Cementing synergies

Senior European figures discuss the difficulties and possibilities of using multiple funding streams

In certain circles near or at the top of research funding and policy, ‘synergies’ is a term that is used a lot.

The casual listener—a researcher or research manager—may be forgiven for thinking it a buzzword without much meaning and little relevance to their own work. But is this correct? At the European Commission’s Research and Innovation Days conference in Brussels in March, senior figures experts sat down to discuss their experience with funding synergies, and some of what was said could indeed have wider relevance in how researchers and research managers consider building funding for projects. Here are some of the key points from that session.