How to build Europe's dream team

“Europe has a team of star players, but it is not a star team,” Janez Potočnik, Science and Research Commissioner told a pan-European “town hall” meeting organised by Science|Business this week to discuss possible reforms of Europe’s research structures.

“How many more millions of euros are going to be spent on replicating research institutions and sexy areas of research?” Potočnik asked delegates from ten locations around Europe who took part in the interactive webcast. “We simply don’t have the luxury of time.”

Fresh from overseeing the launch of Framework Programme 7 and the European Research Council, Potočnik has now embarked on a far more controversial project – a root and branch reform of Europe’s research structures.

In April the Commission published a green paper soliciting comment on proposals, which include coordination of national R&D budgets to avoid duplication and achieve economies of scale, and new career structures and changes to pensions schemes to allow scientists to move seamlessly from institution to institution, and from industry to academe and vice versa.

The reform agenda

Part of the agenda is to stimulate reform of Europe’s sclerotic university system. Some chinks of light have been seen here, with a few institutions making moves to modernise their structures. The Commission is hoping that the threat posed by globalisation means the climate is now ripe to push through more substantial change.

Potocnik claims the intent behind the green paper is not to further bureacratise research and research policy by centralising it in Brussels, but to ensure greater coordination across the continent to improve competitiveness.

“Fragmentation is a waste of resources,” Potočnik warned representatives from some of Europe’s leading universities, corporate R&D departments and trade bodies. “In a globalised world national interests and European interests coincide.”

“The green paper was issued so that you could help us to get your views,” he told the meeting, which brought together delegates at ten locations in Europe, from Liverpool, UK in the West to Kaunas, Lithuania in the East.

“We want to know what you think are the most important changes,” said Potočnik, adding that the meeting provided him with an “exceptional” opportunity. “It is rare that you can speak with such a large group of such high quality.”

Rare chance

This sentiment was echoed by Ted Young, chair of the Department of Imaging Science and Technology at TU Delft, who noted, “It is rare to have the opportunity to talk directly to the people shaping policy.”

The question for delegates linking up to take the opportunity of quizzing the Commissioner about the green paper, is whether Potočnik has the managerial charisma and back room discipline to nurture the skills and egos of his star players and put European R&D at the top of the international league.

In the same way that player transfers have cause such angst and arguments among Europe’s top football clubs, one of the prime concerns reflected in questions from the audience was mobility of scientists.

For example, Joachim von Heimburg, Director of Corporate R&D, Innovation and Knowledge in EMEA for Proctor and Gamble, called for more interchange between academe and industry. “The issue here is not money. It is about structures.” Proctor and Gamble has set up its own scheme, ‘Connect and Develop’ to encourage exchanges.

Similarly, training is a major concern. Andrew Herbert, Managing Director of Microsoft Research Cambridge (though speaking from Aachen), outlined the disparity of skills levels his company finds between PhDs trained in the US and those trained in Europe, and asked, “What can we do to make European PhDs more competitive?

Small can be beautiful, too

For Torbjorn Digernes, Rector of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim and Chairman of the Research Committee of the Norwegian Board of Higher Education, a key issue is how smaller countries like Norway and its peers get a fair share of influence and access to Europe’s R&D cake.

Potočnik acknowledged concerns about the larger nations having undue influence, but noted that all schemes are organised from the bottom up. “My advice is to be active and participate,” he said, noting that despite being one of the smaller member countries, Finland has taken a lead role on Artemis, the Joint Technology Initiative on embedded computing systems, which was launched in May.

The elephants in Europe’s front room – most notably the European Institute of Technology and the ongoing dismal failure to formulate a pan-European patent law – were, inevitably, brought out for an airing at the meeting. Details of Potočnik’s response to questions on these and other matters will appear in a full report of the webcast to be published later.

Potocnik has also undertaken to respond to question posed via the ScienceBusiness website.

The green paper is open for comments until August. The Commission will then put together concrete proposals. Potocnik negotiated Slovenia’s entry into the EU, and he promised that when his country takes up the Presidency for the first time at the beginning of 2008 the reforms will be included in its programme.