Cordis Focus

European Commission Directorate-General For Enterprise And Industry

Description

Issue number 243, April 2004
Scientific and technical research
Target audience: Specialised/Technical

Sujets

• Periodical publication
• RE/Search
• Research and development
• Sciences et techniques

Informations

• Publié par: EUROPEAN-COMMISSION-DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-ENTERPRISE-AND-INDUSTRY
• Nombre de lectures: 54
• Langue: English

Extrait

IN THIS ISSUE

Research is now part of the European identity, says outgoing MEP Rolf Linkohr For the past quarter of a century, Rolf Linkohr has served as a German Member of the European Parliament, and during that time he has witnessed great changes in the Community’s approach to science and technology page 2 EU must be prepared to take risks, Prodi tells European Science Congress Policy-makers, scientists and stakeholders from across Europe gathered at the European Parliament in Brussels on 6 April for the first day of the European Science Congress, organised on the initiative of the Parliament’s Committee on Industry, ExternalTrade, Research and Energy (ITRE) page 3 Busquin says‘yes and no’ to European InnovationArea proposal EU Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin refused to either condone or reject a proposal by German MEP Rolf Linkohr on the need for a European Innovation Area when speaking in Brussels on 5 April page 7 Integrated Project to investigate genetic factors behind depression A new EU-funded project was launched at the human genome meeting in Berlin, Germany, this week, with the goal of developing new drug treatments for depression by studying the genetic factors underlying the disease page 9 French government meets protesters’ demands The new French government has announced it will create 550 new research jobs in public institutions and 1,050 teaching posts at universities in response to large-scale protests by scientists over the past three months page 17 Highlights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Innovation: Policy and Practice . . . 7 Programme Implementation . . . . . . 9 Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Publication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Calls and Tenders . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 General Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Inside Europe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

B a s e d

ISSN 1022-6559

o n i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m C O R D I S N e w s a v a i l a b l e o n t h e W e b a tl u / n e w sh t t p : / / w w w . c o r d i s .

New mood in Europe must be seized, says MEP At a news conference held on the last day of the European Science Congress, German MEP Dr Rolf Linkohr emphasised the need for all stakeholders to make the most of the new mood in Europe regarding science. ‘Suddenly the profile of science has never been Speaking on the subject of the acceding coun- higher,’ he said. ‘For the first time science is on  tries, Mr Kleiber acknowledged that they had the first pages of the news- their weaknesses and papers.’ This is the case not needed to strengthen only in France but also in their legal and regulatory Germany and Spain where framework, increase la- the governments have re- bour market flexibility, cently promised to in-  strengthen human capital crease their budgets for build-up as well as boost research and development information technology in (R&D). ‘The fact that Mem- the private sector. ‘How- ber States have problems ever, in the long run, we increasing their spending © CORDIS News will be able to contribute in R&D and feel guilty about  significantly to the Euro- it is a good thing,’ he stated. pean Research Area (ERA) ‘Each step takes us closer to the 3% [Barcelona thanks to our educated workforce and lower target]. cost of labour. Those two areas alone make ’ Dr Linkohr expressed his appreciation of the  enlargement more promising,’ the minister fact that three science ministers had attended  emphasised. the meeting, namely Noel Dempsey from Ire- Andrea Barbagelata, speaking on behalf of small land, Professor Michal Kleiber from Poland and and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), ex- Mauri Pekkarinen from Finland. He also con- plained that participation in the Framework Pro- gratulated Romano Prodi, the President of the  gramme was becoming more and more diffi- European Commission, on his presence. cult for SMEs, as they found it hard to get to He noted with disappointment, however, that  grips with the new instruments of the Sixth although Europe’s finance ministers had been F g r r a at m e e d  w Pr o o r j k e   c P t r s  o a g n r d a   m Ne m t e w   o (F rk P s 6   ) o ;  f  n E a xc m e e ll l e y  n I c n e t . e- invited, they chose not to come, and regretted also that the European Budget Commissioner, Even the CRAFT scheme, he said, originally an Michaele Schreyer, had also failed to attend. effective instrument to fund SME research, has ‘I would like to give them the benefit of the  recently declined in efficiency due to low suc- doubt and believe that they did not have the  cess rates and long negotiation procedures. time,’ he said, ‘but Mr Prodi found the time.’ Mr Barbagelata called for a more focused and   On a more positive note, however, Dr Linkohr  targeted funding allocation for SMEs; the remarked that the Congress had been organ-  strengthening of specific actions such as co- ised with the aim of finding new allies on the s o e p a e rc ra h, t   i a v n e d     r i e nt s e e g a r r a c te h  d  p p r r o o j j e e c ct t s s   , f   o c r  o S ll M e E c s t , i  a v s e     w r e e l - l road to achieving the Barcelona target of rais- ing European research investment to 3% of a u s p  a     o r f e  c d o u n c t t r i a o c n t     i p n r  b e u p r a e r a at u i c o r n a . cy and the speeding GDP by 2010, and said that the majority of stakeholders had answered the call.

