CELEX: 51987PC0502
Language: en
Date: 1987-10-26
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A COUNCIL DECISION CONCERNING COMMUNITY ACTION IN THE FIELD OF FORECASTING AND ASSESSMENT IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ( FAST )

11.2. 88                            Official Journal of the European Communities                             N o C 39/5
                                                            II
                                                    (Preparatory Acts)
                                               COMMISSION
             Proposal for a Council Decision concerning Community action in the field of forecasting and
                                      assessment in science and technology (FAST)
                                                  COM(87) 502 final/2
                           (Submitted by the Commission to the Council on 29 October 1987)
                                                      (88/C 39/06)
THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                        require efficient monitoring of research and technology,
                                                                particulary on an international and European level;
Having regard to Article 130Q (2) of the Treaty estab-
lishing the European Economic Community,                        Whereas forecasting in science and technology based on
                                                                European cooperation proves — in the context of the
                                                                Single European Act — indispensable for formulating
Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,              common visions and strategies with regard to the long-
                                                                term economic and social outcomes to be given to the
                                                                development and utilization of new technologies;
In cooperation with the European Parliament,
                                                                Whereas in 1986 the European Parliament approved, on
                                                                an experimental basis, the setting up of an assessement
Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                body of scientific and technological options (STOA:
Social Committee,                                               Scientific and Technological Options Assessment);
Whereas the Community has as its task the promotion of          Whereas the Economic and Social Committee has on
a harmonious economic and social development between            several occasions emphasized the importance and
the Member States in the context of growing economic            usefulness it gives to forecasting and assessment of the
and commercial relations with other countries and               implications and socio-economic consequences of
whereas scientific and technological changes play a role        scientific and technological changes;
of increasing importance in future economic and social
development;
                                                                Whereas several important initiatives have been taken in
                                                                most of the Member States regarding the institutional-
Whereas closer technological and scientific cooperation         ization, either within governmental bodies or at
between universities, research centres and enterprises          parliamentary level, of activities for forecasting and
within the Member States, with extra-Community                  assessment in science and technology;
cooperation, is absolutely necessary to safeguard a
capacity for long-term European strategies in high tech-
nology, comparable to those of other world economic             Whereas in the last few years other Commission
and technological powers;                                       departments have developed the means for strategic
                                                                analysis of long term developments in their fields of
                                                                interest, including the impact of technological change
                                                                related thereto;
Whereas the increasingly complex and stochastic
relations between science and technology, on the one
hand, and the phenomena of growing integration                  Whereas the promotion and development of Community
between the different sciences and basic technologies, on       networks for cooperation and research between organ-
the other, call for continuous and vigilant monitoring;         izations specializing in forecasting and assessment of
                                                                science and technology constitutes one of the most
                                                                significant attainments of the FAST activities to date;
Whereas the internationalization of technologies and
markets, in the light of intense competition, increasing
R & D costs, reduction in the life cycle of products and        Whereas the framework programme of Community
great uncertainties on a regulatory and monetary level,         action for research and technological development (1987
 ---pagebreak--- No C 39/6                                  Official Journal of the European Communities                                       11. 2. 88
to 1991) envisages horizontal Community activity in                                                 Article 2
forecasting and assessment of science and technology
(encompassing all technological sectors and fields of                   The appropriations necessary to cover the Community
application, calling for a transdisciplinary approach);                 contribution in the execution of the new FAST are
                                                                        estimated at 14,0 million ECU over five years, including
                                                                        personnel costs (6 A, 2 B, 4 C for 1988 and 8 A, 2 B, 5 C
Whereas the work programme of such an action, in its                    for the following years) and the cost of researchers
function as a tool for the planning of Community                        seconded to FAST by the Member States to a maximum
research, must be defined on a flexible basis to adapt                  of 25 man-years. The allocation of this amount is given
to the needs which emerge in the execution of the                       in the Annex.
'Framework Programme';
                                                                                                    Article 3
Whereas the Scientific and Technical                    Research
Committee (Crest) has delivered its opinion,                            The Commission shall undertake the execution of the
                                                                        FAST activities. It will be assisted in its work by a
                                                                        General Advisory Committee (GAC) in accordance with
HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:                                                 the resolutions laid down in Decision 84/338 Euratom,
                                                                        ECSC, EEC( X ). The GAC-FAST will be called the
                            Article 1                                   European Committee for the Forecasting and Assessment
                                                                        of Science and Technology (CEPEST) (2).
A new Community action in the field of forecasting and
assessment of science and technology (entitled FAST),
defined in the Annex, following the FAST II research                    0) OJ No L 53, 22. 2. 1985, p. 5.
programme, is hereby adopted for a period of five years,                (2) Comite Europeen de la Prospective et de l'Evaluation Scien-
beginning on 1 January 1988.                                                tifique et Technique.
                                                                 ANNEX
                Action of research in the field of forecasting and assessment in Science and Technology (new FAST)
              I. AIMS AND FUNCTIONS
                 1. The aim of the FAST activities is to contribute to the identification and definition of new directions
                    and priorites for a common policy for research and technological development in the European
                    Community and the links with other Community policies. To this end FAST will analyse long term
                    scientific and technological changes and study their implications for socio-economic development
                    and the quality of life in the countries of the Community.
                 2. The actions of the new FAST will respond to three principal functions:
                    — a 'forecasting' function,
                    — an 'assessment' function,
                    — a 'monitoring' function.
