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# 52013DC0637

**REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA PROGRESS REPORT 2013 /\* COM/2013/0637 final \*/**

  

REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE
COUNCIL AND THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA PROGRESS REPORT
2013

(Text with EEA relevance)

1.
Introduction

ERA reforms
as a strategic contribution to growth and jobs

Reforms of national research systems are at the heart of the
European Research Area (ERA). More effective national research systems,
together with Horizon 2020 which will be exemplary on
delivering on all ERA priorities, will help to provide
answers to the European societal challenges ahead. ERA reforms
are even more urgent in the context of the recent economic and financial crisis
which requires rapid, efficient and growth-generating solutions.

European research is key to ensure the future
competitiveness of our economies and generate economic growth, as acknowledged
by all Member States when adopting the 3% of GDP target of investing in
research and development. While private investment in research is crucial for
achieving the target, national authorities should provide for structural
reforms to increase such investment. Research is an essential component of the
European Semester process in which Member States identify their national
budgetary and economic reforms.

As a strategic contribution to the Europe 2020 strategy[1] and notably smart growth in
Europe, on 17 July 2012 the European Commission adopted the Communication on 'A
Reinforced European Research Area partnership for Growth and Jobs'[2]. It called for urgent
structural changes across Europe in a partnership
between Member States, Stakeholder Organisations and the Commission for a
timely delivery of concrete measures to increase the level of excellence
of Europe's public research system.

Strong political steer is needed within the European Semester

The ERA reforms must be rooted in the governance cycle of the
European semester in order to set national research policies in the broader
economic context. As recognised by the Council[3],
Member States are invited "to identify the national reforms and actions
needed for achieving the ERA in the context of the Innovation Union, according
to their national specificities, and to present these reforms and their
subsequent implementation when reporting on national ERA measures, where
appropriate in the National Reform Programmes starting from the 2013 European
Semester". A strong political steer at the European Union level,
involving Associated Countries where appropriate, is crucial to ensure the
development of a fully functioning ERA.

The Research and Innovation landscape in
Europe is diverse, featured by different institutional paths and governance
structures. Member States and regions should reform their research systems
according to their own strengths and national specificities. In the 2013 European
Semester cycle, several Member States have already included a dedicated ERA section
or referred indirectly to ERA in their National Reform Programmes (NRP).

The ERA Communication has been endorsed by the Council[4] and welcomed by the European
Parliament[5].
The need to address ERA as a ‘priority objective for facilitating growth and
economic, social and cultural development in the EU, as well as scientific
excellence and cohesion between the Member States, regions and societies’
has also been recognised by the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
and the Committee of the Regions (CoR). [6]

Strengthened
involvement of ERA stakeholders

Research stakeholders
play a decisive role in building up a strong ERA Partnership. They know best
the difficulties researchers are encountering in access to, progression and
conduct of scientific careers. While Member States
should create the favourable policy environment for ERA to flourish, research
funding organisations and research performing organisations should take
responsibility for implementing ERA in their daily business.

The five European
research Stakeholders' Organisations with which the Commission has signed a
Joint Statement, followed by four Memoranda of Understanding and one unilateral
statement, on the same day as the adoption of the ERA Communication[7], committed to call
on their members to make sizeable progress in the relevant ERA priority areas
by the end of 2013 and to deliver a concise Progress Report by December 2013

A stakeholder platform has
been set up by the Commission to follow-up on the implementation on the
commitments, exchange information and to address common issues.

The first ERA Progress Report

The ERA Progress Report 2013 presents for
the first time an overview on the political context, steps taken and first
achievements in the 28 Member States as well as in a
number of Associated Countries[8].
The Staff Working Document accompanying this report, ERA Facts and Figures,
presents factual information at both national and European level for the
ERA priorities. It provides a baseline preparing an in-depth assessment of progress
on ERA in 2014.

ERA structural reforms and policy making
can only be based on a robust monitoring system providing accurate information
on national policies and on their implementation by research funding and
research performing organisations. The ERA monitoring mechanism is an evolving
process which is built in close collaboration with the Member States and
Stakeholder Organisations. Further improvements will be made, including on methodology
and the quality of data.

2.
Analysis of the First ERA Progress Report: main
results and general trends

In a context of continuous pressure on national R&D budgets, ERA
structural reforms should help use limited resources more efficiently and
therefore maximise the return on investment in research while increasing its
effectiveness at national and EU level.

