ERA-STAR Regions network

By project STEPHANIE

Published on 15 July 2021

Belgium

Prov. Namur

About this good practice

In the ‘ERA-STAR Regions’ network, members were coordinating their existing regional programmes or regional initiatives on space research and innovation for the mutual benefit of their regions following the national and European space programmes. As a main tool to achieve this objective, two-stage calls for project proposals, opened to public and private entities of the network member regions, were delivered to address commonly identified strategic topics for collaboration and harmonization in the space sector (GALILEO applications, GMES applications, Technology applications, Outreach, education-related partnership and communication). The first call served as a pilot for harmonizing procedure; 2 calls were delivered in all from which 8 multilateral projects emerged.
The participating members and stakeholders were: Service Public de Wallonie (BE), Anwendungszentrum GMBH oberpfaffenhofen (DE), Freie Hansestadt Bremen (DE), Navigate Consortium (IT), Regione Toscana (IT), Nederlands Instituut voor Vliegtuigontwikkeling en Ruimtevaart (NL), CeskaKosmicka Kancelar O.P.S. (CZ), Hungarian Space Office (HU), Ministrstvo za Visoko Solstvo, Znanost in Tehnologijo (SI), Comunidad de Madrid (ES), Bayeriches Staatsministerium für Wirtschaft, Infrastruktur, Verkehr und Technologie (DE), Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologien (AT), Conseil Régional Midi-Pyrenées (FR), Junta de Andalucia - Secretaria General de Universidades, Investigación y Tecnología (ES), WFB Wirtscha

Resources needed

The project was coordinated by the the 'Service Public de Wallonie’, Belgium and involved 15 other partners among 9 countries. This project took place from 1 October 2004 to 30 June 2009 and was funded under FP6 in the global amount of 2 496 740€.

Evidence of success

2 joint two-stages calls for proposals were delivered resulting, with 12 participating organisations, in 6 projects funded out of 18 proposals for the first call and, with 8 participating organisations, in 2 projects funded out of 5 proposals. 5 bilateral and multilaterals actions were reported between participating members.

Potential for learning or transfer

Creating space to grow : through exchanging information and good practice the network’s research programme managers are setting the groundwork for future joint projects.
Given that the network comprises many regions with their own governmental and administrative structures, particular attention is being paid to removing the administrative and legal obstacles to cooperation in collaborative projects.
The longer-term goal is to launch joint calls for proposals that will cement transregional cooperation and build the distributed resource bases that respond to the large RTD demands of the space industry, as well as taking the products of space research and developing innovative spin-off applications for the benefit of Europe’s citizens.