Developing Finnish Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Europe, Africa, Asia and the LAC Region (FinCEAL Plus)
Research summary
FinCEAL Plus started in January 2015 as an expansion and continuation of the FinCEAL Project
(2012-2014), both funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture. The aims of the FinCEAL Plus
project were to:
1. Increase and consolidate the Finnish bi-regional cooperation towards Africa, Asia, and the
LAC region, with special emphasis on supporting Finnish researchers’ involvement in
European bi-regional networks;
2. Support and consolidate the participation of Finnish experts in EU-Africa, EU-CELAC and EU-
Asia bi-regional research and science policy dialogues;
3. Increase the knowledge about and visibility of Finnish cooperation towards the target regions
within Finland;
4. Expand the awareness of Finnish expertise in the regions; and
5. Expand and consolidate the Finnish research communities’ awareness of cooperation
possibilities with the EU, Africa, Asia and LAC region.
6. Throughout all the project activities, strengthening the Finnish universities’ global responsibility and making it more systematic and measurable.
Description
The FinCEAL Plus project continued to focus on the priority themes for research cooperation on global challenges defined in the EU's biregional science, technology and innovation (STI) policy dialogue with Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The thematic focus areas for each regional component of the project were:
Africa:
1) Food Security;
2) Information Society;
3) Health;
4) Climate Change;
5) Renewable Energy
Asia:
1) Health;
2) Food security and safety;
3) Water management;
4) Renewable energy;
5) ICT
LAC:
1) ICT for societal challenges
2) Bioeconomy
3) Biodiversity and Climate change
4) Energy
5) Health
The project set out to meet its aims through the following activities:
- Issuing small-scale grants for researchers based in Finnish institutions, including Open and
PhD Travel Grants, Event Grants and Project Preparatory Grants;
- Issuing Targeted Travel Grants to enhance participation of Finnish researchers in bi-regional
STI policy dialogues and policy-relevant events;
- Organizing national events for information dissemination, thematic networking events in
Finland (Asia component) and regional side-events in Europe, Africa, Asia and/or the LAC
region;
- Updating and expanding the InfoBank, a database of Finnish researchers and research
conducted on Africa, Asia or the LAC region;
- Acting as a Policy Contact Point between the Finnish research community and policy makers
nationally and at the EU level; and
- Disseminating information on the cooperation possibilities in the regions through various
communication platforms such as a Newsletter, the UniPID website, mailing lists and social
media channels.
More information
Research info
Research title
Developing Finnish Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation between Europe, Africa, Asia and the LAC Region (FinCEAL Plus)
Research timeline
1.1.2015 - 1.12.2016
Keywords
african union ASEAN asem bi-regional celac collaboration cooperation EU european union innovation policy science technology
Region
Asia Caribbean Latin America Africa
Countries
Array
Institution
Finnish University Partnership for International Development (UniPID)
University of Jyväskylä
Jyväskylä, Finland
Funding instrument
Other
Project budget
1-2 million euros
Head of research
Markku Kanninen, Pekka Virtanen, Timo Tokola
Research team
Eva Kagiri, Kajsa Ekroos, Jarkko Mutanen, Melissa Plath
Partners
University of Helsinki, University of Eastern Finland
Contact information
Kajsa Ekroos
+358 50 448 6185
kajsa.ekroos@helsinki.fi
Open link
Record last updated
8.3.2019