1 EU funding for
research and innovation
| (32515)
6528/11
COM(11) 48
| Commission Green Paper: From Challenges to Opportunities: Towards a Common Strategic Framework for EU Research and Innovation Funding
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| Legal base | —
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| Document originated | 9 February 2011
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| Deposited in Parliament | 17 February 2011
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| Department | Business, Innovation and Skills
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| Basis of consideration | EM of 3 March 2011
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | No date set
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Not cleared; further information requested
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Background
1.1 The Europe 2020 Strategy, which was endorsed by the European
Council in June 2010, seeks to address "bottlenecks to growth"
and to transform the EU into a "smart, sustainable and inclusive
economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and
social cohesion." It proposes seven "flagship initiatives"
which are intended to help the EU and Member States achieve five
headline targets agreed by the European Council covering employment;
research, development and innovation; climate change and energy;
educational attainment; and social inclusion. The headline target
for research and development sets the goal of raising levels of
private and public investment to 3% of GDP.
1.2 In its Communication on the Europe 2020 Strategy, the
Commission says that investment in knowledge and innovation is
essential to achieve "smart" growth and high quality
jobs while also tackling global societal challenges, such as climate
change, energy and resource efficiency, health and demographic
change. In October 2010, the Commission published its flagship
initiative, entitled Innovation Union, which seeks to promote
a strategic approach to innovation in which "all policy instruments,
measures and funding are designed to contribute to innovation,
where EU and national/regional policies are closely aligned and
mutually reinforcing and [...] where the highest political level
sets a strategic agenda, regularly monitors progress and tackles
delays."[1] The Commission
identified ten strategic goals which include:
- more investment in education and R&D;
- the reform of existing EU and national research and innovation
systems to improve performance and value for money and to avoid
fragmentation;
- simplification of access to EU funding for research and innovation
and better use of public funding to leverage private sector investment;
- enhanced cooperation between the scientific research community
and business;
- removal of barriers which make it difficult to bring innovative
ideas to the market;
- development of European Innovation Partnerships to pool human
and financial resources in order to tackle major societal challenges;
and
- greater engagement with international partners.
1.3 At the same time, the Commission also published its Communication
on the EU Budget Review which sets out the principles that should
underpin the future EU Budget from 2014 onwards.[2]
The Commission noted that, by the end of 2013, expenditure on
research and innovation would amount to approximately 7% of the
EU's budget but added that "future research and innovation
spending must have an even stronger impact in terms of growth
and job creation and in terms of significant social and environmental
return." It suggested that the full range of EU funding instruments
for research and innovation should be brought together within
a Common Strategic Framework. The European Council endorsed this
approach in Presidency Conclusions agreed in February 2011 and
invited the Commission to put forward proposals by the end of
2011.[3]
The Green Paper
1.4 The Green Paper launches a public consultation on the
key issues to be considered when developing a Common Strategic
Framework for future EU research and innovation funding. The Commission
expects to put forward formal legislative proposals by the end
of 2011.
1.5 The Commission says that "Europe needs to make a
step change in its research and innovation performance" or
risks being left behind by other emerging economies. It highlights
underinvestment in research and innovation, especially by the
private sector, as a major weakness and suggests that coordinated
action at EU level should reduce duplication and fragmentation,
generate greater efficiency and impact, and help leverage more
private investment. Evaluations of existing EU research and innovation
programmes have identified a number of deficiencies, notably "the
lack of a whole chain approach to research and innovation, the
complexity of instruments, over-bureaucratic rules and procedures
and a lack of transparency."[4]
Future EU programmes should therefore seek to:
- clarify their objectives, while maintaining sufficient flexibility
to respond to emerging policy needs;
- reduce complexity;
- increase the added value of EU funds and their leverage effect
on other public and private resources, and make it easier to pool
national and regional funds in order to achieve a critical mass
of funding;
- simplify participation by reducing administrative burdens;
- broaden participation in EU programmes, especially by SMEs,
newer Member States and third countries; and
- contribute to increasing EU competitiveness and/or the societal
impact of EU-funded programmes by ensuring that the fruits of
research are used by industry, investors, public authorities,
other researchers or policy makers.
