Strategic management and promotion issues in international research cooperation

The main conclusions and recommendations of the paper are that a truly multilateral and sustained framework for international research cooperation should consist of a number of well-established and documented functions as well as a number of organisations that would ensure its proper functioning and operation. The basic functions are the following four: Strategic Management/Research performing and capacity building/Programme monitoring and funding/Implementation and market uptake of research results. The suggested organisations include the creation of an independent and “trusted” organization, which could be called the “International Research Cooperation Council”-IRCC. This organization should be attached to a “trusted” global institution like the UN and will perform a number of functions such as issuance of guidelines, harmonisation of procedures, monitoring and governance functions, (international) research needs assessment and formulation, funding management, etc. It is also suggested, that a number of individual, research-performing organisations, the so called International Cooperation Promotion and Networking Centres (ICPNC) should be designated and encouraged to act as “champion organisations”, in promoting international cooperative work at global level.