The National Science Council of Taiwan (hereinafter referred to
as NSC), a governmental agency of the Executive Yuan, located
106, Section 2, Ho-Ping East Road, Taipei, Taiwan, represented
by Prof. Chien-Jen Chen, Minister,

and

The French National Research Agency (hereinafter referred to as
ANR), a French governmental agency, located 212 rue de Bercy,
75012 Paris, France, represented by Mrs. Jacqueline Lecourtier,
Director,

Hereinafter referred to as "the Parties",

NSC and ANR will cooperate in supporting scientific
collaboration between Taiwanese and French research teams by
enabling joint research proposals.

The Parties hereby agree as follows:

Article 1: Scope of the Agreement
The objective of this Agreement is to foster high
quality research and international collaboration.
To this end both parties welcome, encourage and
support joint research applications which involve
researchers from both countries

Article 2: Fields of Cooperation
The Parties agree to promote the cooperation in all
fields of science and technology. However, the
following areas are given priority:
- Agricultural Biotechnology
- Genomic Medicine
- Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
- Social Sciences and Humanities
- Telecommunication

Article 3: Activities
Each year, the national call for proposals of each
party will be also open to high-level collaboration
projects between Taiwanese and French research teams
that fulfil the objective formulated in Article 1. A
balanced scientific contribution of both partners to
a joint proposal is assumed.
Priority will be given to proposals in Programme
Blanc for ANR and General Research Projects for NSC
in the above mentioned fields of cooperation.
Such applications may be made direct to the two
parties by the partner applicants in each country.
They should be made in English and should be
submitted on the relevant form for each country, and
according to the rules and such closing dates as may
apply in each.

Article 4: Steering Committee
A joint steering committee (hereinafter referred to
as "the Committee") shall be created and include
representatives freely chosen by both Parties, in
order to participate in the meetings and the
administration of the program.
The Committee shall be responsible for the following:
- Final selection of the projects
- Deciding on the selection criteria, the application
forms and other administrative matters
The Committee shall endeavour to meet every year,
alternately in Taiwan and in. France

Article 5: Content
On the basis of common selection criteria, the ANR
and the NSC shall separately examine the proposals
according to their own evaluation procedures, and
shall constitute their list of projects in an order
of preference based on scientific quality and
interest.
In order to select the final projects, the Committee
shall:
- Compare the preference lists
- Jointly select the projects viewed as priorities
- Decide on the adequate levels of financing
Each Party shall, according to its own procedures,
establish contracts with the selected candidates to
specify the financing conditions, follow-up matters,
and relevant reports.

Article 6: Funding Terms
The Parties agree to contribute on a balanced basis
to the financing of the program. ANR and NSC will
respectively finance French and Taiwanese teams.
Both parties shall support approved cooperative
research projects up to 200 K € / research team for
3 years on each side. The maximum amount of grants
for each project or the total amount for each year
can be decided by each Party.
The duration of support for each project cannot
surpass 3 years, except if the Committee decides to
grant an exceptional extra year of support. This
decision shall be considered on a case-by-case basis.
The support given by the Parties to the research
teams shall complement the proper resources of each
team, and is intended to cover the costs of major
equipment rentals, consumables, minor equipment,
travel and the incremental costs of human resources.
The parties also agree to use their best endeavors to
ensure that all decisions on such applications will
be reached jointly within not more than 24 weeks of
their submission to the latest closing date in either
country.

Article 7: Intellectual Property
It is the responsibility of each scientific partner
to ensure the efficient protection and proper
distribution of any intellectual property arising
from the accomplishment of the joint research
projects.

Article 8: Other Dispositions
The present Agreement shall come into effect at its
signature.
The present Agreement may be modified by mutual
approval.
Either Party may, at any time, terminate this
Agreement by giving the other Party a three month's
advance notice in writing. In the event of
termination of this Agreement, obligations and
commitments already agreed upon shall be honored and
continued by the Parties until full completion.

Signed in Paris on January 2007, in two copies in the English
language.


For the French National For the National Science Council
Research Agency of Taiwan

Mrs. Jacqueline Lecourtier Prof. Chien-Jen Chen
Director Minister