Brussels, 11/02/2000 (Agence Europe) - Opening the IPTS Conference on "Research, Technology and Employment: Towards a Knowledge Society", on Thursday in Brussels, Commissioner Philippe Busquin stated that research and technology have a decisive and positive impact on the development of new knowledge and therefore on the creation of wealth and jobs. Arguing once again for the creation of a European Research Area, he recalled that the development of research as a factor for growth, employment and social cohesion is one of the priorities of the Portuguese Council Presidency and will be one of the major subjects of the Lisbon Summit on 23 and 24 March. "Europe's scientific and technological potential must be conserved, strengthened and fully exploited", said the Commissioner, calling for the creation of new synergies, particularly in aerospace and biotechnology. Mr Busquin also stressed the necessity of reforming education and training systems to develop lifelong training. "A large proportion of European researchers are already 50 or older. We must organise the transition in the coming years to ensure the continuity of research efforts. Science and research must be made more attractive to young people in Europe and to researchers in other regions of the world", he repeated, adding that "Europe has to be brought out of itself and its national nervousness" and "set the ambition of being a laboratory of tomorrow's world".
Coordination of national policies must also apply to research, where it is nonexistent
Research Council President José Mariano Gago, Portugal's Minister for Science and Technology, observed that Europe has never established real priorities for research at a high political level, as is done in the United States, where the impetus is given at federal level. "Science and technology policy must become a central European Union policy" and the European Union must debate it. Information society and science and technology policies must be combined into a single "knowledge society" policy, explained Mr Gago. He noted that job creation is linked to (1) education and training systems, (2) investment capacity, (3) scientific development and (4) the scientific and technological culture of European citizens. "Science and technology policy cannot be limited to research policy alone", he asserted, adding that it must also include the dissemination of knowledge. The coordination of national policies is foreseen by the Treaty but has never taken place in the field of research, regretted Mr Gago, recalling that the coordination that does exist takes place either bilaterally or as part of large intergovernmental bodies, but always outside the EU institutional framework. The research framework programme vacillates between the requirements of subsidiarity and real scientific needs, on top of which is the difficulty of using its own credits (5% of total research spending in the EU) most effectively. And the Portuguese Minister asserted: "In my view, the other 95% also fall with the competence of the EU and progress needs to be made in that direction." "It is incumbent upon the political powers to promote cooperation between national agencies", he said, adding that there is a need for a decision at political level on the pace of coordination and the opening of national research programmes and that this is a job for the Heads of Government in the European Council. The Council should also examine the question of the make-up of research institutes in terms of human resources, he stated, adding that "the mobility of researchers is a dream and a myth for now". And he went on to note that "the first concrete realisation of the European Research Area lies in a more balanced composition of laboratories. The diversity of cultural origins will foster creativity." He explained that progress is needed in developing a situation where "no one in Europe will have a permanent contract without having worked and/or studied for several years in a country other than his state of origin". Europe is not very attractive for researchers from third countries. "Europe fulfils all the conditions for being the world's science and technology pole", but it "still has to break ancestral fears of the foreigner that have always threatened it from within", said Mr Gago. He went on to conclude: "What strikes me is the lack of energy and intellectual ambition of our universities and research centres, (…) our inability to launch major challenges to our young people. The role of politics is to provoke corporatism, to change the rules of the game and give society the ability to dream and transform its dreams into reality."
European Parliament Vice-President Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca (EPP, Spain) observed: "No matter how many good ideas there may be on the European Research Area, they will all come to nothing if there is not the political will to make a real financial effort." He also highlighted the need for the joint establishment of priorities and the essential role of basic research that the VIth framework programme should support more firmly in order to avoid long term research, that could really be an asset for the future, being abandoned to the advantage of short term applied research projects.
Centralised guidelines are indispensable
The Nobel Prizewinner for Economy, Robert M. Solow, noted that little effort has been made for coordination and financing of research in Europe. He said it seemed to him that the EU has much to gain from using large scale savings, eliminating duplication (Ed.: when identical projects are pursued in several Member States), and improving the management of financial resources", he said. Recalling that the American foundation for science, to which he belongs, has an annual budget of $4 billion, he stressed that it is up to the federal level to define the priorities and to coordinate research. "Imagine what would happen if the 50 federate states were all to take part in decision-making", he asked the members of Congress, saying "this is a very big problem for the EU". Taking the example of the information society where the United States is ahead of Europe, he explained that technical progress has promoted job creation, particularly in the services sector, and he stressed that "competition is essential for technological development". He finally explained that the States which have access to the same technology often have very different results because all the policies (taxation, industrial, monetary, etc.) are linked. Access to technology is not enough in itself.
The vice-president of Airbus Industries, Alain Garcia, explained that the success of his company is directly linked: (1) to technological development, often achieved outside aeronautics but adapted to aircraft; (2) its position to challenge, which has meant that "we have always given preference to innovation", and (3) a multinational European culture which has "caused the confrontation of ideas with crossed fertilisation" and allowed the development of "our capacity to listen to and understand others".
Vice-President of Telecom Italia Umberto de Julio stressed the considerable growth potential offered by the development of electronic commerce and the importance of research and innovation for his enterprise. After explaining that Internet is at the heart of the Telecom Italia strategy and the "key to its future development", he also spoke of the importance of human resources and the creation of a university of information and communications technologies.
Rudolf Zahradnik, President of the Academy of Science of the Czech Republic, said that public support to research is increasing slowly in his country and should reach the average EU level by 2002. After stressing the interaction between technologies and human sciences (he felt that in coming years the "human spirit" will suffer from the development of information technologies), Mr Zahradnik said in a provoking manner that education must be composed of three elements: the mother tongue, for culture; English, for communication; and mathematics, for logical reasoning. He also urged for permanent public information. He went on to explain: "a well-informed society is more open to innovation. An educated society exerts greater pressure on politicians to increase funding for science and education. It sees better what is needed and does not start to believe in astrology or fantasy remedies".