COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is an intergovernmental network for European cooperation in the field of scientific and technical research.

The objective is to make the coordination of nationally funded research on a European scale possible.

COST provides a European platform to stimulate researchers to collaborate and financial support for joint activities such as conferences, short-term scientific exchanges and publications. These collaborations are known as "Actions". Each Action defines and follows specific objectives in order to obtain concrete results.

The topics of the Actions are part of 9 areas defined by COST:

• Biomedicine and Molecular Biosciences
• Chemistry and Molecular Sciences and Technologies
• Earth System Science and Environmental Management
• Food and Agriculture
• the Domain Forests, their Products and Services
• Individuals, Societies, Cultures and Health
• Information and Communication Technologies
• Materials, Physical and Nanosciences
• Transport and Urban Development

The financial support provided by COST covers the costs of research coordination (meetings, publications, travel expenses, conferences, etc.). The financing of the researchitself is done at national level.

Researchers can launch their own actions by submitting a project proposal. Each project should involve at least 5 COST member countries. The duration of an action is generally 4 years. To launch an action, the researcher must submit a project proposal to an open call. COST calls are open permanently. It is recommended that one those interested contact the national coordinator, present in every COST member country. In Luxembourg, the National Research Fund has been named the national coordinator.

COST is run by 9 scientific committees, all of which are responsible for controlling the scientific quality while respecting rigorous evaluation procedures. The budget is allocated by the Cooperation programme of the 7th European Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) of the European Union.