G7 Commits to Promoting International Research Cooperation

Banner image: G7 Leaders Summit Day One, 11 June 2021 at Carbis Bay, United Kingdom. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italy’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council President Charles Michel. Picture by Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street

At the G7 summit held in Cornwall, UK from 11–13 June 2021, leaders of the G7 group of countries agreed to increase cooperation on a variety of research and technology initiatives.

Through a G7 Research Compact, the countries stated, “We commit to promoting international research cooperation and the conditions of freedom, independence, openness, reciprocity and transparency under which it flourishes.”

The G7 Research Compact is a welcome reinforcement of principles and goals by 7 of Australia’s wealthiest and most significant research partner countries.

Within the Research Compact, G7 countries state shared values and commit to work together on specific actions, which include:

1. Maintain policies, legal frameworks and programmes which promote research collaboration — among our scientists, research institutions and innovative businesses

2. Promote the efficient processing and sharing of research data as openly as possible and as securely as necessary across the G7 and beyond, by improving the availability, sustainability, usability and interoperability of research data, technologies, infrastructure and services

3. Explore incentives, including enhancements to research assessment that foster recognition and reward collaboration across all disciplines and topics to drive a culture of rapid sharing of knowledge, data, software, code and other research resources

4. We have a shared aspiration for more flexible and agile research collaborations facilitating rapid, interdisciplinary, and evidence-based responses to future systemic crises and natural disasters across G7 nations and beyond. We will explore how existing and potential new mechanisms and initiatives can support risk reduction, prevention and response to these events.

5. The G7 Working Group on the Security and Integrity of the Research Ecosystem will develop a common set of principles which, when implemented, will help to protect the research and innovation ecosystem across the G7 from risks to open and reciprocal research collaboration, and preserve the principles of open science and research freedom and independence. The Group will develop proposals for a virtual academy and toolkit, bringing together and developing the skills and experience of researchers, innovators, business leaders, and policy makers from any nation to develop a shared understanding of research integrity and security.

(These 5 recommendations were shortened for publishing here.)

The ARDC is already working with partners on initiatives that support these recommended actions.

Please read the full G7 Research Compact.

Read about Australia signing up to expanded OECD recommendation on access to publicly funded data.

The ARDC is funded through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) to support national digital research infrastructure for Australian researchers.