COOPERATION IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY II

The project supports the activities of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) association. The COST Association is a proven knowledge sharing and training platform aimed at fostering the cooperation among scientists across Europe. Through competitive grants, it brings together researchers, innovators and other professionals based in Europe and beyond, creating interdisciplinary networks working on various research topics.

Supporting the association is in line with the 'excellence' and 'widening participation' objectives of the EU's Horizon Europe research funding programme. COST's activities promote professional opportunities for participating researchers and potentially enhance Europe's innovation capacity, thus its competitiveness and economic growth. The project is therefore eligible under Article 309 point (c) common interest.

The project supports the activities of the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) Association, a proven knowledge sharing and training platform aimed at fostering the cooperation among scientists across Europe. It is in line with the 'excellence' and 'widening participation' objectives of the EU's Horizon Europe research funding programme. COST activities promote professional opportunities for participating researchers and have the potential to enhance Europe's innovation capacity, and therefore its competitiveness and economic growth.

The EIB financing will alleviate cashflow shortages during the implementation of network activities which arise from the grant conditions which stipulate a maximum amount of pre-financing and interim payments for the implementation of those activities and will therefore contribute to accelerate the implementation of the project.

The project concerns knowledge sharing activities which create intangible assets (new knowledge and scientific discoveries), which do not fall under the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive 2011/92/EU amended by Directive 2014/52/EU. The EIB will verify during the appraisal the promoter's standards and principles in respect of environmental and social aspects, in particular the adherence to the relevant EU Directives.

The promoter has to ensure that contracts for implementation of the project will be tendered in accordance with the applicable EU procurement legislation, (Directive 2014/24/EU as well as Directive 89/665/EEC) as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the EU Official Journal, as and where required.