Europe

Firm roots in Europe

The European Research Area has developed not just since the idea for it was proposed by the EU Commission at the beginning of 2000; scientists, scientific organisations and universities have been preparing the ground for this major political goal for many years.

The basis for the European Research Area is intensive bilateral and multilateral relations between national research facilities. The Max Planck Society now has an extensive network in Europe: from a total of over 6,000 post docs, international guest and junior scientists in 2010, around 2,200 - a good third - came from countries in the European Union. Two thirds of the international cooperation partners of the Max Planck institutes are based in Europe, including Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands.

Within the European Union, the majority of junior and guest scientists come from:

• Italy (471)
• France (307)
• Poland (255)
• Great Britain (212)
• Spain (206)

Approx. two thirds of the more than 600 partners of the Max Planck Institutes are within the European Union. The most important partners are as follows:

• Great Britain (648)
• France (607)
• Italy (487)
• Spain (291)
• Poland (127)
  

Cooperation partners in France and Spain

Because of its similar work and structure, the Max Planck Society traditionally maintains close institutional relations with both the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and the Spanish Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC). There is a cooperation contract with both organisations to promote collaboration in the form of cooperation projects and joint research programmes.

The Laboratoires Européens Associés (LEA; currently 12) and the Groupements de Recherche Européen (GDRE; currently 4) have been very successful in work undertaken with the CNRS. Max Planck institutes, together with the CNRS and the CSIC, also maintain large research facilities, including the

• Institute of Millimeter Radio Astronomy (IRAM) (jointly with the CNRS and the Spanish Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN))
• German-Spanish Centre for Astronomy at Calar Alto in Almeria (Andalusia)
• CSIC-MPS "Convivencia" Research Unit