Effectiveness of national research systems

Competitive
research funding contributes to the efficiency of public money invested in
research. Whether competition is ensured through open calls or by allocating
funds based on performance, it induces organisational changes and enhances the
quality and worldwide recognition of institutions and their researchers. The
share of competitive funding and of performance based institutional funding is increasing
in Europe. Likewise, a majority of Member States increasingly apply the core
principles of international peer review[9]
and several use foreign peer reviewers to seek greater independence in
evaluations, or to raise domestic standards, while adjusting the process to the
specificities of the field and national context.[10] This is also the case at
European level, where international peer expertise is the core principle of
funding allocation in the Framework Programmes (FPs).

While the balance between competitive
and non-competitive funding is a matter of national choice, competitive funding
and performance based institutional assessments should be at the core of
research funding decisions in Member States, applying the core principles of
international peer-review.

Transnational cooperation

Europe needs critical mass to efficiently
address grand challenges and to make the best use of available resources in
Europe. Joint activities allow to mobilise cross-border
complementarities to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts, to exploit
synergies and to carry out large scale research that cannot be addressed by a single country.

The EU Framework Programme is the most
powerful instrument supporting transnational cooperation of research teams among
the Member States and Associated Countries[11].
Importantly, it also strengthens transnational coordination of national
research programmes through the numerous ERA-Net coordination schemes. FP7
supported new large scale initiatives:

–
5 Article 185 Initiatives were launched, one of
which involves all 28 Member States. In July 2013, the Commission proposed to
amplify and strengthen them, mobilizing some 3500 M€ in total, of which some
1400 M€ through Horizon 2020[12] and

–
10 Joint Programming Initiatives have been
launched since 2009. Five of them now have joint Strategic Research Agendas and
seven of them have launched or planned joint calls.

–
Furthermore a number of significant Inter-governmental
Organisations play an important role in support of transnational cooperation
through co-ordinating and funding research on an intra-European and
international level. For instance with the strong support of their Member
States, the European Inter-governmental Research Organisations[13] that are members of EIROforum, provide some of the best research
infrastructures in the world. Aligning the scientific community’s needs and
Member States’ support is a key component to the success of the EIROforum.

Several Member States’ research funding
agencies have bilateral or multilateral agreements or specific transnational
cooperation models such as the Lead Agency procedure[14]. However, most of those initiatives are bottom up and of limited size. The Framework
Programme and European Space Agency funding excluded, less
than 1% of national public research and development funding is spent on
transnational research in Europe, and
initiatives towards increased interoperability of national research programmes
are still relatively scarce[15].

In order to achieve higher impact of
research with the limited public research funds available, it is essential not
only to open transnational
funding, but mainly to strategically align different sources of national and
other funds at EU level. Some Member States have adopted national strategies
taking into account the joint priorities agreed in Horizon 2020 or in the
Strategic Research Agenda of the Joint Programming Initiatives in which they
participate. The level of alignment is however too low to solve the major
societal challenges that Europe has to face.

Member States should better align national research programmes in
order to implement commonly agreed strategic research agendas in the context of
joint programming. They should also improve interoperability between national
programmes in order to facilitate further cross border research cooperation.

As a consequence of a joint programme by Member States, more
researchers can collaborate in nationally funded transnational research
activities that address major societal challenges, as is demonstrated for
example in the European Energy Research Alliances of the SET Plan[16].

Research Infrastructures

Recent mapping exercises[17] have demonstrated the large number of research infrastructures throughout
Europe and have made the landscape more transparent. The
ERA monitoring also shows that the conditions for cross-border access to
research infrastructures are not always reported and harmonised amongst Member
States.

There is a need for more transparency
of the conditions for transnational access to research infrastructures.

Horizon 2020 will continue to integrate and
open up key existing national research infrastructures of pan-European and
regional interest to all European researchers, from both academia and industry,
and to ensure their optimal use and joint development. The
European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) is a successful example of a strategic instrument to develop
the scientific integration of Europe. Together, the
Commission and the Member States are making progress in the implementation of
the Innovation Union commitment to complete or launch, by 2015, 60% of the 48
priority infrastructures as identified in 2010 by the ESFRI. The increased use of the ERIC regulation for
setting up European RIs is a good illustration of an instrument leading to more
comparable governance structures and clear access conditions.