PUBLISHED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION  INNOVATION

continued on page 4

2

Research is now part of the European identity, says outgoing MEP Rolf Linkohr

For the past quarter of a century,Rolf Linkohr has served as a German Member of the European P arliament, and during that time he has witnessed great changes in the Community’s approach to science and technology.

Dr Linkohr has confirmed that he plans to step down before next European Parliament glections on 10 June, but before he leaves office, CORDIS News asked him how the EU’s policies towards research have evolved during his time in office.

’25 years ago, the Union’s research budget was€120 million a year, now it stands at over €4 billion per year - that is a great leap for- ward,’ he said. Dr Linkohr added that he hopes the next generation of European policy-makers can follow this trend in future. ‘This is the most important thing. ’ Almost as important, though, are the changes in attitude that Dr Linkohr has wit-

publishe:yb d

EUROPEAN COMMISSION Enterprise Directorate-General Communication and Awareness Unit L-2920 Luxembourg Fax: [phone] E-mail: [e-mail]

CORDISfcosu also available at: is http://www.co rdis.lu/focus/en/ B a s e d o n i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m C O R D I S N e w s availableon theWeb at:

 http://www.cordis.lu/news

CORDISfocus published every two is weeks by the Communication and Awareness Unit of the Enterprise Directorate-General as part of the Eu ro p e a n C o m muni t y’ i x t hs S e s e a r Rch F r a m e w o r kP r o gr a m m e ,a n dp r es e n t s the latest news on European Union research and innovation and related p r o g r a m m e s a n d p o l i c i e s .

CORDIS FOCUS - NUMBER 243

Rolf Linkohr

nessed since arriving in Brussels in 1979. At ‘ the beginning, national attitudes were domi- nant, but now a European network has been created. The European Research Area [ERA] concept proves that we are much more Eu- ropean in our approach than before. ‘Research is no longer simply a technical means of solving problems, it has become part of the European identity,’ he argued. Dr Linkohr has also noticed a shift in atti- tudes among the leaders of the EU’s Mem- ber States. Governments understand that future success and prosperity are depend- ent on efforts made in education, science and technology, he said, and politicians are now fully well aware of the need to invest in research and development (R&D), even if they don’t always do all that is required. ‘At least there is a sense of bad conscience about the failure to act,’ Dr Linkohr added. One of Dr Linkohr’s most high profile campaigns in recent months has been his attempt to significantly increase the pro- portion of the EU’s budget spent on re- search. His own initiative report, adopted by Parliament in November 2003, called for a 70% increase in the Framework Pro- gramme budget, and the establishment of a European Research Council (ERC) to increase financial support for basic re- search. ‘The Parliament supports the courageous proposals put forward by the Commission in their financial perspectives, but we will have to wait and see what happens when the pro- posals go before Council,’said Dr Linkohr. ‘But it’s not just a question of money, it’s a question of how EU support for research is

structured as well,’ he said. Dr Linkohr de- scribed to CORDIS News his vision of a Eu- ropean research policy built upon three pil- lars. First, there is the Framework Programme, which is primarily designed to support applied research. Next comes the ERC, although he admits that more discus- sion is needed on the structure of such a body. For the third pillar, Dr Linkohr pro- poses the creation of a European innovation area, or council, with a focus on improving the research and innovation capacity of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Eu- rope. ‘SMEs are our real weakness in Eu- rope,’ he argues. Another area where Europe has faced a number of difficulties has been in the ethical assessment of research.‘Discussions on the ethics of research into biotechnology, nu- clear energy and stem cells have again ex- posed our national sensitivities. If we want a genuine ERA, then we have to look for com- promises at a European level,’ believes Dr Linkohr. The European Parliament’s scientific and technological options assessment unit, which Dr Linkohr chaired from 1989 to 1994, has helped to raise ethical questions on a Euro- pean level, he said, and the Commission has done a lot also, but he still believes that this issue should command greater attention. Asked to identify any other areas where the EU needs to improve its efforts, Dr Linkohr stressed the importance of global co-opera- tion, particularly with the developing world. ‘There is a cultural and philosophical back- ground to research - a sense of curiosity and optimism - that must be recognised. [...] If we can share this effort with the rest of the world, it could signal a new renaissance, with Europe becoming the new focus for re- search in the world.’ Dr Linkohr had a message for the new MEPs and Commissioners that will take up the ba- ton where their predecessors left off: ‘They must be firm on their financial perspectives, they must fight for a bigger role for research, and they must win allies in the fight for an increased share of the Community budget for R&D.’ continued on page 3

19 APRIL 2004