COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Co-operation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, allowing the co-ordination of nationally funded research on a European level. COST Actions cover basic and pre-competitive research as well as activities of public utility. The aim of the paper is to present the COST system of networking in the field of Food and Agriculture research and to give some advices how to prepare and present the new COST Action/Project, and also how to join an ongoing COST Action/Project. COST is an intergovernmental framework for European Co-operation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research, allowing the co-ordination of nationally funded research on a European level [1]. COST Actions cover basic and pre-competitive research as well as activities of public utility. The goal of COST is to ensure that Europe holds a strong position in the field of scientific and technical research for peaceful purposes, by increasing European co-operation and interaction in this field. COST has clearly shown its strength in non-competitive research, in pre-normative co-operation and in solving environmental and cross-border problems and problems of public utility. Ease of access for institutions from non-member countries also makes COST a very interesting and successful tool for tackling topics of a truly global nature. To emphasise that the initiative came from the scientists and technical experts themselves and from those with a direct interest in furthering international collaboration, the founding fathers of COST opted for a flexible and pragmatic approach. COST activities have in the past paved the way for Community activities and its flexibility allows COST Actions to be used as a testing and exploratory field for emerging topics. The member countries participate on an "a la carte" principle and activities are launched on a "bottom-up" approach. One of its main features is its built-in flexibility. This concept clearly meets a growing demand and in addition, it complements the Community programmes. COST has developed into one of the largest frameworks for research coIUFoST 2006 DOI: 10.1051/IUFoST:20061375
