At the end of February, the representatives of national academies of sciences and arts, leading universities and research organisations, as well as scientists from the EU13 member states, have gathered in Berlin at the invitation of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Leibniz Association to discuss our contribution to the future of Europe. Since then, a joint communique has been published, followed by a series of press releases and commentaries, including one featured at Science Business.
All participant of the “Forum Future Europe” agreed that that decisions on the future of the EU must be evidence-based, and the research community should and will provide and better communicate scientific advice for such decisions.
When discussing the future of the EU project as a whole, the signatories of the joint statement express their firm opposition to a multi-speed Europe. To the contrary, EU must be a cohesive community, while science shall build bridges between various stakeholders of the Europe.
On the further development of the European Research Area (ERA), especially at the time when the next RDI EU framework programme Horizon Europe (HEU) is being negotiated, the signatories emphasise number of issues of critical importance for all involved in the discussion.
- First and foremost, excellence must be the leading evaluation criterion of the applications submitted to the HEU calls.
- The framework programme should develop new efficacious measures to counteract swiftly and effectively the persisting gaps between new and old member states. Existing instruments under Horizon 2020 are a welcome contribution on closing research and innovation gaps, but they have had a limited impact so far. Therefore, in order to ensure the successful delivery of such profound mission, the signatories propose new funding instruments for brain-gain towards and brain-circulation with a particular focus on creating Europe-wide networking and the support of national excellence initiatives.
- The capacity to establish and develop networks is key to increasing EU13 participation in European funding. Therefore, instruments that support such capacities should be enhanced at both European and national levels, as it clearly is a shared responsibility. Efforts in this direction from researcher teams, universities, research organisations and learned societies / academies play an important role.
- Last but not least, apart from ensuring an adequate budget for the Horizon Europe, it is also necessary that Member States should find legislative and administrative solutions to enable comparable remuneration of researchers involved in EU-funded projects.
“The EU’s integration effect should become visible particularly in the fact that we work together to strengthen the quality and excellence of research in the new member states” said Matthias Kleiner, president of the Leibniz Association. Leopoldina-President Jörg Hacker cocluded that „(…) there is still plenty of need for discussion in Europe about education, research and innovation and after 15 years from the EU-enlargement, considerable disparities between East and West, North and South still remain. We must reduce these disparities.”
Members of the Polish scientific community present among participants of the event and its signatories were: Jerzy Duszyński – President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Stanisław Kistryn – Vice-Rector of the Jagiellonian University of Krakow and Janusz Bujnicki of the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw.
