353.  Research collaboration occurs in a variety of ways across the globe and we look forward to an interesting discussion from all Members about the cooperative activities going on in their regions. In the United States, international engagement and partnerships are integral to US research and development. The US innovation environment relies on complex and diverse crosssector collaborations and multistakeholder coalitions, and international relationships are critical to this mix of partnerships.¹² 354.  While collaboration takes place between private and public institutions, for the purpose of the present discussion I will focus on some of the collaboration that occurs between the US government and other countries. The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics reports that the United States collaborated with international partners on 40% of the US articles in 2020¹³, with most articles in collaboration with China, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada.¹⁴ 355.  Scientific cooperation between the United States and other countries takes place using a variety of arrangements, from informal scientist-to-scientist collaborations to cooperation between research institutions to formal agreements between technical agencies.¹⁵ 356.  Bilateral, government-wide agreements, also referred to as Science and Technology agreements, seek to establish a framework to foster international science collaboration while protecting intellectual property, establishing benefit sharing, and preventing taxation of research equipment.¹⁶ Agreements like this have been signed with over 40 nations¹⁷, including China, Japan, Libya, Pakistan, India, Tunisia, Morocco, and Germany.¹⁸ 357.  These types of bilateral agreements are just a small sampling of the international research cooperation that occurs between the US and other countries. A wide variety of international research collaboration occurs between US government agencies via bilateral and multilateral projects. For example, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has conducted numerous bilateral and multilateral projects such as the International Biological Program (IBP) and Tropical Oceans-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Program. 358.  The NSF also participates in the International Gemini Observatory, which provides the astronomical communities in six participant countries with state-of-the-art astronomical facilities. In addition to financial support, each country also contributes significant scientific and technical resources. The other national research agencies that form the Gemini partnership include: the Canadian National Research Council (NRC), the Chilean Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (ANID), the Brazilian Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, the Argentinean Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, and the Korea Astronomy and Space Institute (KASI).¹⁹ 359.  The US Department of Agriculture Office of International Research Engagement and Cooperation facilitates bilateral partnerships to work on agricultural issues that affect both partners, including South Korea, Israel, and Brazil. Multilateral partnerships through this office help address global agricultural issues, for example, the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases or the Global African Swine Fever Research Alliance.²⁰ 360.  As the discussion paper notes, it is important for collaborators to address intellectual property issues before engaging in collaboration. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will notify researchers of potentially commercially valuable products or processes as part of its project review.²¹ NIH also offers a wealth of information on its website for both foreign organizations looking to secure NIH funding, or domestic researchers or institutions partnering with a foreign collaborator.²² 361.  In conclusion, the US National Science Foundation notes the importance of international research collaboration: "In today's world, NSF cannot achieve its goals in isolation…US scientists and engineers must be able to operate in teams composed not only of people from many disciplines, but also from different nations and cultural backgrounds. New ideas emerge from the intellectual interactions of people from diverse backgrounds everywhere and in every country. Many scientific tools, both large facilities and large distributed and networked databases, will necessarily involve international partners." 362.  International collaboration and effectively navigating IP and other issues involved will likely only increase in importance as we seek to address global challenges through research in science and engineering.