Researchers fear the EU’s ambitious new life sciences plan is let down by a blind spot for knowledge production
Photo credits: Ibrahim Boran / Unsplash
The life sciences strategy released by the European Commission on July 2 sends a strong signal that Europe is ready to translate its expertise into world-leading innovation. But research organisations worry that basic science has been forgotten.
“Our main concern and reaction is that it misses the point of creating new knowledge,” said Marta Agostinho, executive director of the life sciences research institute alliance, EU-Life. “It falls in the narrative that Europe already is leading scientifically, so we don’t need to do much. This is not true, especially for the biomedical sciences.”
The strategy sets out to make the EU a global leader in the life sciences by the end of the decade. To this end, it brings together new and existing policies and funding measures for improving Europe’s global standing, with a special focus on innovation development and deployment.
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