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Looking towards the future of research in Europe

Michel Claessens, PhD, Deputy Head of Unit and Editor-in-chief European Commission DG Research

1) How is DG Research promoting the fifth freedom - the free movement of knowledge, ideas and researchers? What are the main tools and how are they implemented?

This goal concerns particularly the establishment with the EU Member States, of the European Research Area. This includes the removal of the borders and barriers to the movement of ideas and researchers through the creation of a unique market of knowledge.
The ERA aims to facilitate the work of researchers, enabling them to practice their work in the best conditions and maximize the progress of research in Europe. How does it do that? First of all, it releases researchers from the barriers imposed by national borders in their work and their creativity. Wherever he might be, in Europe, a scientist must be able to cooperate with his peers without barriers, use the best research facilities and have access to all available knowledge on the continent. It must also work in the European country where his skills will be used most effectively and where he could develop his work by cooperating with any scientific institution or company that could exploit its results in order to advance knowledge and innovation in Europe.

Thus in 2005, the Commission adopted a European Charter for Researchers and a Code of Conduct for their recruitment. The goal is to make mobility attractive, both flexible and with a view to a permanent position. It also aims to ensure equality of treatment between the researchers and to improve the transparency of the recruitment process. Nearly a thousand institutions have already signed the charter.


Member States and the Commission have also created the Euraxess website, which is to ensure better access to open positions in the civil service - and thus help the EU to keep its scientific minds. It lists numerous doctoral and post-doctoral offers, and EU funding possibilities, and it informs researchers and employers about their respective rights. Euraxess service centres are available across Europe to assist the researcher and his family in their mobility projects.


In addition, the research world cannot ignore that for women, it is difficult to be mobile and have children until a relatively advanced age. Often, they must choose. Ten years ago the political debate on this subject was quite undeveloped but things have evolved since then. In May 2009, a major conference – “Women and Science”- was held in Prague, where the best practices adopted in different European countries and institutions were discussed in order to make scientific careers more accessible to women. The text “European Partnership for Researchers” adopted in 2008 also calls on Member States to ensure an equitable distribution of funds and positions between men and women.


Finally, a research career also means social security and retirement, two rights generally ill-suited for mobility. Indeed, the researcher is subject to different social systems depending on the countries in which he/she works. EU is thus trying to standardize the different regulations. As part of the European Partnership for Researchers, the Commission has initiated an analysis of what is required legally, technically and financially to create a pan-European pension fund to meet the needs of researchers. One step has already been taken by the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) who has established a pension system that will be available from 2010 to all post-doctoral students receiving an EMBO scholarship. Contributors will be able to pay for their retirement according to their international mobility.



2.) FP7 is already halfway through. What is your assessment of recent years in terms of research and innovation at European level?



A mid-term review of FP7 will start this summer. This analysis will give us a fairly complete picture of FP7. We currently have only statistics, annual reports and monitoring of feedback from various sources. Simple statistics shows that FP7 is very attractive for the research community because, since 2007, 33,000 applications were received and 7,000 successful projects have been implemented. Thus we can see, the programme has received a lot of interest but the budget, although increasing, is forcing us to reject more than three-quarters of the proposals, some of very good quality. The surveys we conducted among National Contact Points (NCPs, over 700 at present) show that by comparison with FP6, the management of FP7 has been simplified. Last week the Commission undertook to continue efforts to further simplify the participation and the project management.




3) A new plan has been published by the Commission on the simplification of procedures to participate in research projects funded by the EU. What can you tell us about this plan and how do you intend to develop it?



The Commission presented two weeks ago a plan to further simplify the procedures for participating and managing research projects funded by the European Union. The overall objective is to make participation transparent and attractive to top researchers and innovative companies in Europe and beyond. The Commission has also appointed a panel of independent experts tasked to analyze all aspects of the current seventh framework program.


The first part of the strategy will open the door to improvements in the current legislative and regulatory framework. Some of these improvements are already underway. They include: better IT systems, more consistent application rules, especially rules of auditing, and an improvement of the structure and content of the calls for proposals, which represent the main tool for research organizations to obtain funding.


The second part will include changes in the current financial rules in order to allow for a radical simplification while maintaining effective control, for example by extending the use of “average cost method”, which allows project managers to no longer account separately for each expenditure item, which might be quite tedious. The Commission will also allow projects to apply the same accounting methods for EU funding as for national research funding. These proposals require a decision of the European Parliament and Council.


The implementation of the third type of measures will be considered in the context of future Framework Programmes for research. Among available options: the gradual introduction of “pay on outcome” which means the beneficiaries receive lump sums to undertake specific scientific tasks and must demonstrate they have acted effectively and efficiently instead of justifying one by one their expenditure items.


Several steps have already been taken to simplify procedures, both during the preparation of FP7 and during its implementation.


For example, FP7 introduced a new guarantee fund and a unique registration system that enables organizations seeking funding for several projects over several years to communicate their data only once. Eight participants in FP7 out of ten are now exempt from ex ante control of financial capacity, while three out of four don’t have to provide certificates on financial statements for periodic expenses.


Two new executive agencies have been established by the Commission in 2007: the Research Executive Agency and the Executive Agency of the European Research Council. The European Research Council is a flagship component of FP7. It provides grants to projects led by researchers, whether beginners or experienced, without requiring that these projects be part of cross-border consortia.



4) FP7 is the most important financial instrument for research and innovation. Have you started preparing FP8?



Preparations for the 8th FP have not yet really begun. We have a calendar, which provides its implementation in 2014. But the main trigger to it will be precisely this FP7 review mid-term report available in autumn.



5) The United States of America is Europe’s most important partner in the field of science and technology. How do you intend to develop this partnership in the coming years?



In terms of number of projects and collaborations, China and Russia are even more important partners. Collaboration with the United States will continue, especially in certain sectors such as energy, biotechnology, etc... The Framework Programmes are open to the world as organizations from third countries may participate. ERC grants are available to researchers around the world provided they agree to realize their research in Europe.