Brussels, 26/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - Simplifying procedures and allocating funds for research linked to structural funds for the promotion of certain regions - these were the promises made by the Polish Presidency at the informal Competitiveness Council on Thursday 21 July, in Sopot (Poland). Discussion focused on the next financial perspectives for 2014-2020, and the role that funding should play for research, science and innovation through the post-2013 financing programme, recently named “Horizon 2020”.
Research and Innovation Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn was delighted that the consensus already reached by experts on the role of innovation as a driving force for development has now become a “political consensus”, she told the Council. The best proof of this is Poland's very ambitious objective to increase its share of GDP devoted to research and innovation to 1.7% in 2020. However, investing in “intellectual capital” also means European solidarity, through the possibility of linking research funds to structural funds, by giving privileged treatment to states and regions often absent from the 7th framework programme for research and development (7RDFP), this being one of the proposals put forward by the Polish minister for science and higher education, Barbara Kudrycka, and Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn. This, added Kudrycka, brings concrete results. The commissioner wished to specify that the rate of participation is not simply divided between old and new member states although a certain correlation may be established. This is perhaps due to a “learning effect” which recent participants at the 7th framework programme will use more in coming years, with the funding that will be more useful to them, such as forestry innovation in rural zones, the commissioner said. She also presented the Horizon 2020 programme as being made up of three separate blocks, albeit intimately linked, which determine what the funding effort for research and innovation should be focused on: - excellence in scientific studies; - priority to society's main problems; - and creation of industrial leadership. The Danish minster responsible for science, technology and innovation, Charlotte Sahl-Madsen, said priority should be given to the fields of health, food and energy. On the basis of negotiation during the informal Council, the European Commission will prepare proposals for the end of this year, Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn announced. (J.K./transl.jl)