EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation#
Statement by Academia Europaea on the next EU framework programme for research and innovation and the role of frontier research therein#
Academia Europaea is an independent learned society covering Europe's 44 countries and all scientific, scholarly and technological disciplines. Our mission is to defend academic freedom, advance research excellence, encourage interdisciplinarity and international collaboration, identify topics of trans- European significance and make recommendations to governments and relevant agencies on matters affecting science, education and academic life. One of our major academy-level activity is to provide science advice to the European Commission via the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors, drawing from the expertise of our members and those of other academies. Academia Europaea includes Regional Knowledge Hubs in seven countries across Europe, from Bergen
to Barcelona and Tbilisi to Cardiff, hosted by local universities or academies and driving their specific research projects. Our 5400 members are frontier researchers, amongst them 85 Nobel Laureates.
The EU Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation have over the last decades been a cornerstone of progress in terms of promoting research excellence across Member States and Associated Countries, thus creating an effective mechanism for knowledge creation to underpin Europe's role as a leading region for scholarly innovation promoting growth and welfare.
A key element of this success has been the European Research Council
(ERC) that has demonstrated the amazing creativity and talent of Europe's researchers, when they are given the freedom to realize their best ideas. ERC-funded researchers have advanced knowledge and contributed to many of the wider goals of the EU such as the green and digital transitions, as well as to mitigation of societal challenges from health to demography. They have made breakthroughs in critical technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum information. The recent partnership between ERC and the European Innovation Council (EIC) has unravelled many of the ERCProof of Concept awardees' excellence also as innovation leaders. Academia Europaea strongly supports the statement on the next framework programme published by the Scientific Council of the ERC (https://ere.europa.eu/news-events/news/statcment-erc-scientific-counci1-next-eu-FP).
With increasing global competition, it is an urgent matter for the EU to ensure and maintain its competitive edge in global science and technology by doubling the spending for research and innovation in the next Multiannual Financial Framework. We also wish to highlight that the Scientific Council's independence has been critical to the success of the ERC, as it ensures that it is led by Europe's premier scientists and scholars.
Our statement is based on deep knowledge of the European Research and Innovation Area, as numerous current and past members of our Board of trustees have served in ERC's panels and its Scientific Council, as board members of the EIC and the EIT (European Institute of Innovation and Technology) and in the Group of Chief Scientific Advisors
, or have held other high-level positions in advising the Commissioners or evaluating the impact of the framework programmes. Most of the Presidents/Secretary Generals of the ERC are members of the Academia Europaea.
On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Academia Europaea
Marja Makarow
President of Academia Europaea
.
