Commissioner Potočnik: a partnership with member states.
But he needs a majority of the 27 member states of the EU to support him if he is to be pull it off. For that reason he has put the national governments at the heart of his plan.
Potocnik faces an uphill battle to win the majority support he needs. Last month many member states, including some of the largest countries in the EU, appeared underwhelmed by his vision of a European Research Area.
In a paper entitled “Better careers and more mobility: a European Partnership for Researchers”, he says that the Commission needs a partnership with member states “to ensure that the necessary human resources are available to sustain and enhance the contribution of science and technology to a knowledge-based European economy.”
The paper sets out one of five policy initiatives planned by the Commission to follow up the 2007 Green Paper, “The European Research Area: New Perspectives”. The public consultation on the Green Paper suggested that a single labour market for researchers should be amongst the top priorities for action at EU level.
In addition to lifting bureaucratic obstacles to mobility for researchers, such as inflexible pension schemes and rights to access social services, Potočnik hopes to strengthen links between academia and industry.
By 2010 he wants to see measurable progress in ensuring that researchers have the necessary skills to turn knowledge into results. Creating stronger links between universities and industry is crucial to this aim.
Some countries, including the UK have a good track-record in bridging this divide. Imperial College, London is often cited as a glowing example of what can be achieved by cooperating with industry. However, in countries including France there are large cultural obstacles between the worlds of academia and industry.
This week’s initiative will help bridge the gap, said Potočnik as he launched the plan. “I am confident it’s a step in that direction. There are many faces to this problem, we have to be consistent and patient because there are no quick fixes.”
As ever, the overall requirement is to align and focus the efforts of individual member states to create the framework that will allow researchers to be more mobile between countries, institutions, and between the academic and private sectors.
Key areas for action are the systematic opening up of recruitment, social security and pensions entitlements, providing fair employment and working conditions, and ensuring that researchers have the right training and skills.
Potočnik said, “We need to free the potential of our excellent researchers if we are to achieve Europe’s wider Lisbon agenda ambitions and make the European Research Area a reality. Too many of them have to wait too long for the chance to become independent researchers in their own right due to outdated national legislation and practices.”
In many countries there is still limited competition-based recruitment in the public sector. Short-term contracts are the norm for young researchers and advancement is often based on seniority rather than ability and performance.
Worse still, many researchers are trained in a traditional academic way that does not equip them for the needs of the modern knowledge economy, where connections between industry and public research institutions are increasingly important. Very few are taught how to manage intellectual property, conduct multi-disciplinary projects or start up their own company.
Alongside coordinated action in new areas there needs to renewed effort on existing initiatives such as the European Charter for Researchers and Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, helping to create a genuine European labour market for researchers.
This will balance the supply and demand for researchers, boost productivity growth through better job matching, increase knowledge transfer and facilitate the development of centres of excellence throughout the EU.
It will also create better international connections for collaborative research and the economic exploitation of research results, and help to create more attractive conditions for industrial investment in research.
At the end of the first stage of the partnership in 2010 an overall evaluation of the situation will be made.
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