National financial commitments remain
crucial to support a long term vision and participation in global research
infrastructures of European interest, even more so in times of economic crisis.
Almost two thirds of the Member States have developed national research
infrastructure roadmaps[18],
which contribute to the defragmentation of the research infrastructures landscape
in Europe. There is, however, still scope for better alignment with the ESFRI
roadmap. Horizon 2020 will continue to facilitate and
support the preparation, implementation, long-term
sustainability and efficient operation of the research infrastructures
identified by ESFRI and other world-class research infrastructures.

Member States should address
financial, management and political barriers for the development and
implementation of research infrastructures. They should align research
infrastructures roadmaps and coordinate their development.

The European Commission will develop a
Charter for cross border access to, and use of, research infrastructures in
order to achieve more transparency and harmonised conditions for transnational
access to research infrastructures.

Open labour market for researchers

A genuinely
open and attractive European labour market for researchers is an essential
factor for the completion of ERA.

Open, transparent and merit-based
recruitment ensures that research systems are able to select from the widest
possible pool of talent, thereby generating excellence and fostering mobility. More
than 200 universities and research institutes are actively engaged in the ‘HR
Excellence in Research’ exercise, and the vast majority are reviewing their
recruitment processes. The use of the EURAXESS Jobs Portal to advertise
research positions across the EU also represents a substantial step forward and
has helped to match supply and demand across borders. However, the principles
of open recruitment extend well beyond the right to know about and apply for
positions. Around 40% of EU researchers indicated that they were 'dissatisfied'
with open recruitment practices at their institution. In some countries the
share was more than 50%[19].

2012 saw a growth in divergence in
innovation performance among Member States. In this environment, coupled with
cuts to research budgets in the countries most affected by the financial
crisis, open recruitment and career progression become all the more important
to create the conditions for more balanced growth across Europe.

A co-ordinated effort is needed by
Member States and institutions to ensure that all research positions are
subject to open, transparent and merit-based recruitment practices.

Differences continue to exist between
Member States concerning the portability of grants and access to national
grants. Few Member States report that their national funding mechanisms provide
for portability of grants. Access to national grants and fellowships is often
hampered for non-residents except where such funding serves the interest of the
national research system. Although several initiatives[20] have been adopted, their
impact remains limited across the EU.

Member States should remove barriers
preventing the implementation of access to, and portability of, national grants,
and research funding organisations must intensify cooperation to facilitate the
process.

Fast-track immigration can act as a decisive factor in attracting the
best global talent to Europe. In March 2013, the Commission proposed a recast[21] of the ‘Scientific Visa
Directive’ that will set clearer time limits for national authorities to decide
on applications, and provide researchers with greater opportunities for
mobility and access to the labour market after their stay.

Europe has relatively few researchers
employed in industry while at the same time it trains an increasing number of
PhDs. Although the nature of doctoral training is diversifying and more
graduates embark on careers outside of academia, many are ill-prepared for the
labour market.

Progress can be observed in several Member
States although the challenge remains in the wider roll-out in terms of reach,
financing and sustainability and the engagement of industry in PhD training,
notably to encompass all of the Principles for Innovative Doctoral Training, as
endorsed by the Council[22].
Moreover, a number of Member States have made good use of structural funds to
support the training of doctoral candidates.

Member States, research funding and
research performing organisations are encouraged to promote a wider uptake of
the innovative doctoral training principles, including, where appropriate, through use of the European
Structural and Investment Funds.

To help widen participation in ERA, the
Commission is proposing the establishment of “ERA Chairs” under Horizon2020 to support
universities and other research institutions to achieve the level of research
excellence required to be competitive at international level. A pilot call was
launched under FP7 to which more than 100 institutions responded.

Gender equality and mainstreaming in research

European research still suffers from a substantial loss, and
inefficient use, of highly skilled women, and from a lack of gender dimension
in research content. If the number of female PhD graduates has grown
significantly in recent years in practically all sectors, women in research
remain a minority and the number of women heads of institutions in the higher
education sector is very low[23].

In terms of policy initiatives, the picture in Member States remains
very heterogeneous. Gender equality is generally regulated at the level of overall
labour market provisions. Few Member States appear to have specific provisions
to ensure gender equality within their legal framework for research. In half of
the Member States incentives are developed to encourage young women to embrace
a scientific career and support female research careers. Fewer Member States
set targets particularly for gender balance in groups and committees. Very few
encourage institutions to adopt and implement Gender Equality Plans[24].

Little attention is given by Member States to the integration of the
gender dimension in national research programmes, although appropriately addressing
both women and men’s needs, behaviours and attitudes, may enhance
the quality and relevance of research and innovation outputs.

