Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2001)94-1 - Multiannual framework programme 2002-2006 of the EC for research, technological development and demonstration activities aimed at contributing towards the creation of the European Research Area - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2001)94-1 - Multiannual framework programme 2002-2006 of the EC for research, technological development and demonstration activities ... |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2001)94  |
| date | 21-02-2001 |
In the space of just over a year, the European Research Area (ERA) has become the reference framework for research policy issues in Europe.
Proposed by the Commission in January 2000, this project was endorsed by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 as a central component of the process of developing a knowledge-based economy and society in the EU to promote innovation, competitiveness and employment, sustainable economic growth and social cohesion.
The conclusions of the June 2000 Feira European Council also referred to it, as do the conclusions of the November 2000 Nice European Council, which called for a progress report on its implementation for the Spring European Council in Stockholm.
The ERA is more necessary and urgent than ever:
- The EU's major technological rivals are not resting on their laurels. On the contrary, they are stepping up their efforts. In the US, public spending on research will grow by over 9% in 2001 in the context of a steady increase in industrial efforts over the last decade.
- Following on from the breakthroughs in recent years, the prospects in life sciences and technologies are promising. At the dawn of the 21st century, the immediate challenge facing science is to make use of the advances achieved in the analysis of the human genome and other living organisms, heralding the advent of the post-genomic era with all its spin-offs in terms of public health and the competitiveness of the biotechnology industries.
- Information and communication sciences and technologies are playing a growing role in strengthening the competitiveness of the European economy as a whole, improving living conditions in Europe and preserving the European model of society.
- As highlighted in particular by the BSE crisis and other recent developments in the area of food safety, the EU is now facing, and will in all probability have to face in the future more and more, problems significantly affecting the economy, society and citizens for which science holds the key to a large extent.
- Sustainable development, in all its various dimensions, has become a major political objective on the EU's agenda. Implementing it will generate constantly growing needs for specific research in many areas and on themes often necessitating recourse to interdisciplinary approaches.
The issues at stake and the challenges associated, generally speaking, with the prospects opened up by the technologies of the future, require European research efforts and capacities that are integrated to a far greater extent than at present. This process must fully involve the candidate countries which need to be encouraged to join forces in the European research effort to get research to play its proper role in the dynamics of EU enlargement.
The first concrete steps have been taken in this direction with the first stages in the implementation of the ERA project. Following on from the Research Council resolutions of 15 June and 16 November, work has started on the benchmarking of research and innovation policies, the mapping of excellence and the identification of obstacles to researcher mobility.
The report in preparation for the Stockholm European Council on progress towards making a reality of the European Research Area will take stock of what has been achieved, what remains to be done and the additional steps to be taken to make this concept more concrete.
The European Research Area will by definition be the product of a joint effort by the EU and its Member States, which have a clear responsibility in the implementation of the project, as well as the other European countries, especially the candidate countries.
However, the EU has a specific role to play through its legal instruments, such as, for example, the Community patent and also its financial instrument for promoting research and European cooperation in this area, namely the framework programme.
Contents
- 2. A reconsidered design for the framework programme
- 3. Focusing efforts
- 4. Three main avenues of approach in implementing the European Research Area
- 4.1. Integrating research
- 4.1.1. In the priority thematic areas
- 4.1.2. Other dimensions of the integration of research
- 4.2. Structuring the European Research Area
- 4.3. Strengthening the foundations of the European Research Area
- 5. Efficient and streamlined implementation
- 6. Next steps
As stressed in the Commission's January 2000 Communication 'Towards a European Research Area' i, the EU's framework programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD) needs to be thoroughly re-thought out in the light of the ERA project.
The Commission's October 2000 communication setting out guidelines for future EU research activities i made suggestions as to how this should be done, and launched a debate on the subject.
The present proposal makes these suggestions more concrete. Following on from the guidelines set out, it is based on the preliminary conclusions of the debate in the European Parliament, the Council and the other institutions, and also takes into account the views expressed by the Member States, the scientific community and industry as part of a very wide-ranging consultation, notably involving an electronic forum i.
