missions.