Comparative Report on S&T Cooperation of the ERA Countries with Brazil, India and Russia

Information on the means and extent of ERA countries' S&T cooperation with BR, IN and RU (BIR) is fragmented and not readily available. Often countries themselves re-orientate their strategies and internationalisation of their S&T policies according to emerging competitiveness and economic challenges. Therefore, to obtain better insights into ERA countries' international S&T cooperation with these countries, a questionnaire based approach was developed through the CREST Working Group on Internationalisation of R&D , focused on ERA countries' policies on internationalisation of S&T. It was aimed at providing an overview of their S&T cooperation policies, their dynamics, government strategies and related experiences with BIR. The report thus aims to provide an assessment of the status of public S&T cooperation based on analysis of questionnaire responses and further analytical work to identify good practices, common objectives and open questions. These in turn feed more focused discussions and possible transnational coordination of certain internationalisation policies with these countries. The original questionnaire data has been summarised and used to produce some composite indicators, which served as a basis for an overall comparative assessment. 23 completed sets of questionnaires and an additional single questionnaire had been received covering 21 MS representing approximately 75% of MS and 3 AC representing 60% of the addressed countries. A new assessment and benchmark methodology was developed for a thorough analysis of the questionnaire responses based on the quantification of numerous qualitative responses. Two models describing corresponding composite quantitative indicators were introduced for comparison of intensity of ERA countries' governmental S&T cooperation with BIR. Model 1 - Index "Degree of Networking" based on policy instruments implemented for international S&T cooperation with BIR in ERA countries; and Model 2 - Index "Cooperation Status" a composite indicator summing up information on ERA countries' S&T cooperation policy dynamic, institutional capacity and related policy measures, and practical implementation of S&T cooperation policies with BIR, together describing the overall S&T cooperation policy implementation framework for S&T internationalisation with BIR. Since the two models and indexes supplement each other, calculated numeric values for ERA countries were combined and the composite quantitative indicator named "Intensity of Cooperation" was introduced for integrated assessment of ERA countries' international S&T cooperation. A composite indicator for the assessment of policy relevance was related with performance of S&T cooperation policies alone, as well as with GERD as a proxy indicator for hard Input and scientific co-publications as Output indicator. On this basis, ERA countries were benchmarked and further comparative assessment/analysis of expected practical impacts of introduced and planned policies on internationalisation of S&T cooperation in ERA countries with BIR, based on comparisons of questionnaire data with the additional information obtained via data mining was made. Comparisons with information obtained via the Thomson Reuters Scientific ISI Web of Knowledge - ISI Science Citation Index (Expanded), Eurostat and EC, DG RTD Regional Key Figures Databases supported assessment of underlying reasons for good S&T cooperation practices. The report summarizes the lessons learnt from comparative perspective, addressing good practices in international S&T cooperation and, where possible, underlying reasons for successful practices were acknowledged.