Wellington, 6 March 2012

Visit of European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science

Visit to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand (1-9 March): EU Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn calls for greater international collaboration on research

European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, is undertaking a visit to Singapore, Australia and New Zealand from 1-10 March. During her visit, the Commissioner has been meeting with leaders in government, research and academia, to look at ways to expand and deepen collaboration on research and innovation.

Increasing cooperation with international partners in areas of common interest is a central element of Horizon 2020: the new EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation for the period 2014-2020. Through working with international partners, EU researchers will be able to tackle more effectively global research challenges, build scientific excellence and develop new and innovative industrial and enabling technologies. Horizon 2020 builds on the success of international cooperation in previous framework programmes and will be fully open for the participation of researchers and research organisations from third countries to work with their EU counterparts.

In Singapore (2-3 March), Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn met amongst others with Mr Lim Chuan Poh, Chairman of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) and gave a keynote speech at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). She also promoted EU-ASEAN cooperation and dialogue in the context of the 'EU-ASEAN Year of Science, Technology and Innovation 2012'

In Australia (4-8 March), Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn met with the Australian Minister for Science and Research, Senator Chris Evans, to discuss the current cooperation and the prospects for increasing collaboration on new research and innovation and with Professor Ian Chubb, Australia's Chief Scientist, exchanging views on issues such as increasing public trust in research and innovation and encouraging international cooperation to address global societal challenges. The Commissioner also visited the Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility, the Sydney Institute for Marine Sciences and the CSIRO High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre, and gave a key note address at the annual conference of Universities Australia .

Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn will then arrive in New Zealand (8-10 March in Auckland), where she will meet with Steven Joyce, Minister for Science and Innovation and Tim Groser, Minister for Trade and Climate Change. She will also visit the leading research facilities at the University of Auckland Bioengineering Institute, which has excellent collaboration with the EU in the area of the 'Virtual Physiological Human': to develop a computer model of human physiology. She will also visit Auckland Uniservices company, which has developed an innovative model for the commercialisation of university-based research, and give a key note address at the University of Auckland on 'EU-New Zealand cooperation in research and innovation: recent achievements and new opportunities under Horizon 2020'.

For more information on EU research and innovation see: http://ec.europa.eu/research/home.cfm

For more information on Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn see: http://ec.europa.eu/commission_2010-2014/geoghegan-quinn/index_en.htm

ENDS

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