ERAC’s work in 2023-2024 will focus on the next R&I Framework Programme and the future of the ERA Policy Agenda. DG RTD has a new Director General.
The European Research Area and Innovation Committee (ERAC) that includes Directors-General for Research and Innovation of the EU Member States and the EU Commission gathered for a plenary meeting on 14 February 2023 in Brussels. The committee adopted the ERAC Work Programme 2023-2024, which is setting out activities for the next 18 months, starting in June 2023. Key topics of the committee, which serves as the EU’s strategic policy advisory committee on the European Research Area (ERA), include providing strategic advice to Council and Commission on the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024. To this end, the co-chairs of the ERA Forum inform ERAC regularly on progress made in the implementation of the ERA actions. Another key mandate includes the preparation of the upcoming 10th EU R&I Framework Programme (FP10), a task that ERAC delegated to a Task Force co-chaired by ERAC delegates Feite Hofman (NL) and Mateusz Gaczynski (PL). The Task Force will report regularly to ERAC about the progress of its work and will deliver a draft ERAC Opinion on FP10 by June 2024 at the latest.
The Work Programme 2023-2024 foresees updates and strategic debates on these two topics for the ERAC plenary in Lund, Sweden, on 20-22 June 2023. Furthermore, the next meeting will include a strategic debate on ‘International R&I cooperation in a geopolitical world: the Global Approach two years on’, as well as exchanges of views on a ‘European Science for Policy Ecosystem’, and on advanced materials in the context of global developments. More specifically, the latter will focus on the Critical Materials Act, technology sovereignty, and supply chains – and on how to overcome fragmentation in the EU. In October 2023, the ERAC plenary will again focus on the FP10 Task Force’s work, and a brainstorming to deliver early advice on the next ERA Policy Agenda (2025-2027). The committee will have a strategic discussion on how to ‘Advance European Missions through an efficient multilevel governance’, based on the upcoming missions’ review. Finally, the green and digital transitions and ERAC’s role in the twin transitions will be discussed. Other proposed topics not yet assigned to specific ERAC plenaries include current and future R&D investments, supporting a diverse and inclusive research and science community, and research infrastructures. The ERAC delegates also noted that research policy is closely connected to education and industrial policies.
According to an article of ERA Portal Austria, the ERAC meeting on 14 February included a first exchange with the Task Force on elaborating early advice in preparation of an ERAC opinion on FP10. The Task Force will work in parallel with a High-level Expert Group that the Commission will set up in the near future. Both bodies will inform the Commission before the latter will draft a proposal for the 10th EU R&I Framework Programme. Following the initiative of the German delegation, the ERAC started a process of analysing the implementation methods of the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 at the national level, thus enabling mutual learning and supporting the implementation. The committee discussed a technical document of the Commission on the implementation of ERA Action 4 on research careers. Member States highlighted the importance of increasing the attractiveness of research careers. ERAC decided to continue the discussion in the ERA Forum to further improve the technical document that could help prepare a Commission proposal for a Council Recommendation on the Framework for Researchers.
ERAC members exchanged views on the ongoing implementation of the national Recovery and Resilience Plans in the R&I field. Identified challenges include the sustainability of investments and the limited time frame for the implementation of projects, given the Recovery and Resilience Facility’s (RRF) expiration in 2026. The input provided in the discussion will help the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council that starts in July 2023 to prepare Council Conclusions on the RRF.
Furthermore, the ERAC was informed by one of its co-chairs (and DG RTD’s ad interim Director General) Signe Ratso about the role of R&I in support of Ukraine. Ratso updated the committee about ongoing work such as the multi-agency donor platform, for which the Commission provides the secretariat, and the launch of a Horizon Europe office in Kyiv by June 2023. The deputy head of the Ukrainian mission to the EU informed ERAC about the country’s plans to rebuild the R&I sector as soon as possible, and to increase R&I spending significantly with 3% of GDP by 2032 as target. Member States supported the measures presented by the Commission and underlined the importance of active support for the Ukrainian R&I system. The ERAC decided on 14 February to have a standing agenda item in the future on R&I related measures in the context of the recovery of Ukraine. On 23 February, the Commission announced that 124 displaced researchers from Ukraine will be supported through the MSCA4Ukraine fellowship scheme, which is part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. 13 doctoral candidates and 111 postdoctoral researchers will continue their work in academia, businesses, research centres and public institutions based in the EU and countries associated to Horizon Europe.
Earlier in the month, on 1 February the EU Commission appointed Marc Lemaître to take over the function of Director-General in the Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (DG RTD) from 16 February 2023. Lemaître, who hails from Luxembourg, draws on 15 years of management experience at the European Commission. Since 2016, Marc Lemaître was the Director-General of the EU Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO). His experience in regional policy is seen as a key asset given the importance of synergies between Horizon Europe and regional policy instruments, like the European Regional Development Fund. He oversaw the formulation of EU policies, such as the Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative or React-EU. The latter focused on helping regions to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, supporting refugees from Ukraine, and cushioning the effects of high energy prices on vulnerable households and SMEs. Lemaître was the Head of Cabinet of a previous Commissioner for Budget and Financial programming, as well as for two Commissioners in charge of regional policy. Before joining the Commission in 2007, he worked for the Luxembourg Ministry of Foreign Affairs and also served for ten years in the Permanent Representation of Luxembourg to the European Union, where he covered the negotiations on the EU long-term budget 2007-2013.