Busquin aglow as research event blazes trail

Date: 14/11/02

Karen Carstens reports from the European Research 2002 conference in Brussels (11-13 November)

PHILIPPE Busquin looked pleased as Punch as he wended his way through Hall Seven of the vast Brussels Exhibition Centre on Monday (11 November), surrounded by a small entourage of EU officials and TV cameramen.

And the ebullient Belgian-born research commissioner had every reason to grin from ear to ear: he had just opened 'European Research 2002', a three-day conference to mark the launch of the EU's Sixth Research Framework Programme (FP6).

'Past framework programmes have been designed and implemented with the main objective of funding specific research projects,' he said. 'With FP6 this will change.'

Instead, it aims to create a 'European Research Area' - which Busquin terms 'an internal market for knowledge and science' - via a €17.5 billion four-year funding scheme starting on 1 January 2003, to help establish networks among Europe's top research centres. This represents nearly 4 of the EU's overall budget based on 2001 figures, and 5.4 of all public (non-military) spending in Europe.

Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who opened the conference, said: 'The creation of a genuine European Research Area is of the utmost importance to determine the kind of Europe and the kind of world we may expect in the 21st century.' It is also an attempt to compete with the United States in a variety of fields, ranging from genetic and biotech research to aviation and the aerospace industry (see below).

In this vein, European business leaders during a panel discussion yesterday (13 November), called for more concerted action in meeting a target set last March at the Barcelona European Council for member states to raise research spending to 3 of the EU's average GDP. Two-thirds of the investment necessary to make the leap from a current figure of about 1.9 is to come from business.

George Jacobs, president of UNICE, the main European business organisation, said the 3 objective could only be achieved if Europe 'builds a more supportive regulatory environment for R & D [research and development] and innovation'.

The panel concluded that an extensive rethink on how to promote R & D and innovation is desperately needed. Busquin pointed out that 'fragmented initiatives, isolated national research systems and disparities between legal and administrative systems are taking their toll on R & D investment'.

'To revamp European research and achieve the critical mass required in cutting-edge sectors, it is vital to open up national R & D systems, and integrate and streamline the research effort to foster the creation of the European Research Area.'

Aeronautics is one area where such integration has already been achieved, and which can serve as a 'role model' for other industries in Europe, Busquin emphasised at another panel discussion.

Still, the US government allocates twice as much to civilian aeronautics research as the EU. The US also spends 14 times more than Europe on research for its military sector.

The biggest part of the FP6 budget will be spent on 'focusing and integrating' future EU-wide research activities on seven thematic priority areas. These are: life sciences, genomics and biotechnology; information society technologies; nanotechnologies; aeronautics and space; food quality and safety; sustainable development and 'citizens and governance in a knowledge-based society'.

European Research 2002 was the biggest event of its kind in Europe. It brought together more than 9,000 participants from 61 countries, of whom more than 1,000 were from EU candidate countries.

Report of the European Research 2002 conference, Brussels, 11-13 November 2002.