The EU's framework programme for research has so far been an instrument to promote cooperation and support collaboration.
This proposal is designed to enable it to step up its contribution to the development of scientific and technical excellence in Europe, in EU countries and non-EU countries, especially candidate countries, both in universities and in industry. It should also have the effect of increasing its impact on the innovation process in Europe and reinforcing its contribution to the efforts to integrate European research.
The raison d'être of this new framework programme is to help to make a reality of the European Research Area with a view to stepping up innovation in Europe, in conjunction with all the efforts made to this end at national, regional and European level.
The relationship between the EU's research efforts and the national research efforts is changing. Implementing the framework programme (2002-2006) will require a genuine partnership between the EU and its Member States and with other European scientific cooperation organisations, a partnership which will, in turn, be enhanced through it.
The new framework programme will be based on the following main principles:
- concentrating on a selected number of priority research areas in which EU action can add the greatest possible value;
- defining the various activities in such a way as to enable them to exert a more structuring effect on the research activities conducted in Europe thanks to a stronger link with national, regional and other European initiatives;
- simplifying and streamlining the implementation arrangements, on the basis of the intervention methods defined and the decentralised management procedures envisaged.
In the framework programme as a whole, and especially in research activities specifically geared to helping implement Community policies, a special effort will be made to maximise the dissemination of results and to express them in terms that are readily understandable to decision-makers, so as to help them implement public policies.
Two fundamental aspects of this new framework programme are the opportunity for the candidate countries to participate fully in all the activities as countries associated with its implementation i, and the fact that to a large extent it opens up EU research activities to the rest of the world, more particularly on account of the possibility of third country i researchers and organisations having access to a substantial proportion of the activities.
In the spirit of the Commission Communication 'Towards a European Research Area' i, the regional dimension of European research will be fully taken into account in the implementation of the framework programme, by encouraging interregional cooperation, by taking into consideration specific regional economic and social situations and by supporting regional technological dynamics.
In accordance with the objectives and guidelines of the Action Plan being implemented following the Commission Communication 'Women and Science' i and the resolutions adopted by the Council i and the European Parliament i on this theme, a special effort will be made to increase the participation of women in all the activities of the framework programme and boost, through these activities, the place and role of women in science and research in Europe.
The priority thematic areas of research proposed have been defined on the basis of the 'European added value' criteria set out in the Commission's communication of October 2000, e.g. the need to assemble a critical mass of financial and human resources to combine the complementary areas of expertise found in the different countries or to undertake comparative studies at a European level; links with EU priorities and interests; and the necessarily transnational nature of the research in question.
These criteria have been applied in accordance with the two relevant principles: ranking the foreseeable priorities as a function of objectives and excluding possible areas in which an EU contribution would have less impact.
The October 2000 communication gave examples of a number of topics that met these criteria at first glance. The suggestions made gave rise to considerable comment and were discussed widely by the scientific community, industry and national research authorities through the intermediary of an electronic forum.
The list has been developed and refined and the approach defined has been followed as regards the choice of both the priority thematic areas and the specific subjects within each of them. Seven thematic areas have been selected as have, within each of them, a number of subjects linked to economic and societal issues that are especially important to the EU and where its action adds specific value for reasons which may vary according to the themes in question.
To ensure the focusing of efforts in these priority thematic areas, EU action will be exclusively implemented through three major instruments capable of exerting a particularly significant impact on account of their integrating effect and the scale of the human and financial resources mobilised.
The scientific and technological needs connected with the implementation of EU policies also have a high priority. They will be the subject of a special effort in addition to the contribution made in this respect by activities carried out in the priority thematic areas.
However, making a reality of the European Research Area will, for some themes, require intervention across the whole field of science and technology.
In this spirit, several categories of activities, particularly those intended to help structure the European Research Area, will be opened up to all themes and areas.
The overall organisation of the framework programme reflects the broad avenues of approach in the implementation of the European Research Area. The framework programme comprises three main blocks of activities.
The arrangements proposed to implement the activities carried out in the priority research areas of the framework programme have been defined in such a way as to maximise the impact of the efforts made in tShese areas in Europe.
