About COST
COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in Science and Technology, allowing the coordination of nationally-funded research on a European level.
COST has a very specific mission and goal. It contributes to reducing the fragmentation in European research investments and opening the European Research Area to cooperation worldwide.
As a precursor of advanced multidisciplinary research, COST plays a very important role in building a European Research Area (ERA). It anticipates and complements the activities of the EU Framework Programmes, constituting a โbridgeโ towards the scientific communities of emerging countries. It also increases the mobility of researchers across Europe and fosters the establishment of scientific excellence in the nine key domains:
- Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences
- Food and Agriculture
- Forests, their Products and Services
- Materials, Physics and Nanosciences
- Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and Technologies
- Earth System Science and Environmental Management
- Information and Communication Technologies
- Transport and Urban Development
- Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health
In addition, Trans-Domain Proposals allow for broad, multidisciplinary proposals to strike across the nine scientific domains.
Related Documents
- About COST 2011 (PDF, 7 MB)
- Annual Report 2010 (PDF, 1 MB)
- The Safeguard of Cultural Heritage Report (PDF, 9 MB)
- Annual Report 2009 (PDF, 2 MB)
- COST Overview February 2012 (PDF, 2 MB)
Related Links
- EU Research and Innovation - General framework
- EU Seventh Framework Programme
- Research at the European Commission
- European Research Area (ERA)
- EUREKA
- Why European Research?