Международное сотрудничество

incrEAST предоставляет информацию о направлениях и целях международного сотрудничества в области науки и технологий между Азербайджаном,странами ВЕСА, членами Евросоюза и ассоциированными странами и обеспечивает развивающуюся сеть для поддержки сотрудничества.

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Scope and objectives

The major problems in the development of international RTD cooperation concerns the marginal position of Azeri scientific community vis-à-vis other international scientific communities in terms of RTD funding and research output.

Despite a large dependency on foreign funds for international RTD collaboration, Azeri government is still unaware that it also has to provide its own legal and economic incentives for RTD organizations to take part in international research and innovation programmes on equal financial footing, as well as to remove corresponding obstacles, such as tax and customs barriers, etc.

Unfortunately, at present there is no any organization either governmental or nongovernmental in the Republic which collects data and makes an analysis and assessment of the present state of Azerbaijan's international scientific cooperation. 

Co-operation with EECA-countries

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Azeri RTD teams lost their collaborative links with Russia and other former Republics of the USSR. This break up of the RTD networks seriously damaged RTD capacities of Azerbaijan that were not able to support large projects because of limited funding and a lack of expertise.

When Azerbaijan became independent, it started the process of negotiating new formal agreements and protocols. The renewal of the earlier bilateral agreements on scientific cooperation is a long and complex procedure, and has therefore proved of relatively small impact on RTD in Azerbaijan.  
Between 1991 and 2007, Azerbaijan signed bilateral agreements on scientific and technical cooperation with many countries on the state level (inter alia Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine).

Co-operation with EU-member states and associated countries

Prior to 1991, formalized international cooperation in all sciences, especially natural sciences, by Azeri institutions was channelled through the USSR authorities in Moscow and was based on bilateral and multilateral agreements, especially those concluded by the USSR with the developed Western countries.       

Azerbaijan is included in several major world information systems. 

Although international cooperation looks varied and rather developed, the actual amounts of money invested by Azerbaijan into such cooperation are very small.
From the reports of the ANAS it follows that in the period 2000- 2007 each year 120-150 scientists from different ANAS Institutes visited foreign countries (mainly European  countries, Turkey and USA) to participate in different conferences, symposia, workshops, seminars, etc. Unfortunately, nothing is written in these reports about long-term scientific cooperation. However, there is such a cooperation of some ANAS Institutes e.g. Institute of Geology, Institute of Physics, Institute of Radiation Problems, Institute of Botany, Institute of Chemical Processes, etc.
The ANAS signed bilateral agreements with the Academies of Turkey, Austria, Romania and the Royal Society of UK, CNRS (France) and International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste (Italy).

The shortage of financing made international cooperation and linkages rather difficult, resulting in isolation, unjustified complacency and a decline in the quality of scientific research in Azerbaijan. Add to this the problems of financing of visits by Azeri scientists to international gatherings outside Azerbaijan, and it becomes clear that international cooperation could not but suffer in this situation.
The education and training of research personnel at foreign institutions, especially at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels, continues mainly thanks to private arrangements, while the plans for targeted improvement and development of young scientists and scholars in fields considered important for the twenty-first century failed to materialize. So far there have been no well thought out, realistic and internationally evaluated programmes of education and training of research personnel. In the absence of a rational policy, prolonged visits by Azeri scientists to foreign research centres pose a threat of increased brain drain of the best people; another negative consequence of this practice is the concentration of the research effort on well-established, small-risk topics. This inevitably results in the replication of "scientific clones" and the accompanying decline of the quality of the research effort. The present system of financing of research programmes and projects in Azerbaijan unfortunately, favours such undesirable trend.     

EU-funded co-operation/ projects

The number of research teams from Azerbaijan submitting application to different INTAS calls between 1997 and 2006 was about 200 and about 40 of them were successful.

Some Azerbaijani research organizations have participated in FP6 projects. However, the number of Azerbaijani participants is lower than one would expect, taking into account Azerbaijani national research capacity (up to the end of 2006 54 project proposals with participation of researchers from Azerbaijan were submitted to different calls of FP6 and only 6 of them were successful ).

Azerbaijani scientists and research community at large welcome the open character of FP7 and express their interest in participation in FP7 calls for proposals and other activities open to participation of the third countries. They are positive about the declared willingness to stimulate participation of researchers and scientific teams from the third countries in projects under ten thematic priorities of FP7 ‘Cooperation’ Specific Programme.

