Jerzy M Langer

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Partnership is a two-way street the FP vs.
national instruments

• Jerzy M Langer
• Polish Academy of Sciences

Researchers in Europe without Barriers Prague,
April 28 29, 2009
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SCIENTISTS WORK AND PUBLISH TOGETHER
COURTESY - PROF. A. K. WRÓBLEWSKI, 2005
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JOINT PUBLICATIONS
with the USA 1980-1995
with the EU
This is why science in the EU NMS survived
2nd EUROPEAN REPORT ON ST INDICATORS, EC - 1997
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TWO POINTS OF VIEW
SCIENTISTS WORK TOGETHER cooperation tools
welcome, but coordination acceptable only at the
project level (we know best what is good for
us) ADMINISTRATORS, POLICY DECISION MAKERS
have another perspective, hence coordination
likely, provided they do not lose power and
importance
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EU-25 NETWORKS OF EXCELLENCE
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THE 2 SPEED EUROPE
A huge and so far unused potential lies dormant
in the new EU states The western part of our
continent has so far been sending assembly plants
rather then scientific knowledge or research
know-how to the East. The EU should seek to
redress the imbalance by establishing reserach
infrastructures in struggling countries. Miroslav
Topolanek Czech Prime Minister 22 Jan 2009
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SCIENCE SPECIALISATION IN EU
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KEY FIGURES 2005, DG Res, EC
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FP7 AND MS GERD (2006)
GERD 2006 EU -27 214 bln USA
274 bln Japan 118 bln China 30
bln
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AVERAGE CONTRACT IN FP6
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RETOUR AND GERDORDERING OF MS IS BY INCREASING
GERD
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THE FP IS NOT THAT SMALL MONEY!
GERD 2006 EU -27 214 bln
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THE NEED FOR RADICAL REFORMS

• Putting RD and innovation as a pillar of Lisbon
  Strategy is correct, but...
• ...accelerating the transition from a
  resource-based society to a knowledge-based
  society requires mobilisation of a broad range of
  actions beyond RD and innovation"Creating an
  Innovative Europe"

Innovative Europe" , Report of the E. Aho group,
Feb. 2006
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BARRIERS FOR JOINT UNDERTAKINGS

• Specific national rulings
• Review schemes (national - must)
• Resident vs. non-resident financing
• What allowed (e.g. stem cells, GMOs, etc)
• Diverse funding schemes
• Ministries vs. Research Councils
• Different fiscal rules and scales
• Full vs. partial cost, backup funds
• Different budgetary rules (e.g. yearly base)
• Different priorities and legal consequences
• Different scale of resources
• GERD (0,35 4,5)

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A NEW DEAL URGENTLY NEEDED !

• European Commission
• an initiator
• an observer ERA watch
• a guardian
• a facilitator (financial, personnel)
• a legal advisor
• information provider
• externalise fund distribution

• Member States
• abandon just retour
• accept a common pot
• agree on benchmarking and its consequences -
  openness
• harmonise procedures (e.g. on peer review,
  English as acceptable legal language in proposal
  submittals, timing,)
• EU- portability of grants

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LEGAL FRAMEWORK EU TREATY CHAPTER XVIII

• Art. 166 Framework Program
• Art. 165 Community and MS shall coordinate their
  research to ensure that national and Community
  Policy are mutually consistent
• Art. 169 EC MS jointly funded programs
• Art. 171 New structures possible (EU Parliament
  involved)

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EUROPES MOTIVE FOR FP8 AND BEYOND
FP6 Ex-post evaluation Report on Findings of the
Expert Group
EUROPEAN EXCELLENCE THROUGH GLOBAL COOPERATION
AND COMPETITION
Back to roots of science, rules of good practice,
focus on talents, excellence and ideas, to a
mission! SCIENCE IS NOT ABOUT MONEY!
http//ec.europa.eu/research/reports/2009/pdf/fp6_
evaluation_final_report_en.pdf
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A NEW ROLE OF FP ON EUROPEAN MAP

• Grand Challenges
• Large Problem-driven programmes
• Quality and originality but also relevance
• Great Ideas Moving frontiers
• Bottom-up approach
• Quality and originality are the sole criteria
• Help to realise what MS cannot do alone
• Research Infrastructure and access to it
• Stimulate and ease multilateral collaboration
  (ERA-NETs )

The European grant should become the highest
distinction and a career milestone
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EUROPEAN SOCIETIES AND ASSOCIATIONS

• Currently the dialogue is mostly between MS and
  EC
• Some role (no adequate) of EUROHORC
• Creation of the ERC showed what can research
  society at large accomplish, if united.
• Learned societies have always been a glue for
  researchers. Example of AAAS shows that may also
  be powerful (involves society at large!

Europe lacks such bodies and this is a missing
pillar of a research triangle ESF, EUROSCIENCE,
ALLEA, EUA backed by large pan-European
Foundations must get stronger and be heard and
listened by decision makers
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If Europe in the XX century could agree on common
coal steel and then agricultural policies,
why then not to have common Research,
Education and Innovation policies for the XXI
century?
From ERA to REI
How is it possible to expect that mankind will
take advice, when they will not so much as take
warning? Jonathan Swift The Battle of the Books
and Other Short Pieces
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Our glorious intellectual past must make young
Europeans involved. THERE!!!
Alcalá de Henares the town of Cervantes, 2009