General Information European Research Area (ERA)

Website: ec.europa.eu/research/era/index_en.html




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Background Information

The European Research Area (ERA)

The concept of an ERA was initiated in 2000, embodied in the plans for future research within the European Union, and continued within the next Framework Programme (FP6).

The concept was outlined in the booklet Towards a European Research Area, while more recent developments can be found in proceedings of various meetings that have been set up to discuss the concept, or other brochures describing European Research activities. These include publications addressing the two main areas of relevance here:

• Agriculture - Agricultural Research in the European Research Area

and

• Renewable Energy - Biomass: An Energy Resource for the European Union

Since then the concept has become a reality. While the communication 'Towards a European Research Area' remains the main reference on the subject, further information can be found in the Green Paper: The European Research Area: New Perspectives

This draws attention to the following actions:

• New initiatives have been launched in conjunction with the 7th Framework Programme (2007-2013), such as the European Research Council. These will have an important impact on the European research landscape.
• The future European Institute of Technology also has the potential to play a substantial role in creating world-class 'knowledge and innovation communities'.
• Initiatives have been launched to improve the coordination of research activities and programmes. They include the European Technology Platforms, through which industry and other stakeholders develop shared long-term visions and strategic research agendas in areas of business interest, and the bottom-up 'ERA-Net' scheme which supports the coordination of national and regional programmes.
• Policy coordination is addressed through the 'open method of coordination' and the use of voluntary guidelines and recommendations. This is stimulating a process of debate and reforms at national level, which has resulted in all Member States setting national R&D investment targets in the context of the overall EU 3% of GDP R&D investment objective and taking measures to improve their research and innovation systems.
• The EU has adopted a 'broad-based innovation strategy', which will improve the framework conditions for research and innovation. In this context, a modernised Community framework for State aid for research and innovation and guidance for a more effective use of tax incentives for R&D were adopted in November 2006.
• Initiatives are being prepared to support the emergence of European 'lead markets' in promising technology-intensive sectors. The key areas recognised include biofuels.

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