Publications Towards a European Research Area

Contacts




To find similar Items, click on a keyword below:
Publications : Background Information

Communication from the Commission to the Council, the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, January 2000 ISBN 92-828-8721-9, OOPEC, Luxembourg

The concept of a European Research Area was initiated on 18 January 2000 when the European Commission adopted this Communication Towards a European Research Area which will to contribute to the creation of better overall framework conditions for research in Europe. In the Preface, the Commissioner Philippe Busquin, indicates that

In submitting this Communication to my fellow Commissioners my point of departure was a simple but important insight. In the post, the European Union has concentrated its work and initiatives on organising research cooperation between partners from different countries through a series of successive Framework Programmes. The success and the impact of such cooperative efforts are not to be underestimated. It is clear, however, that making the most out of the huge research potential in Europe requires more than the provision of funds for the support of these co-operative activities. What is required to ensure a promising future for research in Europe is the creation of a real European Research Area for which this document sets out a scenario.

The European Research Area will not be created by a single decision; it will rather be the result of a process to which all the relevant actors will have to contribute. Therefore the Communication is above all an invitation to all those are involved in or feel concerned about the future of research in Europe to make their voices heard, to come forward with their ideas and suggestions with regard to both the analysis and the proposed actions.

The invitation to participate in the debate is addressed to the relevant EU institutions, to bodies and organisations representing research and industry, and to individual researchers in their laboratories and institutes as well as to interested citizens at large. All contributions will be analysed thoroughly so that at a later stage a plan incorporating additional ideas for the move towards the European Research Area can be drawn up.

The background to the concept as well as and objectives and possible themes for support are presented within the following contents:

SITUATION AND OBJECTIVES

• Research in Europe
• Better investment in knowledge
• Public research effort
• Private investment
• Organisation of research in Europe
• A real European policy: towards a European research area

A EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA

• A stock of material resources and facilities optimised at the European level
• Networking of centres of excellence and creation of virtual centres
• Defining a European approach to research facilities
• Better use of the potential offered by electronic networks
• More coherent use of public instruments and resources
• More coordinated implementation of National and European research programmes
• Closer relations between scientific and technological cooperation organisations in Europe
• More dynamic private investment
• Better use of instruments of indirect aid to research
• Development of effective tools to protect intellectual property
• Encouragement of the creation of companies and risk capital investment
• A common system of scientific and technical reference for policy implementation
• Developing the research needed for political decision
• Establishment of a common system of scientific and technical reference
• More abundant and more mobile human resources
• Greater mobility of researchers in Europe
• Introduction of a European dimension into scientific careers
• Greater place and role for women in research
• Giving the young a taste for research and careers in science
• A dynamic European landscape, open and attractive to researchers and investment
• More of a role for the regions in the European research effort
• Integration of the scientific communities of western and eastern Europe
• Making Europe attractive to researchers from the rest of the world
• An area of shared values
• Tackling the questions of science and society in their European dimension
• Development of a shared vision of the ethical issues of science and technology

CONDITIONS FOR ACTION

• Courses and means of action
• Need for a broad-based debate
• The next stages

ANNEX I

ANNEX II

Note: Information of relevance to and/or updating the concept is also contained in the following documents or web pages:

Biomass - An Energy Resource for Europe

The Sixth RTD Framework Programme

A New Framework Programme for European Research

Key Figures 2000

Agricultural Research in the European Research Area

Contacts

For copies

• Office for the Official Publications of the European Communities (OOPEC) / LUXEMBOURG