Winter 2011

From the Chair

Upcoming events

Eurochat

Sci Comm news

New members

Event Report: NHS reform debate

Event Report: Society of Biology report launch

Event Report: Bright Club

Event Report: Christmas party

Feature: Blurring the lines

Feature: Stem cell patents

Interview: Q&As with new science correspondents

The Last Word

Stempra newsletter

Eurochat

By our man in Brussels – Tim Reynolds

It has been a while since the last EuroChat column, and some things have not changed since we last spoke: Belgium still doesn’t have an elected government. At the time of writing (15 November) it is exactly 520 days since the election and the machinations of democracy ‘Belgian style’ continue. Now the French speaking southern politicians are taking the lead as ‘formateur’, following several attempts to find a solution led by the northern Flemish politicos.

Our caretaker Prime Minister, Yves Leterme, has got so bored with proceedings he has taken a job as deputy secretary general with the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD) from 2012. This prompted a breakthrough in terms; an agreement on constitutional reform between the various parties in September/October, and - stop the press – yes the Belgians will get a viable government before Christmas. Joyous celebrations in the street have been conspicuous by their absence.

Perhaps it is the fact that Belgium has managed to maintain a relatively high level of economic growth without the burden of a government that has allowed the Greeks and Italians to so readily abandon democratic methods in order to attempt to resuscitate their moribund economies?

Research & Innovation
I won’t go into the economic woes of the Eurozone, as it might get a bit emotional. Needless to say the Greeks are not as popular as they once were in Brussels.

Instead let us look forward to the next European Research Framework programme, which promises to be much bigger, better and simpler (honest) than anything that has gone before.

What should have been FP8 was provisionally named the ‘Comprehensive Strategic Framework’, before an EU-wide competition and poll delivered the moniker Horizon 2020. This will be the biggest EU research programme so far, and a lot rests on its success.

Horizon 2020 will fund both research and innovation and its main features will be published before the end of the year. We already know it will have three main foci that line up with policy priorities for the Europe 2020 ‘recovery’ package and the idea of the Innovation Union.

The first theme is ‘Excellence in the science base’, which will support frontier research through the European Research Council, Future and Emerging Technologies, the ‘Marie Curie actions’ and priority research infrastructures.

Secondly, ‘Creating industrial leadership and competitive frameworks’ will support business research and innovation through actions to increase investment in key enabling and industrial technologies, easing access to finance and providing EU-wide support for innovation in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Finally, ‘Tackling societal challenges’ will tackle some of the major challenges identified in Europe 2020, including health; demographic change and well-being; food security; secure, clean and efficient energy; smart, green and integrated transport; resource efficiency and climate action, including raw materials.

Balancing act
Commissioner Geoghegan-Quinn hopes to strike the right balance between fundamental and applied research, and between a top-down approach with goals fixed in advance and a bottom-up approach where research themes are not pre-determined. I can already see a significant amount of lobbying happening around a set of major industry-led public-private-partnerships (PPPs) that will set the agenda across many of these areas.

The Commissioner has also pledged to major administrative simplifications in Horizon 2020 through a simpler set of rules, grant instruments and funding models, with simpler application procedures and shorter time to grant, and fewer audits and controls.

The European Parliament is keen on Horizon 2020 and is recommending boosting its funding to €80 billion for its duration (2014-2020). There will be moves to improve synergies between Horizon 2020 and the Structural Funds – a much larger source of funding used to boost less economically active regions through strategic investment in infrastructure. The parliament is lobbying to make 30% of structural funds available for innovation projects, such as near-market demonstration plants. We look forward to seeing how this all pans out over the next few months.

Finally, we should bid welcome and send best wishes to Prof Anne Glover who has just been announced as the European Commission’s new Chief Scientific Advisor. The appointment process has taken around two years since President Barroso announced the job description in 2009. Prof Glover was Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.

A bientôt,

Tim

Tim Reynolds spends a lot of his time in Brussels. You can contact him at tim.reynolds@intacomm.net