ERA-NETs and other EU partnership networks

ERA-NETs (European Research Area Networks) bring together national research programmes and funding agencies to provide a mechanism for promoting European cooperation in the implementation of framework programmes for research and technology. ERA-NETs help to connect national or regional programmes, support cooperation and coordination between national and regional research programmes, increase the systematic exchange of information among programmes and chart obstacles to cooperation.

ERA-NETs organise multinational calls for joint research projects in fields chosen by the members of each network. During the Sixth and Seventh Framework Programmes, the European Commission reimbursed national research funding agencies for the costs incurred from coordinating and managing ERA-NETs. The Commission’s ERA-NET Plus funding during the Seventh Framework Programme was pooled with funding from the members of ERA-NETs to finance research projects. Horizon 2020 comes with a scheme called ERA-NET Cofund for co-financing both research projects and the networks’ own activities.

ERA-NET partners can choose whether or not to participate in individual joint calls. Once the Commission’s funding comes to an end, ERA-NETs can function as independent (funding) networks or contribute to Joint Programming.

Thethe Research Council of Finland has been actively involved in various ERA-NET initiatives and coordinated actions that tie in with the Research Council’s work in Finland. During the 2014–2019 Horizon 2020 programming period, the Research Council contributed a total of approximately EUR 32 million towards Finnish research teams’ work in ERA-NETs, Joint Programming and European Joint Programme project consortia.

Other EU partnership networks

The EU’s framework programmes for research also contribute to funding agencies’ other partnership networks established to promote European cooperation in certain fields or, for example, to identify best co-financing practices (e.g. ERA-LEARN). During the Horizon 2020 programming period, these networks are being financed through so-called Coordination and Support Actions (CSAs). This form of funding can also be used to support Joint Programming initiatives or to help funding agencies to establish new partnership networks.

The Research Council of Finland currently funds the following ERA-NETs and other EU partnership networks:

More information

  • Contact details for network coordinators can be found on each network’s website.
  • See open calls

Our email addresses are in the format firstname.lastname(at)aka.fi. 

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