Member States should implement comprehensive strategies of
structural change to overcome gender gaps in research institutions and
programmes.

In FP7, the Commission has funded the
setting up and implementation of gender equality plans in research performing
organisations. In 2013, the ERA-NET GENDERNET will be launched to support
cooperation between Member States and Associated Countries.

In Horizon 2020, the European
Commission will continue supporting structural change in research institutions.
Compared to FP7, gender equality and the gender dimension in research and
innovation content will be more systematically operationalised at the various
stages of the Horizon 2020 programmes.

Optimal
circulation and transfer of scientific knowledge

Open access to publicly funded research
results

Knowledge is
essential in ERA. Publicly funded knowledge must be available for researchers
and the private sector, to enhance the knowledge base, diminish regional
discrepancies and promote innovative solutions to societal challenges.

Unrestricted
and free of charge access to publications is backed by a growing number of
universities, research centres and funding agencies across Europe. Almost all Member States have set up legal and administrative
conditions in support of Open Access to publications, and some of them are also
promoting Open Access to data[25].

Member
States should continue deploying efforts in implementing Open Access to
publications, and continue setting an adequate policy framework for Open Access
to data, while taking into consideration IPR issues, notably in the case of
private sector involvement in research.

Horizon 2020
is leading by example, by making Open Access to research publications mandatory
for the funding of research and innovation at EU level.

Digital
dimension of ERA

Digital means
are essential for knowledge creation, access and transfer. Some Member States
have already taken action to promote digital ERA in order to facilitate
seamless online access for research resources, services and collaborations[26].

All
Member States should ensure that conditions are in place to support: seamless
online access to digital research services for collaboration, computing and
accessing scientific information; the federation of electronic identities for
researchers, which facilitates researchers' cross-border access to services and
resources; and harmonised access and usage policies for e-infrastructures and
digital research services in order to enable collaborations by multinational
research consortia with both public and private partners.

Knowledge transfer and open innovation

Knowledge transfer is an ERA key area where
governments and stakeholders are very active, considering its crucial role in
the economy, notably for recovery. While these supportive efforts in Member
States are commendable, national measures are still fragmented, which hampers, in
turn, overall open innovation and knowledge transfer efficiency at national
level[27].
Strategies which provide structure, stimulate, facilitate and as such ensure
that public research contributes to open innovation and knowledge transfer,
have an important role to play in the knowledge-based economy.

Member States need to further define,
implement and assess national knowledge transfer strategies to deliver a
structural and cultural change in the research and innovation system and as
such increase the economic and social impact of research.

Science and innovation policy have become
more and more interconnected. Scientific knowledge is increasingly produced in
a dynamic collaborative manner, which in turn leads to valuable innovation and
mitigates transaction costs. To support the process, the Commission is
currently developing a comprehensive policy approach for open innovation and
knowledge transfer and will consult stakeholders on it.

International
cooperation

The external
dimension of ERA[28]
is intrinsic to its development.

The
achievements of ERA in pooling resources and creating critical mass,
facilitating knowledge development, transfer and circulation and establishing
an open labour market for researchers., will help make Europe an attractive
location for globally mobile researchers and research and innovation
investments.

Better
coordination of national policies will allow more efficient and coherent
representation of European research and innovation in the world and increase
its visibility and impact. This in turn will strengthen Europe's influence in
the development of common global principles (e.g. in the areas of research
integrity peer review, promotion of gender equality and the gender dimension in
research, research careers, IPR and open access to publicly funded research
publications) to facilitate international cooperation in research and
innovation and to create a global level playing field.

3.
Conclusion and Next steps

The 2013 Progress Report shows that implementing
the ERA agenda is key to making research and innovation activities more
efficient, and to contribute to smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. However,
it also shows that the European research and innovation landscape is still
fragmented and it identifies barriers that prevent Europe from fully enjoying a
unified ERA in which researchers, scientific knowledge and technology circulate
freely[29].

For this, it is important for Member States
to fully adhere to the ERA priorities, since they remain the primary actors for
introducing the key ERA reforms in their national research systems. The
European Semester is a powerful instrument for Member States to coherently include
ERA priorities within the broader context of reforms towards increased research
and development investment and economic recovery.

In view of strategic and more informed
interaction with Member States, the Council has confirmed ERAC’s role to
achieving ERA[30]
and to provide input to the Commission’s annual reporting and fully exploit synergies
with the European Semester. For this, it is crucial for Member States to
continue and, where necessary, intensify their support to the monitoring
mechanism to have the best possible foundations for the full assessment of
progress in 2014.