Each of them corresponds to a type of need in terms of the organisation of research in Europe.
The three main instruments used in these areas are the networks of excellence, integrated projects and the participation of the EU in programmes carried out jointly by several Member States pursuant to Article 169 of the Treaty.
Using these instruments will help mobilise financial resources well in excess of those harnessed so far for joint activities and will result in more marked cross-linkage of national activities between themselves and with EU activities.
The objective of networks of excellence is to boost European excellence by putting together, in a way that will last, research capacities present in the various European regions in a series of areas of key importance by helping research entities come together to carry out 'common programmes of activities'. Setting up and operating these networks should result in the creation of veritable 'virtual centres of excellence' of very significant dimensions.
Designed as large-scale activities and preferably conducted as public/private partnerships, integrated projects will help mobilise significant resources around precisely defined objectives in terms of products and processes but also, in many cases, in terms of scientific and technological knowledge.
The arrangements for operating the networks and integrated projects, which will be set up following calls for proposals, will be defined to ensure a large measure of managerial autonomy for the consortia which implement them. Aspects relating to innovation, infrastructure, human resources and science/society will be included in the way these two categories of actions are implemented.
The EU's participation in the research programmes of the Member States carried out jointly is one of the possibilities offered by the Treaty which has not been used so far. Making use of this option requires a considerable amount of exploratory work and consultation, which are at present under way in several areas.
The EU's Research framework programme is also intended to meet science and technology needs arising from the implementation of other Community policies.
For this purpose, the activities to be carried out under the heading 'Integrating research' will include a specific segment, entitled "Anticipating the EU's scientific and technological needs". They should also help the EU to anticipate emerging needs, react rapidly to new scientific and technological developments and be present at the frontiers of knowledge.
The activities conducted in this connection will entail projects on a scale commensurate with the specific nature of the needs and research in question.
On account of their nature and their objective, these activities will be carried out on the basis of annual decisions following calls for proposals. The choice of topics for the activities carried out will be made by the Commission on the basis of an assessment carried out by an Internal User Group representing the different Community policies, taking account of the opinion of an independent consultative structure consisting of high-level scientific and industrial experts.
The JRC will be involved in these activities within its spheres of competence in accordance with its role of providing scientific and technological support to EU policies. Its budgetary priorities will also be determined by an internal group of users. The priorities for action of the JRC will have as their common denominator the safety of citizens in its various aspects.
The participation of SMEs in networks of excellence and integrated projects should be significant. Moreover, specific additional activities are proposed for this type of enterprise.
To this end, the framework programme 2002-2006 will introduce two innovations designed to promote the development of the knowledge-based economy in the European Research Area: an extension of the 'cooperative research' activities conducted in collaboration by SMEs, research centres and universities to include high-tech SMEs; and the establishment on a European scale of a 'collective research' scheme whereby research is carried out by technical research centres for entire sectors of industry.
International cooperation will be an important aspect of the activities carried out in this part of the framework programme.
The activities carried out in this connection will take several forms. In the priority thematic areas, initiatives will be taken to ensure the coherence of Europe's contribution to international efforts, as well as integrated bilateral cooperation activities with third countries or groups of third countries, for example the emerging economies. Third country researchers and organisations will also have the possibility in some cases of participating in the networks of excellence and integrated projects in areas of special interest for those countries. This participation should represent a substantial proportion of the international cooperation activities under the framework programme.
Specific cooperation activities will also be carried out with certain countries or groups of countries. This will particularly apply to Mediterranean third countries, Russia and the States of the CIS, and developing countries, in support of the EU's foreign and development aid policies.
All international cooperation activities will tie in with the objectives of external policy and the Union's development aid policy, bearing in mind the need to maximise the dissemination of knowledge and technology at world level.
The second major block of activities under the framework programme comprises four categories of activities intended to structure the European Research Area in four of its most important aspects mentioned in the Commission's January 2000 Communication:
- Research and innovation, in liaison with the objectives of the Communication on innovation in a knowledge-driven society i, with in particular the stepping-up of economic and technological intelligence activities.
