The European Commission’s policy outline for a more inclusive, more ambitious New European Research Area finds approval with the Council to be taken forward.
On 1 December 2020, the Council of the EU adopted Conclusions on the new European Research Area (ERA). The Conclusions follow on the heels of the European Commission’s (EC) Communication on “A new ERA for research and innovation” of 30 September (see SwissCore article). The research ministers support key proposals of the EC’s ambitious outline that set out a new ERA, which strives to make use of new tangible actions to make the ERA more competitive and addresses the large disparities that weaken Europe’s research landscape. While the ministers acknowledge the achievements of the ERA so far, they express their concern over a slowing down of the progress. Like the EC, also the Council underscores the importance of research and innovation for the EU priorities of the green and digital transformations – and for a resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Conclusions also highlight the importance of openness to international collaboration and consider Associated Countries as key partners in the new ERA.
In their Conclusions, ministers call on the EC and the Member States to support the development of the “New ERA” throughout all parts of the upcoming Horizon Europe programme and through synergies with other EU policies and programmes. Synergies, in the opinion of the Council, help maximising the impact of different sources of funding to support the green and digital transitions and a recovery. Important programmes related to Horizon Europe in this respect are Erasmus+, the Cohesion Policy Funds, Next Generation EU, EU4Health and the Digital Europe Programme. The ministers call on the EC to provide practical guidance and streamlined tools to Member States on how best to implement synergies in the national and regional context. Again like the EC, the Council stresses that stronger synergies and interconnections between the ERA, the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Education Area (EEA), have to be developed. The ministers support the further development of the “European University Alliances” as a flagship example for higher education institutions of the future.
The 3% EU GDP research and innovation investment target has been confirmed and the ministers invite the Member States to set investment targets at national level, especially with respect to public efforts. They take note of the EC’s proposal for two new voluntary targets for Member States to commit 5% of national public R&D funding to joint programmes and European partnerships by 2030 and to increase the research and innovation investment by 50% in countries that are below the respective EU intensity average. Furthermore, the Council calls on the Member States and the EC to agree swiftly on an ERA policy agenda, mentioning the ERA roadmap proposed by the EC as an important starting point.
Like the EC Communication, the Conclusions focus on “deepening the ERA”, striving to make the national systems more attractive, interoperable, inclusive and competitive. In this respect, the Council stresses especially the importance of action in enhancing the attractiveness of research careers, taking into account open science, gender equality, and diversification, among others. The upcoming Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU was invited by the research ministers to take the topic of research careers forward and the EC to present tangible ERA related proposals for this purpose. Further, the Conclusions call on the EC and Member States to develop EURAXESS into an ERA talent platform to support researchers in their career development. In this context, the phenomenon of “brain drain” is still seen as a major challenge that contributes to the research and innovation divide within the EU. The Conclusions call on the EC and the Member States to monitor and recommend measures to address unbalanced brain circulation. The ministers want to focus on gender equality and mainstreaming, through gender equality plans and the integration of the gender dimension into R&I content.
The Council Conclusions recognise the European Cooperation in Science & Technology (COST) as an important instrument for European and international research cooperation. COST’s role as a networking instrument in the ERA should therefore be reinforced to empower and retain young researchers and to help develop research careers. The free circulation of scientists should be supported, in particular to foster the participation of European Neighbourhood countries. The Conclusions call on the EC and participating States to further develop and implement the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) and its framework conditions as the ERA pilot action to deepen the ERA. The EC and interested Member States are invited to carry out an agenda process for a green hydrogen R&I ERA pilot action in 2021.
The ministers ask the EC and Member States to develop a multi-level governance model to deliver on the “New ERA”, taking into consideration the ERA Communication’s ‘Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe’ and the ‘ERA Forum for Transition’. The Council is also in favour of the EC’s push to improve the ERA monitoring system, mentioning the Commission’s proposal of establishing a yearly ERA scoreboard. Furthermore, the European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC) is invited to advise the Council on the question whether and to which extent legislative action and Council Recommendations might be needed to deliver on the “New ERA”. The implementation of the new ERA will play a significant role during the upcoming Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the EU.