The report summarises a dedicated part of work addressing the coordination of policy measures between the Member States, Associated Countries and the European Commission in variable geometries undertaken in the year 2008 by the CREST OMC Working Group on ‘Internationalisation of R&D - Facing the Challenge of Globalisation: Approaches to a Proactive International Policy in S&T’.

The following 20 Member States of the European Union and countries associated to the EU Framework Programme for Research, Technological Development and Demonstration Activities participated in the OMC Working Group in 2008: Austria, Czech Republic, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Contact persons in the participating countries are given in Annex 1. Eight meetings of the OMC Working Group were held between January and November 2008.

The chair of the OMC Working Group was Jörn Sonnenburg (International Bureau of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research at the German AeroSpace Centre); the rapporteur was Marion Steinberger (International Bureau). The OMC Working Group was supported by Ales Gnamus from the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission (JRC-IPTS) and three external experts: Manfred Spiesberger, Jan Peter Wogart and José Luis Briansó Penalva. Continuous assistance was provided by Sigi Gruber and Heiko Prange-Gstöhl from the European Commission, DG Research, Directorate D, unit D2.