Brussels, 11/04/2012 (Agence Europe) - Scientific progress could be far greater if the results of previous research were easily communicated and accessible. In a speech to the European Federation of Academies of Sciences and Humanities Annual Meeting in Rome on Wednesday 11 April, Digital Strategy Commissioner Neelie Kroes called for openness and sharing of scientific findings in order to encourage research and drive innovation. Information and communication technology (ICT) now allows scientists to communicate and collaborate at little or no expense. “With the right infrastructure and the right approach, we can bring on a new age of scientific practice and discovery”, she said.
Currently, scientific work, in particular that which is funded by public authorities, is difficult to access, most being protected by copyright, and when they can be accessed, it is sometimes very costly. Kroes accepts that there must be limits to openness, for example, to protect personal data and sometimes for security reasons, but “for me, these are exceptions, not the rule”. The European Commission will shortly bring forward a communication and a recommendation proposing the way forward on open access to research results for the scientific community, chiming with Innovation Union, the flagship policy of the EU 2020 strategy. Innovation Union makes provision for investment in research and innovation in the EU equivalent to an average of 3% of EU GDP. The communication and recommendation will look at the role of ITC infrastructure in supporting open access, and will also consider the role of rewards that incentivise researchers to share. This will “show how widening access to publications and data generates substantial benefits and how we can, together, make the European Research Area a successful enterprise”, Kroes said. Her ambition is not restricted to Europe: the Commission is currently working with international partners, including the G8 and also emerging economies, to devise a global approach to sharing scientific resources, the commissioner said. “With these initiatives, we can create a resource to link up researchers and their data wherever they are, whatever their field”, she argued.
Kroes also took part in the Italian Digital Agenda Annual Forum, organised by Confindustria Digitale, in Rome on 11 April. She said that Italy could boost its economy by investing more in the digital economy. She set out three main ways. Firstly, young people could be encouraged to take up careers in the new technologies, where vacancies could soon outstrip supply (three times more French, German and UK students study computing than Italian students). This would bring supply more into line with demand on the labour market and would help reduce unemployment. Secondly, broadband coverage could be improved - this is one of the objectives of the digital strategy. Italy lags behind in this area, ten percentage points behind French and German levels. e-Commerce would be boosted and this would help Italian companies which would no longer be confronted with copyright, or authorisation issues or other trade barriers to selling their goods. Thirdly, there has to be continued investment in innovation. Italy has done a great deal in new connected initiatives, with investment of nearly €1 billion on smart cities, something the commissioner says should be continued. Kroes took the opportunity, too, to remind Italy of its obligations on the independence of the national regulator when a new law which could have an effect on the independence of the Italian regulator (ACGOM) has just been passed (see EUROPE 10579). Two letters, in which the Commission sets out its concerns, have already been sent to the Italian authorities. “I hope that we can find a swift means of resolving these concerns in a way that avoids ambiguity”, Kroes stated. (IL/transl.rt)