COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology – is the European intergovernmental framework for the coordination of national or regional funded research.
COST plays an important role in the development of the European research area. COST's mission is to strengthen Europe in scientific and technological research through the support of European cooperation and interaction between European researchers.
COST offers financing for the coordination of pan-European research networks (COST actions). The actual research is financed via other (national or regional) channels.
The main features of COST are:
- bottom-up approach: European researchers determine themselves the idea and topic of a COST action;
- inclusiveness and equal access: participation is open to all COST member states;
- flexible structure: simple implementation and management of networking initiatives;
- commitment to participate in capacity building by linking up high quality scientific networks across Europe and worldwide;
- particular attention to offering networking opportunities to young researchers;
- increasing the impact of research on policy makers, regulatory authorities and national policy makers as well as the private sector.
COST is financed with specific budget lines from the EU Framework Programmes. At present, COST supports some 300 ongoing actions and reaches out to more than 30,000 researchers across Europe.