Report points to failings in R&D policy

Date: 22/06/2000

By Peter Chapman

RESEARCH Commissioner Philippe Busquin will use a damning new report on the EU's €15-billion fifth framework R&D programme to bolster his case for reforming the system to end unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy.

The Commissioner's aides say the report, which is due out next month, will underline the need to eradicate time-wasting procedures, including complex application forms and intellectual property rules, which are hampering the Union's ability to catch up with its US and Asian rivals.

The inflexibility of the current approach is also causing concern, amid fears that it could result in important new scientific topics such as genetically modified organisms and the human genome being denied vital funding simply because they emerged too late to be given top priority in the programme.