In a statement published on Wednesday 24 January, the European Research Council (ERC) defends its achievements and states that the EU should build on this success and strengthen the ERC in the next framework programme for research, which will succeed Horizon Europe, by supporting its funding and operating model.
The ERC points out that, to maintain its competitive edge on the world stage in science and technology, Europe does have the necessary talent, but it is having difficulty matching its main competitors in terms of research funding and high-quality scientific production, especially in emerging sectors.
According to the ERC, in order to be an industrial leader, the EU must also be a scientific and technological leader, and in this respect, setbacks in R&I would affect Europe’s economy, competitiveness and social model, as well as its strategic autonomy and security.
To reverse these trends, the ERC stresses that efforts will need to be made at both European and national level, with a precondition being the modernisation of the EU’s long-term budget (the Multiannual Financial Framework) by doubling the budget devoted to R&I in the next EU Research Framework Programme.
Finally, the ERC stresses the need to protect its independence and autonomy under the next research framework programme in order to maintain its position as the leading funder of frontier research in Europe.
The organisation wants to retain its governance model, led by an independent scientific council and a specialised implementation agency. This model, it says, is a guarantee of the quality of its operations and, above all, of the maintenance of its peer review processes.
The ERC therefore hopes that its procedures, which it considers to be simple and appropriate, will be maintained in the next research framework programme, offering the flexibility needed to meet the needs of the European scientific community.
Link to the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/alf (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)