Researchers and industry leaders applauded this week’s decision by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso to appoint Scottish microbiologist Anne Glover as the European Union’s first chief science adviser – another key signal that science and innovation have moved to the top of Europe’s political agenda. But they warned Glover will need steely determination and a loud voice to resonate above the din of EU politics.
“It will be a huge challenge,” says John Wood, chair of the European Research Area Board (ERAB), which counseled the Commission in its first strategic report in 2009 to appoint a European science and innovation advisor. ERAB, an advisory board designed to help lead a paradigm shift in European research, argued for a chief scientist who could ensure policy is based on the best available scientific evidence.
Glover has earned praise for her work over the past five years as chief scientific advisor for Scotland, advancing the country’s scientific agenda and achievements. She begins the new three-year position in January 2012 as independent adviser on scientific policy to Barroso. In a statement, the Commission said she “will report directly to the President. Administrative support to the Chief Scientific Advisor will be provided by the Bureau of European Policy Advisors,” a small branch of the Commission bureaucracy that provides policy advice to Barroso.
Barroso announced Glover’s appointment on 5 Dec. at the European Commission’s Innovation Convention 2011, which focused on the EU’s strategic drive to forge an innovation-driven economy. The European Commission recently unveiled an €80 billion budget proposal – up 45 percent – for Europe’s next seven-year research and innovation programme, called Horizon 2020.
On 6 Dec. Europe’s Competitiveness Council affirmed support for many of the key elements of the Horizon 2020 program, from a common set of simplification of rules for all initiatives to improving the effectiveness of public-private partnerships. It also underscored the important potential role of the European Institute for Innovation and Technology (EIT) integrating education, research and business. Funding for the EIT under the new Horizon 2020 budget will jump nine-fold to €2.8 billion.
With her appointment, Glover now becomes an ambassador for Europe’s high-profile bet on research and innovation to deliver both economic growth and solutions to broad social challenges. Barroso said she will "act as a bridge with the scientific community” to ensure innovation contributes to growth, and help Europe communicate the scientific basis of the commission’s proposals. “We must communicate better,” Barroso said. “A good public understanding is key to guaranteeing social acceptance of innovation.”
How effective Glover can be, however, will depend on how much independence she can exercise from the Commission bureaucracy. Barroso first announced in September 2009 that he would name a chief scientific advisor – something that had been urged by the science community for years. But the selection had been repeatedly delayed – in large part because of an internal Commission debate over the proper profile and powers of such a role.
Research policy experts and economists agree chief scientists can have substantial impact, galvanizing public awareness, focusing the political agenda on key issues and setting the record straight when politicians wield uninformed scientific arguments to support their agenda.
The UK’s chief science advisor John Beddington has been a strong advocate for climate change mitigation policies, and made food security a top government priority. US President Barack Obama’s Chief Science Advisor John Holdren, director of the US Office of Science and Technology Policy, is a world expert on climate change and has played a highly visible role driving climate change awareness and policies.
“It’s crucial that we have a chief scientist,” said Olivier Oullier, Professor at the Behavior, Brain and Cognition Institute at Marseille University and scientific adviser at the Centre for Strategic Analysis of the French Prime Minister. “It’s important as a sign, and that someone embodies this role to provide the scientific community with one person it can talk to and communicate results. It’s also important for communicating scientific results to the political class.”
To be effective a government chief scientist needs a clear public role and visibility. Locating Europe’s chief science advisor in the Commission’s Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) may or may not be an advantage, said Wood: “The UK’s chief scientist goes on TV and radio. If there is a controversial issue, he speaks. Is that what EU has in mind or is it just back room politics?”
The UK and US chief scientists have top-level political access and a highly visible public role. Glover may well have Barroso’s ear, but she will have to carve out her role in a setting that multiplies the complexity of one national political landscape by 27 member countries. And governments do not always respect people who give them inconvenient scientific advice, policy experts warn. The position of chief scientific advisor “is intrinsically a difficult position in the UK,” said the pro rector of one major European university. “It will be many times harder in a union of countries.”
Some of the politically divisive areas of policy which Glover will have to tackle include the indirect environmental impact of biofuels, safety of Europe's nuclear reactors, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and EU funding for embryonic stem cell research.
A key challenge for Glover will be advising Europe on how to best harness innovation and research to effectively tackle its newly defined “societal challenges,” including food security, energy security, healthy ageing and climate change mitigation. The European Commission is keen to wield innovation to drive progress on this set of complex social challenges.
“The danger of the position of chief scientist for Europe is that it focuses on science policy without looking at bigger challenges,” says ERAB board member Barbara Haering, a senior Swiss science-policy adviser and board member of the Swiss federal technology institutes. “Europe’s chief scientific advisor needs to bridge the gap between the political challenge and what science, research and innovation can contribute.”
Glover will take up her post at the start of next year, reporting directly to Barroso, and provide analysis and opinion on major EU policy proposals that touch on science, technology and innovation, a commission statement said.
"In particular, the Chief Scientific Advisor will provide authoritative guidance on interpretation of scientific evidence in presence of uncertainty, and will be involved in strategic emergency planning," it said.
Financial crisis and austerity budgets will make Glover’s job even more challenging. “But it’s worth a go,” said Edward Astle, pro rector for commercial development at Imperial College London.
Policy experts said that a new European Chief Scientific Advisor will need five to six years to show results. “Evidence-based policy is the only thing that will change the game,” says Oullier.
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