BELARUSIAN INSTITUTE OF SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND INFORMATION SUPPORT OF SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL SPHERE

Their core work

BelISA is Belarus's national body for scientific and technical information, system analysis, and research policy support. In H2020, they functioned as a National Contact Point (NCP) for ICT funding programmes and as a bridge between the Belarusian research community and European R&I networks. Their practical work involves advising researchers and institutions on how to access EU funding, facilitating policy dialogue between Belarus and the EU, and operating within the Eastern Partnership cooperation architecture. They are an institutional gateway — not a lab producing results, but the body that connects Belarusian science to European funding and partnership ecosystems.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In their first H2020 project (from 2015), BelISA operated as an operational NCP — doing the hands-on work of training applicants, attending NCP network meetings, and supporting ICT proposal preparation. By their second project (from 2016), the focus had shifted decisively toward higher-level policy: bilateral R&I cooperation frameworks, political dialogue between EU institutions and Eastern Partnership governments, and systemic mechanisms like grants for networking and recognition of technology platforms. This reflects a broader institutional trajectory from service delivery to policy architecture — from helping individual researchers find calls to shaping the rules and channels through which their country engages with European science funding.

BelISA was moving toward regional R&I diplomacy and systemic cooperation architecture rather than operational NCP tasks — though their H2020 participation ended in 2019, and geopolitical events since 2020 have likely fundamentally altered Belarus's EU research engagement.

How they like to work

BelISA has never coordinated an H2020 project — they join as a participant, typically in large, politically-structured consortia. Their 49 unique partners across 32 countries for only 2 projects indicates they entered broad multilateral networks rather than tight technical teams. This profile is typical of national policy bodies that provide country-level coverage in coordination actions: their value to a consortium is access and legitimacy in their national system, not technical research output.

BelISA reached 49 unique partners across 32 countries through just 2 projects — an unusually wide network for such a small funding footprint, reflecting the nature of CSA consortia that span all EU member states and associated countries. Their geographic emphasis is on the Eastern Partnership corridor: Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan.

What sets them apart

As the designated national institute for scientific and technical system analysis in Belarus, BelISA occupies a role that no private research organization can replicate: they are the institutional node through which Belarusian science policy connects to European frameworks. For any consortium needing legitimate Eastern Partnership country coverage — particularly Belarus — they were the authoritative national partner. However, since 2022 Belarus has been excluded from Horizon Europe, making their current relevance to active EU consortia very limited and their historical profile largely a record of pre-exclusion engagement.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EaP PLUS
  Largest funding received (EUR 97,375) and the more strategically significant project — a dedicated EU-Eastern Partnership STI cooperation network covering policy dialogue, networking grants, and Horizon 2020 access for six non-EU countries.
• Idealist2018
  Placed BelISA inside the pan-European ICT NCP coordination network, giving them direct access to all EU member state NCP counterparts and the operational knowledge to guide Belarusian applicants through ICT funding calls.