On 20 April Europe’s seven major intergovernmental research organizations, working together in the EIROforum partnership, presented their comprehensive paper on science policy, “Towards a Europe of Knowledge and Innovation”.
Five years ago, at the meeting of the European Council in Lisbon, the creation of a European Research Area (ERA) was proposed as a means to achieve the ambitious targets necessary to develop a leading, knowledge-based economy in Europe.
Two years later the EIROforum partnership was created between seven of Europe’s major intergovernmental research organizations, the oldest of which is CERN. These organizations operate some of the largest research infrastructures in the world, with a combined budget comparable to that of the current Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) of the European Union (EU).
The EIROforum paper describes the partnership’s collective vision for the future of European scientific research necessary to support the Lisbon Process by working for the implementation of the ERA. The partners support the creation of a climate in Europe in which competitive research is undertaken in an efficient, cost-effective and successful manner. The aim is to be able to recruit and retain world-leading scientists in Europe, and at the same time help European industry by promoting joint front-line research that can generate important spin-offs. The paper presents many concrete ways in which the EIROforum organizations can participate effectively in the consolidation of the ERA.
A couple of weeks earlier, the European Commission adopted the proposal for the seventh Framework Programme (FP7). FPs are the EU’s main instrument for funding research in Europe. They cover a period of five years with the last year of one FP and the first year of the following FP overlapping. FP6 has been operational since 2003 with a total budget of €17.5 billion. FP7 will cover the period 2007-2013 with a budget of €72.7 billion and a time span of seven instead of five years. The ambitious proposal calls for improved efficiencies and aims to build on the achievements of previous programmes.
A new element is the establishment of a “European Research Council”, an independent, science-driven body that will fund European frontier research projects and ensure that European research is competitive at a global level. It will implement the peer review and selection process and will ensure the financial and scientific management of the grants. The EIROforum paper also supports this proposal.
In a third European initiative, on 8 April the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) presented the EU Commission with its paper “Towards New Research Infrastructures for Europe – the ESFRI ‘List of Opportunities'”. The forum was launched in April 2002 to support a coherent approach to policy-making on research infrastructures in Europe. Its horizon is the next 10-20 years.
The projects chosen had to be of pan-European interest, in an advanced state of maturity so that they can receive funds in FP7 and of international relevance. The forum wanted a “balanced” list that best corresponds to major needs of Europe’s scientific community. Out of a total of 23 opportunities, there were four projects on physics and astronomy, four on multidisciplinary facilities and one in computing.
Of the physics and astronomy projects, two are in nuclear physics, one in astronomy and one in neutrino physics (KM3NeT, a future deep underwater experiment in the Mediterranean). Multidisciplinary facilities include a European X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) facility. The report also mentions, without specific details, five global projects with strong European participation, including the International Space Station (ISS) and the International Linear Collider (ILC).
• The seven EIRO forum members are the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) and the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL).