The Common Strategic Framework for EU research and innovation
funding
1.6 The Commission says that the Common Strategic Framework
for future EU research and innovation funding programmes should
have four overarching objectives:
- to contribute to the achievement of Europe 2020 objectives;
- to tackle societal challenges;
- to strengthen the competitiveness of Europe's industrial base;
and
- to promote excellence in Europe's scientific and technological
base.
Contributing to Europe 2020 objectives
1.7 The Common Strategic Framework should cover all future
EU research and innovation funding and establish coherent goals
and shared strategic objectives which complement the proposed
Common Strategic Framework for EU cohesion policy and proposals
for future rural development funding programmes. This should allow
for more strategic planning and a greater concentration of resources
to help deliver Europe 2020 priorities. EU funding should be easier
to access, especially for SMEs, and funding instruments streamlined
and simplified. The Commission seeks views on how to achieve the
following:
- making EU research and innovation funding more attractive
and easy to use for participants;
- ensuring that EU innovation funding covers the full innovation
cycle, from research to market uptake, and maximises the benefit
of acting at EU level, including a strong emphasis on leveraging
other sources of funding;
- using EU research and innovation funding to pool EU and national
resources and support joint programming initiatives between Member
States;
- maintaining an appropriate balance between smaller, targeted
projects and larger, strategic ones;
- developing a standardised set of rules to simplify participation
in EU-funded programmes while also allowing for some differentiation
between funding instruments to respond to the diverse needs of
beneficiaries, such as SMEs;
- identifying appropriate performance indicators to measure
the success of EU research and innovation funding; and
- ensuring that EU research and innovation funding complements
funding available to less developed regions under the EU's cohesion
policy as well as future EU rural development programmes.
Tackling societal challenges
1.8 The Commission says that the Europe 2020 Strategy sets
ambitious policy objectives in areas such as climate change, energy
security, demographic ageing and resource efficiency, but that
"careful consideration is needed to identify those challenges
where EU level intervention can truly make a difference, while
avoiding overly prescriptive scientific and technological choices."[5]
The Commission highlights the concept of European Innovation Partnerships
as a means of pooling effort and resources and focussing activities
across the innovation cycle (bringing research to market). It
seeks views on how to achieve the following:
- ensuring an appropriate balance between "agenda-driven"
research, where areas for research are determined in advance,
and "curiosity-driven" research;
- using EU research and innovation funding to support policy
making and address societal challenges; and
- attracting greater public interest and involvement in EU research
and innovation activities.
Strengthening competitiveness
1.9 The Commission says that greater effort is needed to involve
industry in setting priorities for EU research and innovation
so that innovative goods and services can be brought to the market.
It highlights the "pivotal role" of SMEs and the need
for "open, light and fast implementation schemes [to] enable
SMEs and other stakeholders from industry and academia to explore
new ideas and opportunities as they emerge, in a flexible way,
opening new avenues for innovation." The Commission describes
the low level of private investment in research and innovation
as "a major bottleneck" and suggests making full use
of financial instruments such as the Risk Sharing Finance Facility
(funded in part from the EU budget and in part by the European
Investment Bank) to overcome market gaps and to "support
the commercialisation of research results, the growth of innovative
businesses and investments in major infrastructures."
[6] The Commission
seeks view on how to achieve the following:
- ensuring that EU funding reflects the broad scope of innovation,
including social and eco-innovation;
- strengthening and facilitating the participation of industry
and SMEs in EU research and innovation programmes, including through
public-private partnerships;
- designing open, light and fast implementation schemes which
are flexible enough to enable novel ideas to be brought to market,
especially by SMEs;
- encouraging greater use of equity and debt-based EU financial
instruments;
- modifying public procurement rules to encourage innovation;
and
- considering how intellectual property rights relating to EU
research and innovation funding affect the balance between competitiveness,
on the one hand, and the need for access to, and dissemination
of, the results of scientific research.
Strengthening Europe's scientific base
1.10 The Commission considers that the development of a genuinely
unified European Research Area[7]
would help Europe to become a centre of "world class excellence
where ground-breaking research results are generated which are
able to drive structural change."[8]
It says that excellence can only thrive where researchers have
adequate resources and compete against each other. The Commission
therefore calls on Member States "to pursue ambitious modernisation
agendas for their public research base and sustain public funding."
