Background

Despite economic difficulties, the levels of research and development spending are growing and great efforts are undertaken to modernise and restructure the national innovation systems. All this is done in order to keep up in the immensely growing international competition.

In this fierce competition those nations are more successful that are able to breed their national excellence while at the same time they participate in international networks. Sharing and collaborating with competitors/partners has become key. Nations want their researchers to become international, but they do not want to lose them. How does this work?

International collaboration brings the direct confrontation of different schools of thought, the integration and the exposure to different cultures and markets. From an industrial point of view, is collaboration not too sensitive? When preparing for a new generation of technology international standardisation will be a crucial goal of joint research. Technologies need to be accepted in various countries. How to navigate between competition and cooperation?

As the international collaboration becomes more important, efforts are on the way to create a Global Research Council. Today, the EU's "Horizon2020" is the most open collaboration programme. Are national science organisations ready to take the challenge? What are the demands of industry - how do they link up for a next generation of their products?