Betreff:	Linking research between the EU and Eastern Europe/ Central Asia/ South Caucasus 
The bi-lingual web portal www.incrEAST.eu provides researchers and policy stakeholders involved in science and technology cooperation between the EU and the countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus with comprehensive and up-to-date information about current developments, potential partners, funding opportunities and more. 
In 2011 new features have been added to the portal and some of the popular S&T Country Reports have recently been updated. Find out more about www.incrEAST.eu from the text below and visit us online! 
You can also download the full text below as a PDF file: 
http://www.increast.eu/_media/PM_incrEAST_2011_EN_formatiert.pdf 
Thank you very much for your kind attention! 
Yours sincerely The IncoNet EECA Central Information Office 
Maria Josten (phone: +49-228-3821 415; e-mail: maria.josten@dlr.de and Stephanie Franke (phone: +49-228-3821 498; e-mail: stephanie.franke@dlr.de *** International Bureau of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research at the Project Management Agency c/o German Aerospace Center (DLR) Heinrich-Konen-Str. 1 53227 Bonn/ Germany 
www.internationales-buero.de 
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incrEAST – one click to EU-EECA science cooperation 
Linking research between the EU and Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus 
No need to look any further. This is the approach of the web portal ‘incrEAST’. Researchers and policy stakeholders involved in science and technology cooperation between the EU and so called EECA (Eastern European and Central Asian) countries turn to the portal for in depth and up-to-date information: Funding opportunities, potential research partners, ongoing cooperation projects, first 
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hand information about science landscapes and research policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, current news and events from both the EU and the target region – incrEAST offers all of this and more. 
The web portal was launched in 2008 by the EU funded IncoNet EECA project. It addresses two objectives of the EU’s 7th Research Framework Programme: expanding the European Research Area and intensifying cooperation with third countries. Since its beginnings incrEAST has continually enhanced its scope and activities: Information about South Caucasus countries and Moldova was added, a quarterly newsletter keeps interested parties in the loop of current developments, and every month a new EU-EECA cooperation project is featured in the category ‘Project of the Month’. 
An average of more than 6,500 visitors (generating ca. 160,000 hits) per month make use of the information offered on incrEAST. Among the top ranking sub-pages are the event calendar and the Key Research Institutions Database, which provides institution profiles and personal contact details of potential cooperation partners in Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus. 
The IncoNet EECA Central Information Office has established close ties not only with the project’s Regional Correspondents, who provide first hand information from Eastern Europe, Central Asia and South Caucasus, but also with other cooperation projects targeting said regions. These connections have e.g. let to the implementation of an interactive funding programme database. In March 2011 the new category ‘Database of the Month’ was launched. incrEAST aims to provide access to further databases concerning S&T cooperation between the EU and EECA countries, thus ensuring the sustainability of project developed e-tools and data collections beyond the duration period of the projects themselves. IncrEAST is fully interactive: Online templates allow anybody to submit information. The IncoNet EECA Central Information Office monitors and edits this information before making it available on the web portal. Users can submit news and events as well as funding opportunities, documents, and project information. 
The web portal incrEAST has become a trusted and well-known information base for EU and EECA researchers and policy stakeholders. Further developments are on their way to ensure optimum benefit for its users. 
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