Brussels, 01/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 1 December, the second day of the Competitiveness Council, ministers with responsibility for research adopted a conclusion with a view to reforming the advisory structure of the European research area (ERA).
This reform will be “the culmination of a long debate”, said Luxembourg Secretary of State for Higher Education and Research, Marc Hansen. “I am convinced that, with this adoption, the European research area will have effective governance (which will bring) a genuine partnership among the member states”, he went on. The reform, on which there had been “fruitful exchanges” at an informal meeting in Luxembourg in July, seeks firstly to limit the number of advisory groups to seven, in line with the priorities set for the 2015-2020 period (see EUROPE 11442).
The six priorities are: - increasing the effectiveness of national research systems (ERA committee, ERAC); - maximising transnational cooperation and competition (high-level group for joint programming, JPG) and, in this context, improving research infrastructure (European strategic forum for research infrastructure, ESFRI); - creating an open labour market for researchers ERA steering group on human resources and mobility, SGHRM); - promoting gender equality and integrating the male-female dimension in research (Helsinki group, HG); - maximising dissemination and transfer of scientific knowledge and access to knowledge (new group with a broader mandate to replace the ERAC's former KT group); - encouraging international cooperation (strategic forum for international science and technology cooperation, SFIC).
This rationalisation of the way ERA governance operates will be scrutinised in depth in the first half of 2018 or later.
Over lunch, ministers also discussed the proposal for closer cooperation between the European research area and the European higher education area, said the Luxembourg secretary of state. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)