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Articles Elly Plooij-van Gorsel:

The reality of the European Research Area

At this moment, it cannot be said that a 'European Research Area' (ERA) really yet exists. Member State and EU research policies and programmes continue to be pursued side by side without forming a cohesive whole. Further progress is to be made and a broader and more innovative approach will therefore be needed.

The figures clearly show us that the European Union is falling further and further behind in research and competitiveness. The gap between the USA and the EU was € 51 billion in 1994, but has constantly increased since then to € 124 billion in 2000. This trend confirms the importance and urgency of reaching the target agreed by the Barcelona European Council of increasing R&D spending in the EU to near 3% of the GDP by 2010. Japan has already achieved this level of research, with a rate of investment of 2.98% in 2000 and the USA is coming closer with a figure of 2.69% in 2000. In Europe, on the other hand, R&D intensity, at 1.93% in 2000, has been stagnating at under 2% since the beginning of the last decade.

Without prompt action, the knowledge gap between the EU and the USA will hamper Europe's innovative potential and its capacity to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010, a goal set by the Lisbon European Council in March 2000.
Most of the overall shortfall in R&D investment in Europe as compared with the USA can be attributed to the low level of investment by the European private sector, but also some member states perform very poorly. However, the full meaning of the target of increasing R&D spending in the EU to near 3% of the GDP can only be seen in the more general context of the creation of ERA. In the EU and the member states, we need a more innovative climate with a clear and transparent legal framework and, even more important, one European patent. The Council should take its responsibility in this respect. If not, we will see more private companies and research facilities being exported to the USA. Investment must be accompanied by major efforts to increase the overall effectiveness of research in Europe by improving the co-ordination of national policies, increasing co-operation between businesses and universities, producing and attracting more highly-qualified research scientists who are guaranteed greater mobility, and ensuring that there is greater coherence between public research instruments and resources in order to encourage the EU businesses, in particular SME's, to invest more in research and innovation. This is why I made an effort in the Parliament to have the budget for participation of the SME in the Sixth Framework Programme ('FP6') increased to 15%, to which proposal the Commission and the Council have agreed. This underlines the importance of SME for the dynamics in our economy and for employment.
Past Framework Programmes have helped to develop a culture of scientific and technological co-operation between different EU countries and they have been instrumental in achieving good research results. They have not, however, created a lasting impact on greater coherence at European level.
FP6 has been specifically designed and formulated to help achieve the ERA by implementing new instruments which will, if well executed, make it possible to build up critical masses of resources (networks of excellence and integrated projects), strengthen action in certain areas such as research infrastructures and the mobility of researchers and provide a scheme for supporting initiatives for the networking of national activities.
Therefore, a state-of-the-art infrastructure is is a critical factor. A high-speed Trans-European research network with a capacity of 100 gigabit/second can contribute towards achieving this goal, by making the interconnection between research institutes and academics all-over Europe. A sound technological infrastructure can remove barriers both in existing research projects and in future co-operation. Thanks to the efforts of the European Parliament, the budget for the Geant project has been raised and the management structure was improved. The extension of the Geant network is of crucial importance, as good and fast communication is essential for co-operation between scientists within Europe.
To conclude, with a budget of € 17.5 billion, the Sixth Framework Programme is THE instrument to make the European Research Area a reality.