Brussels, 20/01/2005 (Agence Europe) - Europe's research and development in Information Society Technologies (IST) makes a vital contribution to efforts to become the world's most competitive knowledge economy. But Europe must step up this investment if it is to achieve “critical mass” in these technologies. So says a report by a high-level panel of independent experts chaired by Professor J.M. Gago, former Portuguese Science Minister and one of the authors of the Lisbon Strategy, released by the European Commission last Monday. The Commission had tasked a high-level panel of independent experts to assess the effectiveness and achievements of IST research and development under EU research framework programmes 5 and 6 for the period of 1999-2003. The EU spends over € 1 billion per year on IST research and development. The key recommendations of the panel are to increase funding for IST RTD, as a unique driver for collaboration between firms and academia and a vital source of innovation in Europe; to cut bureaucracy, which aims for greater accountability, tighter controls on funding procedures and reduced risk, but now threatens to kill research; to step up the involvement of small and medium-sized enterprises, and new Member States, to bring them more into innovation networks; to improve communications, and target them by audience to broaden take-up of research results; and to assess the need for additional human resources in IST research in Europe.
“Fast-changing IST research is, and must remain, a key driver for the rapid, economy-wide technological innovation, on which Europe's skilled jobs ultimately depend”, said Viviane Reding, Information Society and Media Commissioner. “I intend to respond very quickly to the Panel's concerns about red tape which is a general problem of EU Research programmes, but felt most directly in IST Research where we operate in a particularly dynamic and fast evolving environment.” Commissioner Reding promised rapid political action on the recommendations of the panel: 'We must make our bureaucratic procedures more efficient, while maintaining the highest levels of transparency… But even more important, we need a mentality change in EU research policy.' The Commission commented that 'EU IST research can be made to work better, by harnessing the innovative talents of small high-tech firms, many from new Member States, that are the lifeblood of modern competitive economies.'