In the context of the reinforced ERA
Partnership, interaction between national authorities and stakeholders should
be better anchored and made explicit in most of the Member States. The research
Stakeholder Organisations which signed the Joint Statement with the Commission
should be an example of interaction between them and their members in the
direction of ERA. They are expected to report on their progress by the end of
this year, to enhance their collaboration and when relevant, to increase their
effort for joint actions in support of ERA.

The Commission will seek to enhance its
contribution to ERA through Horizon 2020 which, next to national public
research funding available in 28 Member States and Associated Countries, will
be one important financial pillar for delivering ERA. It is also important that
Member States incorporate the ERA agenda in their use of European structural
and investment funds (ESIF).

It is the Commission’s responsibility to
contribute to the overall ERA policy debate and implementation. It will
continue to support mutual learning and exchange of good practice between
Member States, to develop a better understanding and appreciation of national
research and innovation policies in the broader European Semester context of research
and innovation investment and economic development[31].

Support to the completion of ERA from the
Council, European Council, European Parliament, EESC and CoR remains crucial to
ensure the bridge with stakeholder society at large, national Parliaments and
regions. The Commission will therefore ensure that a proper inter-institutional
dialogue is maintained.

A full assessment of the progress will be
made in 2014, to establish whether the reinforced European Research Area Partnership
for Growth and Jobs was sufficient to complete ERA, as called by the European
Council[32].

[1]               COM(2010) 2020 final

[2]               COM(2012)392 final

[3]               C 17649/12, RECH 467, COMPET 773

[4]               idem. It also pleads for "monitoring of ERA progress
in close connection with the European Semester, as well as top-level steering
by the Council (…)"

[5]               ITRE Committee 19/6/2012

[6]               EESC INT/662-CES2075-2012\_00\_00\_TRA\_AC and OJ 2013/C
62/4

[7]               EARTO, EUA, LERU, NordForsk, Science Europe. One year
later, CESAER joined the Partnership by an unilateral statement

[8]               3 Associated Countries (Switzerland, Iceland and
Norway) have been analysed on the basis of their voluntary contributions

[9]               http://ec.europa.eu/research/era/docs/en/voluntary\_guidelines.pdf

[10]             Commission Staff Working document (CSWD)“ERA Facts and
Figures”, p. 14-15.

[11]             MS received approximately € 29,4 billion and AC € 2.9 billion
of EC contribution in 2007-2012

[12]             COM(2013) 494 final

[13]             CERN, EFDA-JET, EMBL, ESA, ESO, ESRF, European XFEL and
ILL

[14]             CSWD “ERA Facts and Figures”, p. 17.

[15]             JOREP Study (Joint & Open Research European
Programmes) for the European Commission, 2013

[16]             COM(2007) 723 final

[17]             e.g. Research Infrastructures in ERA, ESF member
organisation forum, March 2013

[18]             CSWD “ERA Facts and Figures”, p. 18

[19]             CSWD “ERA Facts and Figures”, pp. 21-22.

[20]             i.e. 'Money follows Researcher' and 'Money follows
Cooperation Line'

[21]             http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/home-affairs/e-library/documents/policies/immigration/study-or-training/docs/students\_and\_researchers\_proposal\_com\_2013\_151\_en.pdf

[22]             Council conclusions on the
modernisation of higher education, 11/2011, http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/11/st16/st16746.en11.pdf

[23]             She Figures 2012: women represent 46% of EU PhD
graduates, 33% of researchers, 20% of senior academic staff; gender unbalance
is more striking in decision-making, where 15.5 % of heads of institutions and
10% of rectors in HEI are women.           
http://ec.europa.eu/research/science-society/document\_library/pdf\_06/she-figures-2012\_en.pdf

[24]             Commission SWD “ERA Facts and Figures”, p.26.

[25]             Commission SWD “ERA Facts and Figures”, p. 28

[26]             idem p. 32

[27]             idem p. 29-30

[28]             COM(2012(497), http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms\_data/docs/pressdata/en/intm/137346.pdf

[29]             TEFU, art 179

[30]             Council Resolution on the advisory work for ERA, 31/5/2013

[31]             In 2013 mutual learning seminars took place on
competitive funding and synergy between Structural Funds and Horizon 2020. A
seminar supported by the EC is foreseen to address national strategies to train sufficient researchers to meet the national
R&D targets

[32]             EUCO 2/1/11

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