EN Official Journal of the European Union C 200/5

Opinion of the Committee of the Regions on a strategic European Framework for international science and technology cooperation

(2009/C 200/02)

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

— points out that local and regional authorities have a particularly important role to play in making the European Research Area (ERA) a reality;

— emphasises that the European Commission and Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that local and regional authorities are fully and effectively involved in managing ERA-related initiatives;

— recognises the need for cooperation between the EU and neighbouring countries in the field of S&T. This should entail the participation of our neighbours not only in the EU Research Framework Programme, but also in the other dimensions of the European Research Area, such as the coordination of research programmes and infrastructures, enforcement of knowledge-sharing principles and seamless mobility of researchers;

— wants to ensure the coordinated use of FP7, SF, CIP and EARDF, as this is essential for EU competitiveness and synergies between cohesion, research, higher education and innovation policies at national and regional level, as stated in previous CoR opinions.

Rapporteur : Jyrki Myllyvirta (FI/EPP), Mayor of Lahti

Reference documents

Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. A strategic European framework for international science and technology cooperation

COM(2008) 588 final

I. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS

THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS

Relevance to the local and regional tiers and the CoR

1. points out that local and regional authorities have a particularly important role to play in making the European Research Area (ERA) a reality. They are key players in developing regional research and innovation strategies, they often manage research institutions and they support innovative environments, because they have the experience needed. Moreover, typically either cities or regional administrations have recognised legislative powers and their own research budget or are otherwise important drivers and co-funders of research and development activities. Effective working institutional systems at local and regional level are crucial in planning and implementing successful and fruitful research activity;

2. local and regional authorities are therefore among the main stakeholders in policies and initiatives to deepen and more importantly widen the ERA, in particular its vision of strong research and academic institutions embedded in innovative environments as well as international cooperation and coordination of research activities;

3. emphasises the major importance of cities and regions in developing innovative environments. Their policies have a substantial impact both on establishing the European Research Area in terms of the mobility of scientists — only versatile, tolerant and innovative environments attract scientists — and as centres of development for research infrastructure. Relevant here are local innovation policies, technology centres, business incubators, science parks and venture capital (1);

General remarks

4. considers the proposed initiative to be an important contribution to deepening and widening the ERA. In its opinion on The ERA: new perspectives (1), the Committee emphasised the need to enhance the process of establishing the ERA as a step towards making Europe the most dynamic economy in the world (2);

5. emphasises that the European Commission and Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that local and regional authorities are fully and effectively involved in managing (2) ERA-related initiatives. Knowledge and innovation must become the economic driving force. Active participation in the ERA by local and regional authorities helps to boost productivity and competitiveness;

6. notes that in the field of international S&T cooperation, cities and regions are particularly important. Through supportive programming and structural and legislative framework conditions in the context of their research policies, cities and regions make a significant contribution to creating European added value in the field of research and to the creation of a living European research area (1);

7. welcomes the Communication, with particular reference to its aim of strengthening the EU's scientific and technological base, boosting the competitiveness of its industry and helping to deal with global challenges within a context of ‘global responsibility’;

8. reminds the European Commission that it will closely monitor the agreed principle of involving cities and ‘regional authorities, as well as stakeholders such as universities and research organisations, civil society and business which should be actively engaged in ERA governance’ (3), as well as the references made to respecting the principles of subsidiary and variable geometry;

9. recognises the need for cooperation between the EU and neighbouring countries in the field of S&T. This should entail the participation of our neighbours not only in the EU Research Framework Programme (4), but also in the other dimensions of the European Research Area, such as the coordination of research programmes and infrastructures, enforcement of knowledge-sharing principles and seamless mobility of researchers (5);

10. emphasises the importance of S&T cooperation with neighbouring countries, which can also have a great impact on regional development within the EU area. This can apply to Russia with its significant S&T capacity, but also to East European, Balkan and Mediterranean non-Member States;

Importance of existing EU research programmes and financing instruments for opening up the ERA

11. welcomes the actions to open up the FP7 and CIP to neighbouring countries, which would give a further territorial dimension to these programmes;

12. recalls the conclusions of the ERA expert group (6) concerning the increasing importance of national and regional stakeholders in developing major new European initiatives such as ERA-NETs, Eurostars, EIT or Joint Technology and Cluster;

13. wants to ensure the coordinated use of FP7, SF, CIP and EARDF, as this is essential for EU competitiveness and synergies between cohesion, research, higher education and innovation policies at national and regional level, as stated in previous CoR opinions (7);

14. strongly emphasises that European research, training and innovation capacity must be enhanced in the context of support for research infrastructure, research for the benefit of SMEs, regional research-driven clusters, unlocking research potential in the EU's ‘convergence’ regions, ‘science in society’ issues and ‘horizontal’ activities in the field of international cooperation (8);

15. advocates a wide-ranging interpretation of the concept of innovation, covering social and human sciences and their fertile interplay with the urban and regional cultures of their localities;

