Agenda
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Following the adoption by the European Commission of an Implementing Arrangement between the European Research Council and the African Academy of Sciences, this arrangement will be officially signed by DG Marc Lemaitre on 23 October 2025 at the Berlaymont Building of the European Commission. Participants of the ceremony will include EU Commissioner Zaharieva, DG Lemaitre, AUC Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Gaspard Banyankimbona. DG INTPA is expected to be represented by DDG Ms Myriam Ferran. The Presidents of the ERC and the African Academy of Sciences, Ms Maria Leptin, and Ms Lise Korsten, respectively, will also attend, together with relevant staff from the participating institutions.
The implementing arrangement builds on the successful progamme ‘African Research Initiative for Scientific Excellence (ARISE)’, launched in December 2020. The ARISE-PP programme is managed by DG INTPA and implemented by the African Academy of Sciences. It currently supports nearly 600 early to mid-career researchers across Africa, led by 47 principal investigators, hosted in 38 African countries. DG INTPA, in cooperation with DG RTD, is planning to launch a second phase of the ARISE programme in the form of a new TEAM Europe and TEAM Africa initiative.
The cooperation between the ERC and AAS is considered a deliverable for the implementation of the AU-EU HLPD on STI established in 2010 at the third AU-EU Summit and the Innovation Agenda launched in 2023. It will be presented at the Senior Officials Meeting of the High-Level Policy Dialogue on Science, Technology and Innovation, planned on 24 October 2025, and in the final report of the SOM to be released and used as input for the AU-EU Summit, that will take place in Luanda on 24-25 November 2025.
Objectives