MLE on Alignment and Interoperability of National Research Programmes
With a view to improve efficiency of public funding in research and addressing major societal challenges, Member States have identified the need to improve the alignment and interoperability of their national programmes. Building on the Lund Declaration, the ERAC Joint Programming Group (GPC) has launched an MLE to address the need to foster national coordination by looking at national preconditions for participation in JPP (Joint Programming Process) / JPI (Joint Programming Initiatives), national governance structures and communication flows and visibility.
Reports
Aligning and coordinating national research programmes has great potential to boost the payoff from EU Member States’ R&D investments, by pooling resources, avoiding wasted efforts and achieving critical mass.

This report summarises the main results of the MLE, with a particular focus on sharing the learning. To this end, it also contains country fiches, which briefly summarise the present situation in each participating country, its strengths and weaknesses and list of potential actions to be implemented at national level as identified by the national representatives during the course of the MLE.
This report, produced by the PSF Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on Alignment and Interoperability of Research Programmes, is concerned with the role that National Preconditions play in the Joint Programming Process (JPP), including Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) and other public-to-public partnerships (P2Ps). The report builds on a Challenge Paper, background research and feedback from participating countries at MLE workshops in Brussels, Vienna and Ljubljana.
This report, produced by the PSF Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on Alignment and Interoperability of Research Programmes, is concerned with the role of ‘National Governance Structures’ in the Joint Programming Process (JPP), including Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) and other public-to-public partnerships (P2Ps). The report builds on a Challenge Paper, background research and feedback from participating countries at MLE workshops in Brussels, Vienna and Ljubljana.

This report, produced by the PSF Mutual Learning Exercise (MLE) on Alignment and Interoperability of Research Programmes, is concerned with the role of ‘Communications Flows and Visibility’ in the Joint Programming Process (JPP), including Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) and other public-to-public partnerships (P2Ps). The report builds on a Challenge Paper, background research and feedback from participating countries at MLE workshops in Oslo.

This Report is the 1st of five that will be prepared as the main deliverables of the MLE. It builds upon the discussions and conclusions reached at the working meeting in Brussels on 3 October 2016. It also includes insights gained from interviews with participant countries and their specific written contributions.

The Modus Operandi defines the scope, the objectives, envisaged outcomes and the preliminary time schedule of the MLE. It also describes the working approach and methodology the group will follow as well as the distribution of work of all participants.
Events
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Follow up of the MLE: a year after
As foreseen in the Final Report of MLE Alignement, one year after the panel team and the country experts who worked on it met for a follow-up meeting in Brussels. The event was an occasion to summarise the dissemination activities implemented after the conclusion of the exercise and to present the results of the survey proposed to the MLE participating countries.
Brussels DG RTD
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Closing workshop - MLE Alignment and Interoperability
This final event of the MLE discussed the findings of the project, and lessons learned, with all interested Member States. It included addresses by the Deputy Director General of DG Research and Innovation (DG RTD), W. Burtscher, and the Slovenian State Secretary Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, Tomaž Boh.
Brussels, Belgium DG Research and Innovation, Unit A4 - Analysis and Monitoring of National Research Policies
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Working meeting – MLE Alignment and Interoperability
There is a huge potential for boosting the efficiency of public funding for research, and improving impacts on major societal challenges, if national programmes are better aligned and coordinated in order to facilitate greater cooperation. This meeting discussed the final report of the MLE on Alignment and Interoperability of national research programmes.
Brussels, Belgium DG Research and Innovation - Unit A4
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Country visit to Norway - MLE Alignment and Interoperability
The meeting was dedicated to discuss the key factors related to communication and visibility and the policy reforms needed to overcome existing barriers for each participating country. The outcome of the meeting will be the fourth report of the MLE on "Communication".
Oslo, Norway DG Research and Innovation - Unit A4
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Country visit to Slovenia - MLE Alignment and Interoperability
The meeting was dedicated to discuss the key factors related to governance and the policy reforms needed to overcome existing barriers for each participating country. The outcome of the meeting will be the third report of the MLE on "Governance", to be discussed during the next country visit.
Ljubljana, Slovenia DG Research and Innovation, Unit A4 - Analysis and Monitoring of National Research Policies
Attachments
Event attachments
draft agenda v1.2.pdfEnglishChallenge Paper No 3 - Governance_161207.pdfEnglishMLE Assessment Framework_Governance_template.pdfEnglish041216_MLE_National_Governance_PB.pdfEnglishMLE -SI_National Governance_SUMFOREST-ARIMNET.pdfEnglishEE_cofund model+FR_presentation.pdfEnglishMLE ALIGNMENT PROJECT TEAM_1.pdfEnglish -
Country visit to Austria - MLE Alignment and Interoperability
The meeting was dedicated to discuss the five key factors identified as national preconditions to succeed in the alignment process. For each participating country a discussion took place on the policy reforms needed to overcome existing barriers. The outcome of the meeting is the second report of the MLE on "National Preconditions".
Vienna, Austria DG Research and Innovation, Unit A4 - Analysis and Monitoring of National Research Policies
Attachments
Event attachments
Annotated agenda Vienna 13-10-2016_Draft.pdfEnglishMLE Report No 2 - Preconditions_A_Hunter.pdfEnglishnational preconditions_JPI UE_1_Noll.pdfEnglishERA-LEARN 2020 WP4 Alignment MLE Meeting_AIT_Mayer_V3.pdfEnglishAlignment_MLE WS_FFG_Unger.pdfEnglishJPI water-JPI climate.pdfEnglishMLE ALIGNMENT PROJECT TEAM_1.pdfEnglish -
First meeting
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the Challenge Paper on National Coordination based on a review of background information, discussions at the kick-off meeting on 7 July and telephone interviews with representatives of 10 countries that are participating in this MLE.
Brussels, Belgium DG Research and Innovation, Unit A4 - Analysis and Monitoring of National Research Policies
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Kick-off meeting
At the Kick-off meeting main decisions were adopted for the implementation of the MLE: results to be accomplished, scope, work plan and distribution of work. The Vice Chair of the GPC also updated of the work of the ERAC Joint Programming Group (GPC) and its Working Group of Long Term Strategy.
Brussels, DG Research and Innovation DG Research and Innovation, Unit A4 - Analysis and Monitoring of National Research Policies and Unit B2 - Open Science and ERA Policy
Attachments
Event attachments
01 agenda MLE 07072016v3.pdfEnglishPSF MLE Alignment.pdfEnglishPSF MLE Modus Operandi discussion.pdfEnglishPSF_MLE-Kickoff-07072016-2-contents-FINAL.pdfEnglishPSF_MLE-AI_presentation WG GPC EPV.pptx_.pdfEnglish03 Contributions MS to the scope.pdfEnglishMLE ALIGNMENT PROJECT TEAM_1.pdfEnglish