16. notes that the objective of achieving critical mass at the level of research institutes and international networks is dependent on the subject of study, the research area and the participants. A ‘one size fits all’ approach should not be applied to all international partnerships;

17. recalls the objective put forward in the Green Paper (5): finding an appropriate balance between institutional and competitive funding. In line with views expressed in previous opinions on related issues, the Committee of the Regions calls for continued debate on the appropriate balance between institutional and competitive funding;

18. is inclined, as it has pointed out previously (1), to have more faith in scientists and their teams selecting interesting and useful areas of research and in voluntary (bottom-up) and horizontal networking rather than heavy-handed top-down management and the resultant ritualised cooperation;

19. calls for policy coherence in the case of multi-level and multi-stakeholder programmes, especially those involving third-country partners, requiring an efficient multi-level governance system (7);

Mobility of researchers

20. agreeing completely with the notion that mobility of researchers is an essential feature of international S&T cooperation, the Committee underlines the following points: — progress in the mobility of scientists, including necessary adjustments in the areas of residence law and pensions, along with supporting family-friendly measures, should be considered especially important in the development of the European Research Area (1); — career prospects and mobility of researchers (9) should be enhanced by identifying an optimal policy mix of national and Community tools and further developing the skills of all researchers. Interest in research and innovation needs to be promoted in society, particularly among the young.

21. points out that it is also necessary to attract excellent academics from outside Europe and therefore emphasises the importance of EU mobility programmes such as the Marie Curie programme and measures that have been taken in some regions to support returning academics (1);

Global research infrastructure and open research programmes

22. agrees with the conclusions reached by the Competitiveness Council on 30 May 2008 calling on the Commission and Member States to support regional and local authorities in applying for, building and implementing modern research infrastructures. In this context, the Committee has suggested: — ensuring that regional and local authorities are fully involved in developing the roadmap of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) (10), and, especially, in prioritising the 35 key projects of European interest already approved; — taking into account the importance of regional and local authorities and their involvement in ERIs; — ensuring that local and regional authorities are truly involved in efficient governance of the ERIs (2);

23. highlights the importance of regional and local authorities in promoting joint research programmes, including ones with third-country participation, as they are more in touch with the specific local situation in terms of science, technology and the economy, and therefore know when cooperation on areas of strategic importance is required (2). Some regions in Europe are already successfully involved in cooperating in the coordination of instruments for research programmes, as in the case of the ERA-NET projects. Like the Member States, cities and regional authorities should be involved in promoting cooperation agreements in the framework of joint programming (2);

Subsidiarity, proportionality and better regulation

24. notes that the Communication does not take account of all local and regional aspects and the European Commission does not present an impact assessment for this Communication. This refers to the powers of local and regional authorities and highlights the particular relevance of international S&T cooperation for cities and regions.

II. APPENDIX

Background information on the European Commission Communication

This Communication was drawn up in response to the Council Conclusions of February 2008, and is one of the five Commission initiatives following public debates on the future of the ERA (11) and on globalisation of the information society. It also follows up the conclusions of the 2005 World Summit on the information society (WSIS).

With this Communication, the Commission intended to strengthen Europe's research effort and facilitate the use of new technologies to respond more effectively and efficiently to the major challenges confronting society today.

To reflect the need for further deepening and widening of the ERA through enhanced cooperation with international partners, the 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7) has been opened to third-country participation and includes several new instruments to encourage international cooperation. However, FP7 represents only a small proportion of all research in Europe. Therefore, this Communication proposes a new European framework consisting of a number of core principles and guidelines for action. Actions under this framework will strengthen European public and private players in their interaction with their partners and competitors elsewhere in the world. The proposed framework will contribute to the free circulation of knowledge — ‘the EU's fifth freedom’ — at global level, to raising the S&T profile of Europe worldwide and to disseminating European ICT know-how in the world. It will put the European Research Area on the global map, an area open to the world, and boost Europe’s competitiveness in the global economy (12).

Brussels, 21 April 2009. The President of the Committee of the Regions Luc VAN DEN BRANDE

(1) CdR 83/2007 fin.

(2) CdR 283/2008 fin.

(3) Council Conclusions on The Launch of the ‘Ljubljana Process’ — towards full realisation of ERA, 30 May 2008.

(4) See Commission Communication COM(2006) 724, 4.12.2006, on the general approach to enable European Neighbourhood Countries to participate in Community agencies and programmes.

(5) COM(2007) 161 final.

(6) Report of the ERA Expert Group ‘Opening to the world: International Cooperation in Science and Technology’.

(7) CdR 263/2007 fin.

(8) CdR 155/2005 fin.

(9) Key Issues Paper 2009 — contribution of the Competitiveness Council to the Spring European Council.

(10) European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures, http://cordis.europa.eu/esfri/home.html.

(11) SEC(2008)430 of 2.4.2008

(12) Commission Communication: ‘A strategic European framework for international science and technology cooperation’ COM(2008) 588.