The European Commission hosted the 16th EU–Australia Joint Science Technology Committee of Cooperation (JSTCC) meeting in Brussels on 11 April 2024. The meeting celebrated the 30th anniversary of the 1994 bilateral Agreement on Science and Technology Cooperation.
This year’s JSTCC meeting touched on the long history of research and collaboration between Australia and the EU. The meeting was co-chaired by:
- Dr Carolyn Patteson, Head of the International, Trade and National Security Division at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (Australia)
- Maria Cristina Russo, Director of International Cooperation at the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (European Commission).
Australia’s Chief Scientist Dr Cathy Foley also gave a well-received address.
The meeting focused on recent research and innovation policy and key areas for cooperation, including:
- energy transition
- agricultural research and innovation
- raw materials and value chains
- quantum
- earth observation
- Indo-Pacific
- health
- research infrastructures
- researchers’ training and mobility.
The EU has been Australia’s top scientific partner for over 3 decades, with close to 17,000 co-publications in just 2023. Australia is the EU’s 5th largest non-EU collaborator and the EU is Australia’s largest.
The JSTCC falls under the Framework Agreement between the European Union and Australia, signed on 7 August 2017. This document reinforces the commitments first made in the 1994 agreement.
Australia will host the next JSTCC meeting in 2026.