Press release - The European Research Area: of carrots and sticks…
14 December 2011
LERU response to the European Commission consultation: “The European Area Framework, untapped areas of potential”
Leuven, 14 December 2011. The League of European Research Universities (LERU) makes recommendations for the development of a more effective and efficient European Research Area (ERA).
Europe’s leading research universities support the concept of developing the ERA and agree with much of the analysis offered by the Commission in its recent Communication. To be sure, the proof will be in the pudding, as usual: although it is not clear exactly how the EU will persuade governments, research funders and others – by carrot or by stick - to help build the ERA (by 2014, we may add, rather unrealistically), the initiative deserves broad support. Why? Because as a continent we need a bold move if we don’t want to be demoted to second class when it comes to our rich and varied research and innovation capacity. Research and innovation simply must be at the heart of the Europe 2020 agenda to enable the European Union to escape its current economic difficulties and to foster a sustainable economy.
One of the things the EU could usefully do is to develop an ERA Framework Directive to achieve a well-managed and –monitored ERA. “It is clear”, says Kurt Deketelaere (Secretary-General of LERU), “that the EU R&I policy field is undergoing a crucial transformation, from one whose remit is limited to funding research projects to a policy setting one in which the clearly stated objective of achieving ERA is enscribed in the new Lisbon Treaty. To reach that goal, the EU should, just as it has done in other fields such as environment and energy, adopt a legal framework for the R&I policy field which lays out the basic goals, principles, limitations, instruments and actors of the EU research and innovation policy. Action at the EU level should, in the continued absence of effective action by Member States, lead to better EU R&I policy coordination and better compatibility of EU instruments. Existing EU principles, such as attribution, subsidiarity and proportionality, should be scrupulously followed to guarantee an appropriate protection of Member State autonomy and competence.”
In addition to this recommendation LERU formulates other, both high level and concrete, messages for the Commission to pay attention to, including a most pressing need to focus on people and on talent. Europe needs to be made much more attractive for talented researchers from anywhere in the world. This requires an unrelenting focus on stimulating excellence, more transparency about career opportunities and fewer obstacles to moving to and around Europe as a researcher. A crucial element is to make progress towards ensuring that the research profession attracts and retains a larger proportion of women.
LERU makes other recommendations in the areas of research infrastructures, knowledge transfer, open access, research ethics and more.