Council provides fresh impetus to ERA
Ministers attending an informal meeting of the Competitiveness Council have launched a new process to ensure coherency and synergy between research policies and activities across the European Union. Dubbed the 'Ljubljana Process', the new partnership highlights the need for a long-term vision on the European Research Area (ERA) which is shared by all, and proposes specific management methods to enable its quick and efficient implementation. Europe had as yet to fully exploit its research potential - its human resources, institutions and, in particular, the operational synergy between them, commented Slovenian Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Mojca Kucler Dolinar, who chaired the Competitiveness Council's meeting on 15 April. This is the reason why, on scales measuring competitiveness and innovation, the United States and Japan, for example, often rank higher than Europe, while China is about to catch up with all three, she added. Europe therefore needs to move ahead and develop the ERA, if it is to keep up with its rivals. 'Let us be guided by the Slovenian Presidency slogan - Si.nergy for Europe,' said the President of the Competitiveness Council. To give the ERA fresh impetus, Ministers called for a long-term vision to be agreed upon by all Member States with broad support from stakeholders and citizens. The vision should recognise the importance of mobility and better career opportunities for researchers and the need for modern and globally competitive universities and research organisations. Better access to research infrastructures and better use of research results to solve societal problems should also be featured in the vision. A first outline of the vision is expected to be endorsed by the Council before the end of 2008 in order to quickly focus policies and actions to make it happen, the Ministers agreed. Ministers also underlined the need for better governance in order to 'steer and stimulate the development of ERA and to build links with other policies, such as education, innovation and cohesion policies.' In line with Open Method of Coordination, the ministers agreed to steer discussions and address specific ERA developments and long-term orientations. Their work will be guided by CREST, the EU's scientific and technical research committee, whose job it will be to monitor and evaluate ERA initiatives.
Countries
Slovenia