The European Research Area: advancing together the Europe of research and innovation

Summary:

Report presented on 15 February 2019 by the European Commission assessing the current state of the European Research Area (ERA) and the progress made on ERA implementation in 2016-2018.

Further information:

This is the second time that progress has been measured at country level using the ERA monitoring mechanism — a set of 24 core indicators jointly defined by Member States, research stakeholders and the Commission that includes eight headline indicators.

The 2016 ERA Progress Report showed that substantial progress had been made on ERA implementation over the last decade. At EU level, all headline indicators improved, although there were still large disparities between Member States in both performance levels and growth rates.

Overall, this report shows that progress on ERA implementation has been slowing and that major disparities still exist between countries, or are growing in part. These trends call for a renewed commitment to (i) further strengthening shared efforts at all levels; (ii) reforming national research and innovation systems; and (iii) realising a well-functioning ERA.

The Commission has anticipated this need by proposing a number of programmes for the next financing period 2021-2027: these include regional funds, a European reform delivery tool and the EU’s next research and innovation (R&I) framework programme — Horizon Europe. The latter includes a dedicated pillar to help strengthen the ERA.