As she has promised to do on several occasions (see EUROPE 12418/5, 12533/12), the Commissioner for Youth and Innovation, Mariya Gabriel, presented a communication on a new European Research Area (ERA) on Wednesday 30 September.
Since the ERA as defined 20 years ago has reached certain limits, notably in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Commission is putting forward in this Communication a set of objectives which it hopes will give substance to a new ERA that is more efficient, attractive and resilient to future crises and more oriented towards “climate neutrality and digital leadership”.
In particular, States are encouraged to ensure that by 2030, 5% of their national public funding benefits joint research programmes and European partnerships.
Furthermore, the Commission reaffirms the objective of an overall investment of at least 3% of the Union’s GDP in research and development. This objective is also enshrined in the EU Ministers’ political agreement in principle on the Regulation establishing the Horizon Europe Framework Programme (see EUROPE 12570/1).
Bridging inequalities. The Commission also proposes targets to avoid ongoing inequalities in national investment in research and innovation (R&I).
Member States lagging behind the EU average are thus encouraged to increase their investments by 50% over the next 5 years.
“Nearly all Central and Eastern European Member States have managed to increase their R&I expenditure, while a number of southern countries appear to be falling behind”, notes the Commission.
In addition, it is suggested that the States lagging behind in terms of most cited publications should work to reduce this gap with the EU average by at least one third over the next 5 years.
Commitments. Finally, the Commission today presented some of the measures that it is committed to implementing in the coming years.
In particular, by the first half of 2021, it will propose that the States adopt a pact for R&I in Europe in order to define the areas in which they will develop joint efforts.
The European institution, which is determined to support the transfer of research results to commercial applications, is also committed to establishing within 2 years a code of best practices for the use of intellectual property, “to ensure access to effective and affordable intellectual property protection”, it says.
Finally, with a view to “attracting and retaining the best researchers”, it intends to present by the end of 2024 a “toolbox for supporting researchers’ careers”, which should include a framework of competencies for researchers and a programme to support the exchange and mobility of researchers between companies and universities.
See the communication: https://bit.ly/3l072Th (Original version in French by Agathe Cherki)