Select Committee on European Scrutiny Twenty-Ninth Report


10 Guidelines for European research policy

(25768)

10740/04

COM(04) 353

Commission Communication: Science and technology, the key to Europe's future — Guidelines for future European Union policy to support research

Legal base
Document originated16 June 2004
Deposited in Parliament24 June 2004
DepartmentTrade and Industry
Basis of considerationEM of 14 July 2004
Previous Committee ReportNone
To be discussed in CouncilNo date set
Committee's assessmentPolitically important
Committee's decisionCleared

Background

10.1 Article 163 of the Treaty establishing the European Community says that :

"The Community shall have the objective of strengthening the scientific and technological bases of Community industry and encouraging it to become more competitive at international level, while promoting all the research activities deemed necessary by virtue of other chapters of this Treaty."

Article 164 provides (among other things) for the Community to implement research, technological development and demonstration projects (R&D). Article 165 requires the Community and Member States to coordinate their R&D activities and authorises the Commission to take "any useful initiative" to promote such coordination. Article 166 requires the Council to adopt multiannual R&D programmes (Framework Programmes).

10.2 The 6th Framework Programme covers the period 2002-2006. Early in 2005, the Commission will present its detailed proposals for the 7th Framework Programme.

The document

10.3 The Commission says that :

"the ideas presented [in this Communication]must be the subject of two debates: a policy debate within the Institutions [that is, the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission]; and a debate among the stakeholders in and users of research in Europe."

10.4 The Communication refers to and builds on ideas which the Commission has included in other documents we have scrutinised this year. These include the Commission's Communications on Basic Research;[16] Security Research;[17] Global Monitoring for Environment and Security;[18] the Financial Perspective for 2007-13;[19] and Nanotechnology.[20]

10.5 The Communication says that R&D is "at the heart of the knowledge-based economy" and a key factor in growth, competitiveness and employment. That is why the Commission proposes that the size of the Community's research budget should double in the next Financial Perspective. The Communication also notes that in March 2002 the Barcelona European Council set the objective for expenditure on R&D to increase to 3% of the European Union's GDP by 2010 (two-thirds coming from the private sector and the rest from public funds). The Commission argues that R&D in Europe is lagging behind that of its main competitors, such as the USA and Japan, and that the Community needs to encourage private investment in research by:

  • establishing a framework for major technological projects;
  • increasing the number of researchers (Europe currently has six researchers for every 1000 people in the labour force, compared to eight in 1000 in the USA);
  • creating "centres of excellence" for research, capable of attracting the best talent from other countries; and
  • transforming the outcome of research into successful products and services.

10.6 It is in this context that the Communication sets out the following six major objectives:

i)  Create European centres of excellence through the provision of financial support for collaboration between research laboratories, universities and companies.

ii)  Launch European technological initiatives, such as "technology platforms" which bring together companies, research bodies, financial institutions and regulatory authorities to define a research agenda which can "mobilise a critical mass of — national and European — public and private resources".

iii)  Stimulate the creativity of basic research through competition between teams at European level: in the Commission's view, more basic research is needed and more competition between research teams for funding. A new financial mechanism is required to promote such competition.

iv)  Make Europe more attractive to the best researchers by, for example, attracting young people to science, improving training at first degree and post-graduate levels, better career development and encouraging the participation of women in science and research.

v)  Develop research infrastructures at European level through the introduction of support for the construction and operation of new infrastructures, such as bioinformatics databases.

vi)  Improve the coordination of national research programmes where, for example, Member States have shown a willingness to commit their own funds or where there is interest in cooperation between a limited number of Member States.

10.7 The Commission notes that the Structural Funds can be used to support research facilities, such as local research infrastructure. The Communication calls for more projects to receive financial support from a combination of Structural Funds and the R&D Framework Programme.

10.8 The Communication draws attention to two areas of research — security and space — which deserve greater prominence and funding.

10.9 Finally, the Communication says that the management of Community research projects needs improvement and that the administration of the grant system should be simplified.

The Government's view

10.10 The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Science and Innovation at the Department of Trade and Industry (Lord Sainsbury) tells us that the Government supports the allocation of a larger proportion of the Community's budget to research, within the 1% of EU GDP to which that budget should be limited. The Government also supports improving the delivery and administration of the 7th Framework Programme.

10.11 The Minister adds, however, that it is not clear that the Communication adequately addresses current weaknesses in European R&D arrangements, for example by engaging companies and increasing the impact of the Framework Programme on innovation and exploitation of research.

10.12 In April the Government issued a consultation document on the next Framework Programme.[21] It asked for replies by 26 July. The results of the consultation will inform the Government's response to the Commission's proposals for the next Framework Programme.

Conclusion

10.13 The ideas in the Communication are familiar from previous Commission documents. Nonetheless, it is useful to have them brought together in one place and so we draw the Communication to the attention of the House.

10.14 For the reasons given in our previous Reports (see paragraph 10.4 above), we have reservations about some aspects of the Commission's ideas, such as those about security research, but we judge it unnecessary to add to those comments until specific proposals for the 7th Framework Programme come before us for detailed scrutiny. Accordingly, we are content to clear this document from scrutiny.


16   (25289) 5598/04; see HC 42-xi (2003-04), para 18 (25 February 2004). Back

17   (25352) 6092/04; see HC 42-xii (2003-04), para 5 (10 March 2004). Back

18   (25344) 6094/04; see HC 42-xii (2003-04), para 20 (10 March 2004). Back

19   (25367) 6232/04; see HC 42-xv (2003-04) (24 March 2004). Back

20   (25678) 9621/04; see HC 42-xxiv (2003-04), para 2 (23 June 2004) and para 3 of this Report. Back

21   7th R&D Framework Programme: A Consultation Document, Office of Science and Technology, April 2004. Back


 
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