                    The forecasting /unction will develop hypotheses and shed light on the long term opportunities,
                    problems and challenges to Europe of scientific, technological, social and economic developments. It
                    will focus on a number of key problem areas of a global nature, such as:
                    — the long term implications and consequences for European industry and its competitiveness in the
                        context of the internationalization of the economy, of the increasing convergence and interaction
                        between different technologies (notably: materials, microelectronics, advanced production tech-
                        nologies and light technologies). The integration between the agricultural, chemical and energy
                        industries which was already studied in FAST II should be developed further,
                    — the implications and long term consequences for the smaller countries of the Community (in
                        terms of population, market size, etc.) of the development and diffusion of new technologies,
                    — the implications and long term consequences of developments in human biology,
                    — the long term implications and consequences of scientific and technological development in
                        transport, energy, communications, etc. for the Community's urban areas as we enter the 21st
                        century.
 ---pagebreak--- 11. 2. 88                              Official J o u r n a l of the E u r o p e a n C o m m u n i t i e s                 N o C 39/7
                 The technology assessment Junction will comprise three types of analyses:
                 — factual analyses concerning the prospects for a technology, sector or scientific field, the analysis of
                     a major event,
                 — anticipation and impact analyses into the technological, economic and social implications of likely
                     development in a particular field, family of technologies or at the interface between a number of
                     different technologies and sectors,
                 — strategic analyses of the European position (strengths and weaknesses, inter-regional comparisons
                     with the Community, international comparisons).
                 The monitoring /unction will include analyses on scientific and technological indicators, the method-
                 ology of forecasting and technology assessment and their institutionalization and utilization.
          II. M O D E OF OPERATION
              3. The preceding paragraphs have laid down the general framework — and the major guidelines — of
                 the FAST activities in relation to which the work programme is defined. Bearing in mind the nature
                 of forecasting and assessment activities and the integrative function of FAST in the different stages
                 of the planning process of Community research, the work programme has been defined on a flexible
                 basis to correspond to the needs of the Commission and Member States as they emerge during the
                 execution of the 'Framework Programme'.
              4. The work programme will be defined and put into effect by the Commission, in cooperation with
                 CEPEST, according to the following arrangements.
              5. For the first year (1988) three lines of action are to be followed:
                 Line of Action I concerns activities of diffusion and analysis of the results of FAST II in view of
                 their utilization:
                  (a) Within the Commission
                      — organization of internal seminars for the presentation and debate of the results and proposals
                          of FAST, by groups of Directorates-General according to the subject, and also to CODEST,
                          IRDAC and other consultative committees of the Commission,
                      — diffusion of short information flashes on the most significant results.
                  (b) In the Member States with the aid and active participation of the members of CEPEST:
                      — organization of seminars and working meetings in each Member State of the Community
                          with specialized audiences, (for example, those responsible for R & D, or industrialists in the
                          European food system) based on strategic and/or exploratory synthesis dossiers already
                          produced by FAST before December 1987; also to a larger public in the form of one-day
                          conferences focused, for example, on the presentation of the second FAST final report,
                      — drafting and translating into Community languages of new short synthesis documents
                          presenting principal messages issuing from FAST's research,
                      — continuation of the publication of articles in specialized scientific reviews,
                      — publication of the results'of FAST in bulletins, journals or reviews of national ministries
                          responsible for research and scientific development policy.
                  Line of Action II aims in particular at experimenting with and verifying:
                  — the capacity of FAST to produce short term studies responding to demands expressed by the
                      Commission,
                  — the function of the GIP (Groupe Interservices de Prospective), and
                  — conditions which must be met in order that FAST's work can analyse problems at a world level
                      more effectively than in the past.
                  Equally under this line of action will figure the experimentation and verification of propositions
                  submitted by the evaluation group of FAST II and retained by the Commission in cooperation with
                  CEPEST.
 ---pagebreak---                            Official Journal of the European Communities                                  11. 2. 88
   Line of Action III concerns the realization of the research activities themselves:
   (a) two assessment exercises on the long term implications and consequences of scientific and tech-
        nological change; the first would aim at developing an in-depth assessment of the impact of new
        technologies on land use within the perspective of a common European policy on land use; the
        second would refer to the implications and consequences over the next 20 to 30 years of the
        development and diffusion of new technologies for the smaller countries of the Community (in
        terms of population, market size, etc.);
   (b) the development of two cooperative networks, one on science and technology indicators in the
        European Community; the other on research methodologies for technology assessment and fore-
        casting.
6. In conformity with paragraph 11,3 above, during the course of the first year the Commission will
   define:
   — the precise content of the central key areas of research mentioned in paragraph 1,2 for 1989 to
        1992,
   — the detailed programme of further FAST activities for the years 1989 and 1990.
7. The Commission will define the detailed programme of FAST activities for 1991 and 1992 in 1990.
8. The structuring of FAST activities does not exclude the possibility of carrying out studies of short
   duration which correspond to the particular circumstances of the Commission.
9. The setting up of the FAST activities will involve the following elements:
   — the development and reinforcement of the FAST '12 + 1' network, comprising 12 national FAST
       units nominated by the Member States,
   — the association of research centres or teams in the Community countries specialized in the work
       of forecasting and assessment in science and technology for the realization of the three lines of
       action mentioned above by, for example, setting up ad hoc European cooperative networks,
   — the detachment to the FAST unit by Community and national institutions of high level scientific
       'visiting fellows' (to a maximum of 5 men for 1988) each of whom will actively participate in the
       realization of the activities described above.