During the last vleva Platform meeting of Vleva Kurt Vandenberghe, Deputy Head of Private Office of Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik, described the main results from a consultation on the European Research Area (ERA) that closed in autumn 2008. The overall results of the consultation reveal a strong stakeholder support for the ERA vision, and the six specific ERA dimensions.
Knowledge sharing is coming out on top and it is the area in which actions is most required at regional level. It appeared that forthcoming action at EU level will have to aim at the realisation of a single labour market for researchers.
In the recent months Research Commissioner Janez Potocnik planned which new communications are the priority for 2008.
Correspondingly, five key communications have been planned (in the following chronological order):
Joint Programming of Research for more strategic and better-structured joint programmes and common calls for projects as of 2010 (for more information, click here)
A communication on measures to increase researcher mobility, e.g. by a ‘European Researchers' passport';
A legal framework for pan-European research (based on art. 171 EU Treaty) to facilitate the construction and operation of new consortia;
A European strategy for enhanced and coherent international science and technology cooperation;
Recommendations for increasing knowledge transfer between universities and industries, by for example codes of conduct for intellectual property rights.
1. EU policy directions
EU is moving towards a knowledge based economy and research is the key and now with specific emphasis on what is a new piece of EU jargon - "the fifth freedom[1]" - the mobility of knowledge.
Despite the stagnation of R&D spending in the EU at 1.84% the EU has retained the 3% objective (2/3rds private and 1/3 public) but this objective is unlikely to be reached by 2010. However, research intensive research regions and countries are doing better than the 3% and this is due to a much higher input by private companies. The ambition is to increase the amount of private funding into R&D and more incentives may be needed.
2. European Research Area Green Paper
The Green Paper attracted 700 responses with a strong support at both national and regional level for the ERA vision in all six areas outlined:
- An adequate flow of competent researchers with high levels of mobility between institutions, disciplines, sectors and countries;
- World-class research infrastructures, accessible to all;
- Excellent research institutions engaged in public-private cooperation, involved in clusters and virtual communities, and attracting human and financial resources;
- Effective knowledge-sharing, between the public and private sectors, and with the public at large;
- Well-coordinated research programmes and priorities;
- The opening of the ERA to the world, with special emphasis on neighbouring countries.
There was strong support for knowledge sharing, improving the single market for researchers, developing infrastructures and international cooperation. The core premise for the future ERA should be ‘smart specialisation' - not top down but a voluntary process linked to specialised clusters that can produce agglomeration effects. The Commission's role would be more of a facilitator than a regulator.
3. Five new initiatives in 2008
3.1. IPR for public research institutions - April
- Increase knowledge transfer to industry
- Develop a code of conduct with a reference document available in April[2]
3.2. Researchers passport - May
- Set up 3 year partnerships between the Commission and Member States to make a genuine labour market for researchers involving the following aspects:
- Social security
- Transnational recruitment
- Recognition of mobility
- Fair employment conditions
- Transnational portability of grants
3.3. Legal framework for pan-European research infrastructure - July
- EU consortia for the construction of research facilities of EU interest
- Use Article 171[3]
- Need to consider liabilities and taxation issues and which legal framework [4]
- This should speed up the 35 projects listed by ESFRI[5] (European Roadmap for Research Infrastructures
- There may be funding from DG Research for feasibility studies but the actual finance for infrastructure would have to come from other funding such as ERDF. Note that this seems to be high on the Commission's agenda
3.4. EU strategy for international S/T cooperation - July
- The aim is for the EU to speak as one voice on key topics
- The EU can also integrate neighbouring countries into research projects and establish bilateral agreements
3.5. Joint Programming of Research - September
- A group of Member States regions may be able to join together to gain a critical mass
- This process will have three phases:
- Phase 1 - examination of processes and the criteria for identifying areas - to be endorsed by the European Council
- Phase 2 - choice of areas of research
- Phase 3 - implementation
- The aim here is to engage Member States and regions in a bottom up process not top down from the Commission
4. The governance of the European Research Area
- Although there are areas of cooperation which help coordinate the ERA such as CREST[6] and OMC-Net (FP7 Capacities programme), S&T indicators and key figures publications, this is not enough to ensure high-level coordination and there is a need for a more political steer.
- There was a key issues paper produced in February 2007 raised questions on how the R&D targets would be achieved and the how monitoring and mutual learning would take place.
- These points will be discussed at an informal Council meeting in Slovenia in April and may be endorsed by the May Council.
5. EU Budget Review
- The key issues that the EU budget should tackle are:
- Competitiveness
- Facing up to the challenges of globalisation
- Climate change and the environment
- R&D is key to Europe's success and knowledge will part of all policies
- The ‘fifth freedom' is part of the EU transition from a resource-intensive to a knowledge-based economy.
- Key aspects of any budget review will be:
- EU added value
- Project to programme funding e.g. Joint Technology Initiatives, externalisation of financial management to funding agencies
- Commission shifting from funding agency to policy e.g. Ministry of Research model
- More coordination between funding streams e.g. Structural Funds, CIP, FP7, etc.
- Synergies of design must be translated into the synergies of action
- Discussions to start in June - note that the consultation on the EU budget review ends on 15th April 2008.
6. Practical Guide to EU Funding for RDI - June 2008
This ‘user-friendly' guide is available in draft form http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/consultation_en.html and after discussions with Member States should be available in a final version in June.
[1] Adding to the four freedoms of the movement of "goods, services, capital and people"
[2] See European Universities Association and EARMA -Responsible Partnering http://www.eua.be/fileadmin/user_upload/files/EUA1_documents/Responsible_Partnering_rp-2006-v102_2_.pdf
[3] Article 171 of the Treaty allows the European Community to set up any structure necessary for the efficient execution of research, technological development and demonstration programmes. It allows for a wide range of possible implementation structures for Community research and development programmes, of which the most prominent is a ‘Joint Undertaking'.
[4] This issue has been taken up by the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation (EGTC) http://www.welcomeurope.com/default.asp?id=1300&idnews=3134&genre=0
[5] ESFRI - see ftp://ftp.cordis.europa.eu/pub/infrastructures/docs/infoday_fp7_ri.pdf for a good overview but from 2006. The European Roadmap Report 2006 can be found on http://www.madrimasd.org/proyectoseuropeos/futuroPoliticaInv/docs/esfri-roadmap-report_en.pdf
[6] CREST http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/coordination/coordination01_en.htm
