Board 28, JUNE 4th, 2009
Joint Statement
The STCU is an intergovernmental, non-profit organization created with the goal of aiding unemployed or underemployed scientists previously working on the development of weapons of mass destruction. It was created and is governed by the 'Agreement to Establish a Science and Technology Center in Ukraine', originally signed by Canada, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States. Subsequently, Sweden was replaced by the European Union; Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan have also acceded to the agreement. The STCU finances projects that redirect the know-how of the scientists, who were formerly involved in military programs, into peaceful sustainable civilian applications. Other than government funded projects, the STCU also works in a number of other spheres of activity: Matchmaking; Promotional Missions; Seminars and Workshops; Partnership Projects; Travel Grants; and Patent Support.
The STCU Governing Board meets on a semi-annual basis in order to determine the Center's policies and funding for scientific projects. The STCU Secretariat, located in Kyiv, Ukraine, is the main body responsible for fulfilling STCU decisions and policies on a daily basis.
The Twenty Eighth Meeting of the Governing Board of the Science and Technology Center in Ukraine (STCU) convened on June 4th in Baku, Azerbaijan, approving ten (10) regular government funded scientific projects (including continuations) for a total of USD $2,024,845 (being $833,758 + ˆ859,618**) subject to funds availability.
In addition to the aforementioned regular projects, the 28th STCU Governing Board approved twenty three (23) Targeted R&D Initiative projects for a total of USD $980,576 (being US$605,476 and Euro 270,713**), broken down as follows:- For the 11 Georgia National Academy of Sciences Targeted R&D Initiative projects total USD $383,236 (being USD $231,622 and ˆ109,421**). For the 12 Ukrainian National Academy of Science Targeted R&D Initiative projects total USD $597,340 (being USD $373,854 and Euro161,292**).
The Governing Board expressed its interest in assisting Institutes in becoming sustainable. The Board reviewed the pilot Institute Sustainability Program (ISP) and approved three (3) projects for a total of USD $998,964.
The Targeted R&D Initiative program was launched in 2005, with the goal of co-financing, as equal partners, jointly selected projects focused on recipient country S&T priority areas. The STCU is currently working with other interested governmental agencies in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, to determine what future co-funding initiatives are possible.
The meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan is the second time the Governing Board has held its meeting in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been a member of STCU since 2003. During that time STCU has funded over US$2.2 million and Euros 530,000 in cooperative research projects, engaging hundreds of ex-weapons scientists.
Under the STCU-Azeri Targeted Initiatives, STCU and Azerbaijan have cooperated on 13 projects since 2005, totaling over US$1 million with the Azeri National Academy of Sciences providing half of this funding.
The Governing Board noted the introduction of five (5) new Partners to the STCU since the November 2008 26th STCU Board of Governors meeting, including: NanoQuantum Corporation (USA); Radiophysics Solutions/Anglo Scientific (EU); Eaton Corporation (USA); Argonne National Laboratory (USA) and Institute of Plasma Physics - Prague, Czech Republic (EU).
The Governing Board confirmed (13) new Partner Projects activities approved since the November 2008 STCU Board of Governors Meeting for a total of $1,934,464, including: P-333 - DOE / IPP Program, (USA), P-334, P-374, P-381, P-385, and P-386 - United Kingdom Department of Energy and Climate Change (formerly UKDTI and UKBERR), (EU), P-340, P354, P357, and P367-European Office of Aerospace Research and Development, (USA), P-363 - U.S. Department of Defense Threat Reduction Agency, (US), P-382 - U.S. Department of Agriculture, (US), and P-384 - NanoQuantum Corporation, (US); also confirmed eleven (11) Partner Project contract extensions with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (P004I and P004J), USA, U.S. Department of Agriculture (P-115b), USA, Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRNS) (P-170a), EU, Discovery Technology (P-207a), USA, DOE / IPP Program (P228a), USA, DOE / GNMTR Program (P233b and P233c), USA, University of Stuttgart, Institute of Physical Chemistry (P-236), EU, Alcatel (P-269), EU, and PPG Industries Inc. (P-292), US for a total of US$751,020 (being $484,785 and ˆ192,144**).
The total funding to date including all twenty-eight (28) STCU Governing Boards stands at approximately $188.3 million, with the donor parties contributing the following amounts: Canada - $8.8m, U.S.A.- $76.3m, European Union - $40.6m (ˆ32.5m), Non-Government Partners Sector - $24.2m, Government Partners Sector - $37.4m and Other (Japan, CERN) - $1.6m.
NB: ** The Euro/US$ rate taken is 1.3856
Funding Table