European Commission has set up Task Force to help maximise the potential of the European Research Council

The European Commission has set up a Task Force to explore options for the future of the European Research Council (ERC). The Task Force is chaired by the Director General of DG Research, Robert-Jan Smits. This follows nearly four years of successful work by the ERC since it was established by the Commission in 2007.

Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: "The ERC has been a great success already and we need to learn from experience and build on the excellent work already done. The Task Force will help us take some final decisions on how best to equip the ERC to play the key role it will have in the Innovation Union and in the Eighth Framework Programme."The Task Force was set up at the request of the ERC Scientific Council, as announced in its statement in November (see link below), and is the follow-up of last year's thorough Review of the ERC's Structures and Mechanisms, carried out by an expert panel (see link below). The Task Force includes participants from the relevant Commission departments and representatives from the ERC Scientific Council, including its President Prof. Helga Nowotny. There will also be two external members, Prof. Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga, former President of the Latvian Republic and former chair of the Review panel of the ERC, and Prof. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, former ERC Secretary General.

Building on last year's review recommendations, the Task Force will examine the remaining unresolved issues and explore possible governance options to guarantee the long term stability of the ERC structure within the European Research Area and in the context of the new Lisbon Treaty.

Presently, the ERC has a dual structure with a Scientific Council, composed of 22 top scientists, setting the scientific strategy, and an Executive Agency, in charge of implementing the operations. The ERC has a budget of € 7.5 billion from the "IDEAS" programme, part of the Seventh Framework Programme for Research, for the period 2007-2013.

The Task Force has already held an initial meeting and aims to conclude its work within six months, hence well before the decision on the next Framework Programme (FP8) is taken, to allow ample time for the Council and the European Parliament to hold a thorough debate about FP8. The Commission will in the first quarter of 2011 launch an open consultation on all issues connected to FP8, with a formal proposal to the Council and Parliament to follow towards the end of the year. FP8 will begin in January 2014.

News source: EU Press Room link: article

Prioritise investments to safeguard growth and jobs, ministers say

The EU must prioritise investment in education, training, research (fundamental and applied), development and innovation as well as key technologies if it is to safeguard its sources of future growth and jobs, according to EU research and industry ministers. The recommendation is one of many contained in the conclusions on the 'Innovation Union' initiative issued by participants at the latest Competitiveness Council, which took place in Brussels, Belgium on 25 and 26 November. The Innovation Union is one of a number of flagship initiatives launched under the banner of the Europe 2020 strategy. In their conclusions, the ministers stress : 'Scientific excellence and basic and applied research, supported by world-class infrastructures, life-long learning, training and higher education, in particular in science and engineering, as well as incentives for commercialisation of results, are preconditions for an efficient innovation system.'

In another 'key message', the ministers call on both the EU and Member States to take a 'strategic and integrated approach to innovation', by aligning policies designed to contribute to innovation. In a similar vein, the ministers underline the importance of strengthening the 'knowledge triangle' and facilitating commercialisation and knowledge transfer. At the EU level, the Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (RTD), the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP) and the Structural Funds should all 'focus more on the priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy'. Access to these funds should also be 'radically simplified' ministers underline. According to the ministers, ensuring access to finance for innovation activities, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) should be a 'top priority for action'.

Ministers welcome the idea of the European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs), emphasising that these structures should 'provide genuine European added value, address societal challenges, avoid duplications, and be based on flexible, simple and transparent governance associating Member States and relevant stakeholders'. The ministers go on to invite the European Commission to carry on developing the practical aspects of the EIPs, notably with regard to funding, selection criteria, governance, and legal issues. The Commission, Member States and other stakeholders are invited by the ministers to launch a pilot EIP on active and healthy ageing in early 2011. In fact, the European Commission launched a consultation on this very subject on 26 November.

The ministers' conclusions on the Innovation Union end with a roadmap for actions. Among other things, the European Commission will present a communication on standardisation, an eco-innovation plan, a consultation on measures needed to achieve the European Research Area (ERA), and proposals on what is needed to achieve a genuine European Venture Capital Market. Finally, ministers invite the European Commission to start work on the development of an innovation indicator. The indicator, which should be ready by 2012, would help monitor overall progress on innovation performance in all dimensions.

Furthermore, Commission, Member States and others are invited to launch an annual 'innovation convention' in the second half of 2011 and run awareness raising campaigns at the European, national, regional and local levels in order to 'stimulate and innovation mindset'. For their part, Member States are invited to develop strategies to meet their national research and development (R&D) targets and improve the use of the Structural Funds for research and innovation. Elsewhere at the meeting, ministers discussed the issue of a European patent. In a statement, European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier said: 'As everyone knows, there is no unanimity in Council on the language regime for the European patent. Several Member States have today indicated their support to move towards enhanced cooperation. As soon as the Commission receives a formal request, we will be ready to take action quickly and seriously.
'We need a European patent. The current system for the patent is too expensive; it costs 10 times more than in the United States. It impedes growth. And it is small and medium sized businesses - genuine sources of dynamism for the future - which are suffering most from it. We thus need to move forward quickly on this issue. The December Competitiveness Council will be the opportunity for this.' 

News source: CORDIS link: article

Communication for innovation

In a communication presented on 6 October 2010, the European Commission maps out the road towards the Innovation Union, marking a new milestone for this flagship initiative launched as part of the Europe 2020 strategy. The communication details comprehensive and decisive action to achieve Innovation Union and underlines the need for political determination. Designed to boost green growth and social progress, the Innovation Union would concentrate Europe's combined efforts on key challenges such as climate change, energy and food security, health and the demographic change linked to an ageing population. The strategy to bring it about calls for public sector intervention to stimulate the private sector and eliminate the factors that complicate entrepreneurial efforts to bring innovative ideas to market.

Improved access to finance, encouragement for innovation through public procurement, rapid standard setting and measures to overcome the fragmentation of research systems and markets are examples of actions that can help transform bright ideas into cutting-edge products and services.

Actions such as these are designed to support the emergence of a knowledge-based economy, and would go a long way towards meeting the Europe 2020 target of boosting R&D (research and development) expenditure to 3% of GDP (gross domestic product). According to recent research into the cost of a non-innovative Europe, this level of investment could create up to 3.7 million jobs and increase annual GDP by as much as EUR 795 million by 2025. To unleash the full potential of the Innovation Union, 1 million more researchers will be needed.

News source: Cordis link: article