Research experts want action not words

Date: 23/01/1997

By Simon Coss

INDUSTRIALISTS are warning the European Commission that the Union's research priorities for the next century must have clear practical applications rather than being driven by the often highly theoretical approach of research institutions.

The Commission is currently putting the finishing touches to its so-called Fifth Framework Research Programme due to come into force in 1999.

“We need to see backing for projects which will benefit industry rather than ending up in the drawer of some research institute,” said Jean Heymans, secretary-general of the European Federation of Machine Tool Manufacturers (CECIMO). “We would like to see an industrial research council set up which would be responsive to the needs of industry rather than to institutions,” he added.

Heymans says he is discussing his proposals with the Commission's Directorates-General for research (DGXII) and industry (DGIII), and claims officials have reacted very favourably to his ideas.

The Commission has already indicated that the new research regime will be more clearly targeted towards key sectors than the current programme.

In the wake of the BSE crisis, officials have also stressed that research funding under the 1999 scheme will be more flexible than at present. They point out that it has proved very difficult to redirect money to fund emergency research into mad cow disease under the existing rules.

The Fifth Framework Programme will focus on six key areas: the environment, new technologies including the specific challenges posed by the advent of the information society, promoting sustainable growth, improving training and mobility for research scientists, supporting technological development in the EU's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and increased research cooperation with third countries.

The Commission is due to release a report at the end of this month indicating the relative priority to be given to each area and, crucially, the percentage of the overall research budget each will receive.

It will then enter into a bout of internal wrangling over the exact amount of money Research Commissioner Edith Cresson will be allowed to ask for to fund the scheme. She is due to present her final proposal for the programme in March.

Research currently receives 60&percent; of the portion of the EU budget allocated to internal policies. Officials working for Cresson say that as an absolute minimum, the institution will push for that level of expenditure to be maintained.

But just how much that 60&percent; will finally amount to is uncertain. The Union's current budget agreed at the 1992 Edinburgh summit runs until 1999, when a new regime will come into force.