- Human resources and researcher mobility: the funds assigned to this area will be increased considerably. New types of support will be offered, especially in order to make Europe more attractive to third-country researchers, as well as a support scheme for excellent EU research teams.
- Research infrastructures, including broadband communication infrastructures for research, with in particular the introduction of an arrangement whereby integrated initiatives covering activities on several levels could be supported: transnational access, networking, research projects, services on a European scale.
- Science/society issues, following on from the guidelines set out in the Commission Staff Working Paper of November 2000 on science, society and citizens i.
Last but not least, the framework programme 2002-2006 will help achieve the European Research and Innovation Area by making a contribution towards strengthening its foundations. It will do so in two ways.
First of all, through activities intended to strengthen the coordination of research and innovation activities conducted in Europe at both national and European level:
- Support for the networking of national research and innovation activities as well as for the mutual opening-up of the national programmes in these areas.
- Support for scientific cooperation in the various European science and technology cooperation forums; closer links between EU activities and the activities of other organisations such as the European Science Foundation (ESF), CERN, the EMBL, the ESO i and other organisations of this type, and support for their collaboration, since these organisations have drawn closer together and envisage joint initiatives.
Concrete proposals will be made to this end, and for the coordination of projects integrated with Eureka and for the coordination of various activities under the framework programme with 'Innovation 2000 Initiative' of the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Strong complementarity will be sought with the activities carried out in the context of COST i cooperation, which is particularly suited to the networking of national activities.
Secondly, through activities supporting the development of coherent research and innovation policies in Europe:
- Support for carrying out the work needed to attain the objectives set by the Lisbon European Council for the ERA as regards benchmarking of research policies, mapping of excellence, and obstacles to mobility.
- Work concerning science and technology foresight, statistics and indicators and work needed to improve the innovation environment in Europe.
The arrangements for implementing the framework programme are characterised by a clear desire for simplification, streamlining and increased efficiency.
The scientific community and industry have repeatedly advocated simplifying the procedures for managing the EU's research programmes and making them more flexible. The need for a change of this kind is also one of the conclusions of the five-year assessment report for the framework programme.
The current programme management system entails the approval by the Commission of any, even minor, change in the research projects carried out. This makes for inflexibility and complexity which cause delays. In addition, the centralised nature of the system is not in tune with the needs of high-quality research. What is more, an implementation system based on projects on a small-scale is also not appropriate for the sort of research activities to be carried out at a European level. The new framework programme therefore introduces a system which would allow enterprises, research centres and universities greater freedom and flexibility to implement their research activities carried out jointly.
framework programme participants will also be encouraged to define and present for funding, after evaluation on a competitive basis, longer-term programmes including a range of individual components of a varying scale as required.
The networks of excellence and the integrated projects will thus be administered to a large extent autonomously by the participants. The latter will have the possibility to:
- involve other partners in the activities which they undertake;
- define small-scale projects as components of their research programme, and have the possibility of carrying out calls for proposals on a competitive basis to implement these;
- adapt their programme of research to meet changing needs.
The programmes of activities will be regularly subjected to evaluation. Measures will be taken to encourage participation by SMEs from all EU regions.
The envisaged move towards greater decentralisation of responsibilities for implementing research activities will enable the Commission to propose a reduction in the overall administrative costs of administrating the programmes. Certain aspects of the specific research activities for SMEs and support for researcher mobility will be entrusted to external organisations operating under the Commission's responsibility.
With a view to improving the performance of Community research activities in terms of cost-efficiency and to maximise the use of European public funds, the proposals for specific programmes will have to be formulated in a way that defines measurable objectives that can be used for regular monitoring.
This proposal sets out a framework programme specifically designed to help bring about a European Research Area in accordance with the conclusions of the debate which took place on the subject in the Institutions throughout the year 2000.
It is vital to ensure that it is discussed, adopted and implemented under the best possible conditions.
The Commission intends to submit proposals for specific programmes worked out on the basis of the broad lines of the framework programme once the various Institutions have had an opportunity to give their opinions on this proposal.
To enable this new framework programme to be implemented on schedule, the aim is that it should be adopted no later than the first half of 2002.