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Commission makes proposals to fill research gaps

Eklavya Gupte, London

A lack of key initiatives and structural weaknesses are preventing Europe from exploiting the full potential of its overall research capability, according to a report published by the European Commission

The report drew on more than 1,000 responses submitted to the Commission as part of a public consultation on a green paper entitled The European Research Area: New Perspectives, published in April last year

The aim of the report was to consider ways of encouraging research in Europe and give it a more European perspective.

In 2000, the EU called for the establishment of a European Research Area, which would create a single area across Europe, and overcome under-capacity, fragmentation and lack of coordination between national and European research programmes.

"We must sustain our efforts to realise the European Research Area (ERA),” said the European Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potočnik. “At an informal meeting last week, research ministers reaffirmed the fundamental role of ERA as an engine for driving the competitiveness of Europe. They also acknowledged that Europe now needs to develop a common vision and a better political governance of ERA.”

The Commission said that the consultation revealed that the original ERA objectives remain valid and relevant, but that action is still needed on the issues raised by the green paper.

Researchers' career paths and mobility, international cooperation, sharing knowledge and developing world-class research infrastructure were identified as the most important areas for additional action at EU level.

Five new initiatives will be launched later this year in response. These include a plan, adopted on April 10 this year, to help public research organizations manage and exploit their intellectual property more effectively. The Commission said that it strongly believes that a culture of awareness of IP rights needs to be inculcated among the research community in public research organizations (PRO) to enable them to identify inventions.

It also called on PROs to develop internal IP and knowledge transfer policies while establishing a single contact point within the organization for IP issues.

Proper management by public research organisations of their intellectual property is crucial for transferring knowledge to business, for licensing new technologies or creating spin-off companies, said the Commission. Doing this at a European scale brings new opportunities.

“We cannot afford to let valuable inventions lie idle in laboratories or on bookshelves", said Potočnik.