International cooperation inside Europe

Instruments and Partners

NWO is both a pioneer and a participant as regards the development and deployment of new and existing instruments. New (policy) instruments of the European Commission are for instance ERA-NET and the Technology Platforms.

ERA-NET is the policy instrument of the EC that is meant to coordinate the national research programmes in Europe. ERA-NETs are primarily networks where possibilities are explored. They may result in joint programmes. In Technology Platforms knowledge institutions and companies work together, for example to improve the competitiveness of European industries.

Existing grant instruments are the research programmes EUROCORES and the personal subsidies EURYI of the European Science Foundation (ESF). Money Follows Researcher is a mobility instrument of the European Heads of Research Councils (EuroHORCs, until 2007 under NWO presidency).

By participating in, among other things, ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) NWO facilitates multilateral initiatives for better use and development of research infrastructure. NWO enables the use and exploitation of research facilities subsidised by her inside and outside the Netherlands. This ranges from facilities for astronomical research, such as Lofar (Low Frequency Aray) in Drenthe and the James Maxwell Telescope and Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes at La Palma to seagoing expeditions and computing time at the national supercomputer at SARA in Amsterdam.