The secretariat of the Multilateral Dialogue on principles and values for international cooperation in research and innovation has been transferred from the European Commission to the International Science Council under a new three-year, €1.2 million grant agreement.
The agreement was formally confirmed by the Commission’s Deputy Director-General for Research and Innovation, Maria Cristina Russo, and International Science Council (ISC) president Sir Peter Gluckman, the Commission said in a statement on Monday.
The secretariat supports the Multilateral Dialogue, a forum where countries and organisations discuss shared principles for working together on research and innovation — often shortened to “R&I.”
Russo said the ISC was “uniquely placed” to host the secretariat, citing its independence, reputation, global membership and administrative capacity.
Gluckman said the Multilateral Dialogue would draw on the ISC’s network of more than 250 international scientific unions and associations, and national and regional scientific organisations spanning the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
What the Multilateral Dialogue is and who has taken part
The Multilateral Dialogue was launched in 2022 by the European Commission and France during its presidency of the Council of the EU, following the Marseille Declaration in March 2022 and Council conclusions in June that year, the Commission said.
Its first phase ran from 2022 to 2024 and concluded with the Brussels Statement, endorsed at an international ministerial conference in Brussels in February 2024.
Representatives from 57 countries have participated to date, including the EU’s 27 member states, as well as countries associated with — or negotiating association to — Horizon Europe, the EU’s main research funding programme.
The second phase is due to be launched in the second half of 2026, with the ISC leading the work as participation expands worldwide.
