Busquin R&D plan to focus on fewer but bigger projects

Date: 15/02/01

By Peter Chapman

Commissioner Philippe Busquin's 'big-picture' vision for the EU's next multi-billion-euro research and development (R&D) programme will give priority to fewer, bigger projects worth millions of euro apiece.

Busquin will unveil his blueprint for the 'sixth framework' research programme for 2002 to 2006 next Wednesday (21 February).

He will urge the European Commission to focus on genomics, food safety, biotechnology and 'nano-technology' - the science of tiny objects with potential applications from medicine to computing.

Insiders say Busquin will argue that Union funding - currently €15 billion under the existing programme - is spread across too many small-scale projects.

This old-fashioned, hotch-potch approach to R&D, claims Busquin, has cost Europe a heavy price in its battle to keep pace with US, Chinese, Indian and Japanese pacesetters.

The Commissioner also will push plans for a European Research Area to boost cooperation among national R&D plans in a bid to avoid duplication of work and waste of money. "We will never get critical mass if we have all the national programmes and the EU doing its own thing without people talking to each other," said a Busquin aide.

A final budget proposal has yet to be thrashed out for the programme, although experts expect a final figure "between 17 and 18 million euro".

Other Commissioners - notably telecoms chief Erkki Liikanen and transport and energy supremo Loyola de Palacio - are also responsible for ensuring their areas are covered in the R&D blueprint.

Liikanen is expected to win a large slice of the budget pie for his area, building on successes in mobile telecoms and specialised computer chips.

Insiders say the new R&D plan will claim a few victims, however, with cutbacks in energy, transport and agricultural development. "One of the reasons for this is that there is not much more research that can be done in some of these areas," said a research official.

But they insist there will still be room for priority projects such as 'fuel cell' technology, nuclear fusion and aeronautics.

Commissioner Philippe Busquin's 'big-picture' vision for the EU's next multi-billion-euro research and development programme will give priority to fewer, bigger projects worth millions of euro apiece.