RESEARCH (25 September)
European Research Area and innovation
The Council will hold a public debate on the development of the European Research Area (ERA) and policy issues concerning research based innovation.
The debate is to be considered as a preparation to the December 2009 Competitiveness Council, where the Presidency intends to submit a set of conclusions in order to provide an input for the future European innovation plan, for which the next European Commission is expected to table proposals by early 2010.
The debate will be structure by means of a Presidency questionnaire (13047/09) referred to three statements:
1. There is an urgent need to establish research priorities at an EU level and pool resources across member states (and with other countries where necessary) to respond to those major societal challenges that cannot be resolved without a greater focus on research, coordinated with innovation and other relevant policies.
2. There is a need to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of national research systems and the ERA as a whole requires systematic and coordinated efforts by member states and the Commission to eliminate redundancies and maximise synergies between all research and other policies and policy instruments that impact on the development of the ERA and the evolution of a knowledge-based society.
3. There is a need to increase research and development investment and international cooperation across the EU both at member state and Community level.
Following a Presidency initiative, the Council meeting will be preceded by an informal ministerial seminar on 24 September gathering representatives of the European Parliament and the Commission with a view to discuss possible broad orientations for the research post-2010.
The foresight "The World in 2025" , a Presidency discussion note, the Lund Declaration on reshaping the ERA3 and the Gothenburg Resolution on the "knowledge triangle" (which brings together education, research and innovation) will be the focus of reference.
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http://www.se2009.eu/lund declaration