It highlights the need for international cooperation but says
that openness to participation in EU-funded research and innovation
programmes should be reciprocated in third countries and cover
not only access to funding but also market access and protection
of intellectual property rights. The Commission seeks view on
how to achieve the following:
- strengthening the role of the European Research Council[9]
to support world class excellence, and providing EU support for
Member States to develop excellence;
- strengthening Marie Curie actions[10]
to promote cross-border mobility and research collaboration;
- strengthening female participation in science and innovation;
- supporting research infrastructures (including EU-wide e-Infrastructures);
- identifying priority areas for international cooperation;
and
- considering the appropriate balance between EU funding and
other (policy or legislative) measures to complete the European
Research Area by 2014.
1.11 The Commission invites responses to the Green Paper by
20 May 2011.
The Government's view
1.12 The Minister of State for Universities and Science (Mr
David Willetts) says that existing EU instruments for funding
research and innovation have their own separate budgets and administrative
procedures and operate independently of each other. He continues:
"The Government supports in principle the Commission's objective
to bring together in a more coordinated manner the key funding
instruments [...] within a coherent strategic framework and welcomes
the consultation which the Commission has launched.
"The Government considers that the administrative arrangements
for future EU research and innovation programmes must be radically
simplified in order to continue to attract high quality participants
from academia and business, especially SMEs. The Government also
considers that it is important to consider mechanisms which will
increase the socio-economic impact of these programmes."[11]
1.13 The Minister notes the "fundamental role" that
research and innovation will play in addressing societal challenges,
as well as encouraging the competitiveness of European industry
and the excellence of the scientific and technological base in
Europe. He adds:
"The Government agrees that support for research and innovation
should be a priority over the next Financial Perspective, subject
to the imperative of real overall budgetary restraint."[12]
1.14 He says that the Government will produce a formal response
to the Green Paper as part of a wider UK position paper on EU
research and innovation funding and that he will provide us with
a copy. He adds that the UK's devolved administrations are likely
to produce their own response to the Green Paper, but says that
the Scottish Government has expressed its support for the overall
objectives proposed for the Common Strategic Framework and believes
that there is scope to develop greater synergies with EU cohesion
funding to support innovation.
Conclusion
1.15 Research and innovation undoubtedly has an important
role to play in addressing some of the big societal challenges
identified in the Europe 2020 Strategy while also helping European
businesses to be more competitive in a global market. The difficulty
lies in determining how best to deploy EU funds for research and
innovation in a way that makes the most out of every euro at a
time when public budgets are severely constrained.[13]
We think that the Green Paper raises some important questions
about the nature, quality and purpose of EU funding for research
and innovation and we agree with the Commission that "careful
consideration is needed to identify those challenges where EU
level interventions can truly make a difference."[14]
1.16 We note the Government's support in principle for
developing a Common Strategic Framework for EU research and innovation
funding and look forward to considering its formal response to
the Green Paper shortly. Meanwhile, the document remains under
scrutiny.
1 See HC 428-viii (2010-11), chapter 8 (17 November
2010). Back
2
See HC 428-xi (2010-11), chapter 4 (15 December 2010). Back
3
See http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/en/ec/119175.pdf. Back
4
See page 5 of the Commission's Green Paper. Back
5
See para 4.2, page 8 of the Green Paper. Back
6
See page 10 of the Green Paper. Back
7
The Minister's Explanatory Memorandum describes the objectives
of the European Research Area as follows: creating a single market
for R&D which includes facilitating the free movement of researchers,
developing excellent European research infrastructures, enabling
easy exchange of knowledge, developing best practice in intellectual
property management for publicly-funded research, and coordinating
research activities to tackle global issues. See also Article
179 TFEU. Back
8
See para 4.4, page 11 of the Green Paper. Back
9
The European Research Council was officially launched in 2007
and awards grants by means of an open competition to researchers
who demonstrate excellence and innovative thinking in their scientific
field. Back
10
Marie Curie actions fund cross-border collaboration in science
and the humanities. Back
11
Paras 25 and 26 of the Minister's Explanatory Memorandum. Back
12
Para 24 of the Minister's Explanatory Memorandum. Back
13
See p. 4 of the Green Paper. Back
14
Para 4.2 of the Green Paper. Back
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