During this week's meeting in Brussels, the European Council for Competitiveness (Internal Market, Industry and Research) adapted the following research-related conclusions.

A "Resolution on the developments in the governance of the European Research Area"

The resolution stresses the need for improved support of policy interactions and political coordination between member states and at the level of the EU institutions. Furthermore, the renaming of CREST ("Comité de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique") to ERAC ("European Research Area Committee"), in line with its new mandate strengthening the competences of the Member States, was agreed.

"Various issues related to the development of the European Research Area"

The Competitiveness Council emphasized the need to further engage in ensuring synergies between European, national and regional policies and instruments in support of R&D&I. In this context, the Council will agree on the following Joint Programming Initiatives (JPIs) as soon as possible in 2010:

• Agriculture, Food security and Climate Change
• Cultural Heritage and Global Change - A new challenge for Europe
• A healthy diet for a healthy life

The Competitiveness Council welcomed the progress made on Joint Programming, especially regarding the new set of topics for future JPIs as proposed by the CREST High Level Group for Joint Programming (GPC) beginning of May:

• Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe (Clik'EU)
• Healthy and Productive Seas and Oceans
• More Years, Better Lives - The Potential and Challenges of Demographic Change
• The microbial challenge - An emerging threat to human health
• Urban Europe - Global Challenges, Local Solutions
• Water Challenges for a Changing World

"Simplified and more efficient programmes in European Research and Innovation"

Welcoming the communication „Simplifying the implementation of the Research Framework Programmes“ recently presented by the European Commission,  and with the goals of the 2020 Strategy in mind, the Council emphasises in its final conclusion that there is an urgent need for RTD&I programmes to be designed and implemented in a more simple, efficient and compatible manner.

The promotion of RTD&I shall be based on the following principles in the future:

• Simplicity of rules and instruments, taking into consideration the differences between beneficiaries
• Consistency of rules and instruments
• Stability and legal certainty in the interpretation and implementation of rules in the current Framework Programme
• A trust-based approach towards project administration and control
• Results-oriented funding in future programmes insofar as feasible
• General acceptance of beneficiairies’ usual accounting practice
• Interoperability of different programmes’ instruments
• Flexibility and freedom of choice between different forms of grants for beneficiaries

Against this background the Council has adopted the following general guidelines for further activities:

Reducing complexity: For the development of future programmes the utility of all instruments and rules has to be examined in detail. Calls shall be designed in a more problem-solving, bottom-up and interdisciplinary way in order to facilitate the involvement of industry and SME.

Reducing the need for audit intensity through advancements in the project cycle, which will shorten the negotiation phase and reduce the necessity of ex-post audits. In this context the Commissions’ suggestions concerning increased result-oriented funding shall be subject to an in-depth study, and the development of a new coherent audit strategy is to be set into motion.

Improving quality, accessibility, transparency and procedures: Those principles shall increasingly encroach into the whole project cycle, e.g. through strengthening the quality of the experts database, streamlining of the selection procedures, enlarging of the participation portal, a broader acceptance of usual accounting practices for beneficiaries and more transparency in the audit procedures.

Interoperability of programmes and instruments: In addition to the mentioned simplification measures the Council envisions great potential for more efficiency in an adequate combination of different funding instruments and programmes of the EU, e.g. FP, CIP and Structural Funds. This potential should be considered in the development of new programmes in order to further enhance their interoperability in the future.

"Creating an innovative Europe"

The Council conclusion highlights the contribution of research and development activities for the creation of an innovative Europe. In this, SMEs will take a central and leading role next to universities and research institutions.

Innovation shall be increased through the development of new financial support mechanisms to facilitate the participation of researchers from small and medium sized enterprises.

On the other hand the introduction of a European Patent is expected to guarantee the effective protection of intellectual property rights as well as the implementation of efficient dissemination of research outcomes, which will in turn result in the development of new technologies, products and services. Bringing those innovations onto the market will secure Europe’s competitiveness around the globe.

Furthermore, the Competitiveness Council asks the Commission to increase transnational exchange of researchers, and to create attractive working conditions in the European Research Area. This is not only to retain excellent domestic researchers from leaving Europe, but to also attract excellent scientist from outside of the European borders.

As the other conclusions of this week, the paper underlines the importance of the envisaged measures of simplifying and harmonizing of and creating synergies between the different European funding programmes (FP7, CIP, Structural Fund, EIT). It is expected that a prompt implementation of these actions will also release further research and innovation potential within the European Research Area.

Other conclusions concerning were adopted in the following fields:

• The social dimension of the European Research Area
• Clean and energy-efficient vehicles

Further discussions related to the future of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). 

In addition, the priorities of the forthcoming Belgium presidency (July 2010) were discussed, which will include a series of research-related conferences, i.e. regarding the role of universities, mobility of researchers and JPIs.