Potocnik pushes for ‘freedom of knowledge’

The European Commission is asking governments to develop a single market for researchers as part of plans to finalise the European Research Area (ERA) by 2020.

A green paper to be published today (4 April) looks at progress made towards establishing an ERA since the concept was agreed by EU governments in 2000 and suggests the next steps. A four-month consultation will be followed by proposals in 2008.

Janez Potocnik, European commissioner for science and research, said that the ERA was as important as the freedoms of goods, services, persons and capital set out in the EU treaties. "This green paper is about doing what it takes to give the EU a fifth freedom: the free movement of knowledge," he said.

According to the Commission, researchers often have their job opportunities restricted by the difficulty of transferring pension and social security rights around the EU. This is a problem affecting all EU workers, adds the green paper, "but the specific situation of researchers, who increasingly need to be mobile for large parts of their careers…presents serious difficulties".

Governments will be asked to agree a framework to make it easier for researchers to move around Europe without losing their social benefits.

This would mean changes in attitude as well as administration. "Today," says the paper, "mobility across borders or between academia and industry tends to be penalised rather than rewarded."

Public authorities and research institutes will also be asked to consider ways of removing linguistic barriers to free movement, as the existence of 23 official languages in the EU further complicates things. A spokeswoman for Potocnik said that solutions could include more language training in PhD programmes, or help with language lessons for researchers moving to a new country.

The green paper suggests encouraging research institutes to work through "virtual research communities". This could mean sharing more research results online and enabling researchers and students to contact each other more easily. It could also mean helping experts in several countries to work on the same project, as is already the case with the ITER nuclear fusion research project. ITER is based in France but includes researchers from around the world. "In this case, even the different time zones are an advantage," said the spokeswoman. "Work can go on around the clock."

Virtual research communities are likely to be less ambitious than earlier, failed EU attempts to encourage university-learning online. An ambitious UK ‘e-university’ project failed to attract enough interest from students or investors and closed down in 2004 after just one year, with losses of more than €100 million.

David Livesey, secretary-general of the League of European Research Universities, warned against focusing too closely on the "nitty-gritty" of a European research area.

"The intention of the green paper should be to turn people’s eyes to the horizon of 2020, rather than looking at existing structures," he said.

"This is a chance to discuss what needs to be done. What should be the characteristics of an excellent European research area?" said Livesey. "We can leave until a later moment the ‘who does what?’ issues."

The European Commission is asking governments to develop a single market for researchers as part of plans to finalise the European Research Area (ERA) by 2020.