Brussels, 04/04/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission adopted a green paper on Wednesday 4 April entitled “The European Research Area: New Perspectives” with which it intends to launch a broad debate on the measures to be taken with a view to developing the project for an integrated, multidimensional and user-friendly area for European research, which was started by Philippe Busquin with the launch of the sixth Framework Programme and consolidated by Janez Potocnik in the seventh FPRD, which has just begun. The public consultation on this green paper is open until 31 August 2007, and asks a variety of questions (see http: //ec.europa.eu/research/era). The Commission plans to propose its initiatives in 2008 based on the results of this consultation.
In the green paper the Commission states that the European Research Area needed by the scientific community and business should be developed around the following six areas:
(1) creating a single market for researchers, which is sufficiently attractive to competent researchers and which has a high level of mobility between institutions, disciplines, sectors and countries. “A key challenge for Europe is to train, retain and attract more competent researchers. Moreover, the seamless mobility of researchers across institutions, sectors and countries is even more important than for other professions: it is essential to better balance researcher supply and demand, particularly given their high specialisation and relatively low numbers; it constitutes one of the most efficient vehicles for the transmission of knowledge; and it is an increasingly important requirement for the development of skills and careers in science. Today, most researchers in Europe still find their opportunities curtailed by institutional and national boundaries, poor working conditions and narrow career prospects. In practice, academic positions still remain largely reserved for national or even internal staff”, the Commission says, suggesting establishing a single and open European labour market for researchers which would ensure effective “brain circulation” within Europe and with partner countries, and attract young talent and women to careers in research. This will require the involvement of public authorities at all levels and active participation of the private sector. The Commission also thinks that it would be necessary to improve administrative cooperation between social security authorities (the portability of social security provisions for researchers throughout Europe) and to improve the ongoing education and training of researchers. The text also mentions new European initiatives to attract foreign researchers and coordinate action in favour of international mobility (Fulbright-type grants).
(2) world-class research infrastructures, which are integrated, networked and accessible to research teams from across Europe and the world, notably thanks to new generations of electronic communication infrastructures. The budget of the 7th FPRD would not allow for the funding of the €14 billion needed over ten years to establish the priority research infrastructures identified in 2006 by the ESFRI forum, the Commission stresses. It also raises the difficulties caused in terms of the creation of new forms of pan-European research infrastructure by the lack of an appropriate legal structure. The Commission plans to develop a Community legal framework which would enable financial resources to be mobilised on the basis of appropriate partnerships and lay down common and transparent principles for the management and accessibility of future Europe-wide infrastructures.
(3) excellent research institutions which are committed to cooperation and effective public-private partnerships, forming the core of research and innovation 'clusters' including 'virtual research communities', mostly specialised in interdisciplinary areas and attracting a critical mass of human and financial resources. Most European research institutions lack critical mass and, within the confines of sub-optimal national systems, have difficulties meeting expectations with the resources available to them. While the average quality of European public research is good, in many institutions it is not up to leading world standards. Therefore, some concentration and specialisation is necessary to permit the emergence of both European centres of excellence competitive on the global scale, and a rich network of universities and public research organisations across the entire EU which excel in addressing research and training needs at national, regional and sectoral levels, the Commission believes. Alongside this, it suggests a European initiative to facilitate the creation of public-private partnerships and measures designed to stimulate the formation of European and global virtual research networks which make full use of the potential of calculation, information and communication infrastructures.
(4) Effective knowledge-sharing notably between public research and industry, as well as with the public at large. “Patenting remains excessively complicated and costly in Europe, and fragmented litigation fails to provide sufficient legal certainty. Given the deadlock in negotiations on the Community patent, other options are being examined, including improving the current European patent system. The objective should be to offer cost-effective European patenting, mutually recognised with the other major patenting systems worldwide, and backed by a coherent pan-European litigation system. In addition, a number of R&D-specific issues, such as the grace period, joint ownership regimes and the research exception, should also be addressed in order to ensure consistent treatment across the EU”, the Commission says.
(5) Well-coordinated research programmes and priorities. Further progress could take the form of common principles for peer review, quality assurance and joint evaluation of European, national and regional programmes and agencies, which would help simplify and raise the efficiency and impact of research funding in Europe. Another step forward could be the reciprocal opening of corresponding national and regional programmes to participants from other member states, particularly in the case of investigator-driven research. This would enable researchers to apply for funds in another member state, with the aim to enhance excellence everywhere and increase the efficiency of funding allocation to the best research in Europe, reinforcing the impact of the European Research Council, the Commission says, adding: “The visions and research agendas developed by the Technology Platforms centre on topics arising from business interest. They could contribute to a wider and complementary process of joint European and national research programming involving all stakeholders - research institutions, business, civil society organisations, etc. Such a process would allow European, national and regional research priorities to be based on the systematic identification of major societal challenges (…) The recently launched initiative to develop a European Strategic Energy Technology Plan could be an interesting precedent”. In the medium-term perspective, a new approach could be envisaged for establishing and implementing joint programmes for society-driven research, with the following essential features to ensure their desired scale, efficiency and impact: - variable configurations depending on the priorities, competences and types of involvement of interested member states and stakeholders; - priority setting and joint programming based on shared foresight exercises; - flexible funding mechanisms combining, as appropriate, grants with specific tax incentives to support business participation and other instruments such as pre-commercial procurement of R&D services; - common principles of implementation, notably with respect to peer review, ethical standards, exploitation of results, quality control, accountability and evaluation, and where appropriate a joint management structure. The intergovernmental research organisations in the EIRO Forum (CERN, EFDA, EMBL, ESA, ESO, ESRF, ILL) and networking structures (EUREKA and COST) could also help strengthen the coherence of European research efforts.
(6) A wide opening of the European Research Area to the world with special emphasis on neighbouring countries and a strong commitment to addressing global challenges with Europe's partners. Better coordination could be achieved by adhering to a common approach which aims to: - establish a borderless 'broader ERA' with neighbouring countries (this should entail the participation of our neighbours not only in the EU research framework programme, but also with the other dimensions of the European Research Area, such as the coordination of research programmes and infrastructures, enforcement of knowledge-sharing principles and seamless mobility of researchers); - focus cooperation with developing countries more on strengthening their S&T capacity and on supporting their sustainable development; - give priority, with industrialised and emerging economies, to programmes of mutual benefit (the green paper cites the example of nanotechnologies and the USA); - deal with global problems and regional needs together, in cooperation with multilateral organisations (UNESCO, OECD, G8, the African Union, ASEAN, Mercosur etc.). (oj)