Azerbaijani scientific teams and researchers aim at an increased participation in FP7, taking into account national interests and scientific and technical priorities of Azerbaijan. Most perspective areas, in this respect, are

• new sources of energy
• resource-saving technologies
• information and telecommunications technologies
• ecology (including radio-ecology) and rational use of natural resources
• food quality and
• safety.

These areas are those making overlap of scientific and technical priorities of Azerbaijan in short- and mid-term perspective and several thematic areas as defined in the FP7 ‘Cooperation’ Specific Programme.   

It is necessary to make efforts to complement international scientific and technological cooperation experience, which has been accumulated in the framework of other scientific cooperation programmes and international organizations, with good understanding of the principles and rules of participation in FP7.
Better results of Azerbaijani research teams and scientists in FP7 could be delivered through:

• Increase in contacts and familiarization of European partners with Azerbaijani institutions research capacity through brokerage events and various partnering opportunities;
• Integration of FP7 NIP Azerbaijan in the network of European National Contact Points (NCP);
• Conclusion of a scientific and technical cooperation agreement between the Government of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the European Community. This will make it possible for Azerbaijani research teams participating in FP7 activities to access national research budget for co-funding of FP7 research.

Further co-operations

The twenty-first century will be determined by scientific and technological development. The Azeri government, National Academy of Sciences, scholarly and professional societies, non-governmental organizations, etc. should take all possible measures and necessary actions to improve such activities with the help of the international community. Therefore, there is a strong need to re-establish links with the scientists and researchers of the former Soviet Union as well as to create broader research networks with the global RTD community. 

Therefore the following recommendations could be given:

• A careful analysis and assessment of the present state of Azerbaijan's international scientific cooperation on the basis of the data supplied by the National Academy of Sciences, Ministries and the high educational centres should be done. Realistic analyses ought to be made of the past and future expenditure for scientific and professional visits, symposia, scholarships, and bilateral and multilateral scientific and technical cooperation. Present and future benefits from international scientific cooperation should be carefully weighted.
• Key areas of research should be defined for which cooperation with foreign partners is necessary. This will then lead to an assessment of our priorities, and how Azeri science can again become interesting for scientists throughout the world. The Azeri scientific and experimental developmental potential should be urgently integrated into the European scientific and high education frameworks. Azeri scientists and research institutions should be active in participation in Seventh European Framework Programme, their cooperation with Russian scientists and scientists of other EECA countries should be rebuilt.
• A thorough analysis, with the help of the international scientific community, should help us recognize the existing scientific centres of excellence and prepare for the establishment of new centres of this kind. Wherever necessary, centres of excellence should be coupled with scientific and technological parks. European international and trans-national companies should be encouraged to take part in such activities, while Azerbaijan, as a host, should create the legislative framework and business climate to facilitate their operation. The assistance of the international community, especially the OECD countries, should be channelled in such a way that any financial support, investment or loan given to the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan should contain a provision earmarking part of the money for the development of science, experimental development, and education. The same should be done in the case of the revenue coming from the privatization of large, state-owned enterprises.
• International advisory bodies should be established for different fields and attached to the universities and institutes. Non-governmental organizations, such as the professional and scholarly societies, should be represented in such bodies.
• Foreign models should be studied (Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Israel, Switzerland) in preparation for the reorganization of the different sectors of scientific management. The system of financing should be changed, and international refereeing of projects should be introduced.
• Exceptionally gifted undergraduate and postgraduate students should be monitored and considered for possible continuation of education abroad.
• A permanent scheme should be devised to provide funding for membership fees in international societies and organizations and for the financing of international scientific events organized in Azerbaijan. Particularly important in this regard is Azerbaijan's membership in major international professional organizations, with provisions for the use of their advanced and expensive equipment, such as CERN, EMBO, etc. The membership of Azerbaijan in the European Science Foundation (ESF) may help further widening and strengthening of such links.
• A solution should be found for the problem of purchase of scientific and technical periodicals and for the establishment of a system of subscription and standing orders for books. Membership in the most important databases is vital.
• Bilateral cooperation should be stimulated with our neighbours and other countries, and multilateral cooperation should be realized through regional organizations.
• In the implementation of international scientific and technical cooperation it is important to clearly define the competence and role of the government agencies (ministries, scientific councils, etc.), the universities, the National Academy of Sciences, and other non-governmental organizations (scientific and professional societies).

Source: CIT
Last up-date: 16.04.2008