n May 2012, science funding agencies from all over the world have participated in the Global Summit on Merit Review hosted by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) at its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

The 2-day Global Summit on Merit Review capped a year-long effort to develop the new statement, which highlights key elements for the review system to support scientific research, to establish principles in order to promote research cooperation across countries and continents. “These are not necessarily all-inclusive principles,” said NSF Director Subra Suresh, who has been looking for ways to foster international research cooperation, “but they are basic principles we all agreed on.” Such agreement could help smooth the way for multinational research projects, he noted.

The Global Research Council (GRC) was formally created, comprised of the leaders of publicly funded science agencies from about 50 nations, also released its first work product, a common set of principles that frame how funders should review and choose the most worthy research projects.  Suresh also announced the GRC is not intended to be “a new bureaucracy”. Instead, the goal is to create forum for “high-level discussions” of more general policy issues that focus on developing common views on safeguarding research integrity and expanding open access.

The Nationanl Foundation for Science and Technology Development were presented at the summit and benefited from this opportunity to learn and exchange experience on scientific management and review, as well as broadened its cooperation with international agencies