25.8.2009   

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 200/5

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points out that local and regional authorities have a particularly important role to play in making the European Research Area (ERA) a reality;

—

emphasises that the European Commission and Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that local and regional authorities are fully and effectively involved in managing ERA-related initiatives;

—

recognises the need for cooperation between the EU and neighbouring countries in the field of S&T. This should entail the participation of our neighbours not only in the EU Research Framework Programme, but also in the other dimensions of the European Research Area, such as the coordination of research programmes and infrastructures, enforcement of knowledge-sharing principles and seamless mobility of researchers;

—

wants to ensure the coordinated use of FP7, SF, CIP and EARDF, as this is essential for EU competitiveness and synergies between cohesion, research, higher education and innovation policies at national and regional level, as stated in previous CoR opinions.

Rapporteur

:

Jyrki Myllyvirta (FI/EPP), Mayor of Lahti

1.

points out that local and regional authorities have a particularly important role to play in making the European Research Area (ERA) a reality. They are key players in developing regional research and innovation strategies, they often manage research institutions and they support innovative environments, because they have the experience needed. Moreover, typically either cities or regional administrations have recognised legislative powers and their own research budget or are otherwise important drivers and co-funders of research and development activities. Effective working institutional systems at local and regional level are crucial in planning and implementing successful and fruitful research activity;

2.

local and regional authorities are therefore among the main stakeholders in policies and initiatives to deepen and more importantly widen the ERA, in particular its vision of strong research and academic institutions embedded in innovative environments as well as international cooperation and coordination of research activities;

3.

emphasises the major importance of cities and regions in developing innovative environments. Their policies have a substantial impact both on establishing the European Research Area in terms of the mobility of scientists — only versatile, tolerant and innovative environments attract scientists — and as centres of development for research infrastructure. Relevant here are local innovation policies, technology centres, business incubators, science parks and venture capital (1);

4.

considers the proposed initiative to be an important contribution to deepening and widening the ERA. In its opinion on The ERA: new perspectives (1), the Committee emphasised the need to enhance the process of establishing the ERA as a step towards making Europe the most dynamic economy in the world (2);

5.

emphasises that the European Commission and Member States should take the necessary measures to ensure that local and regional authorities are fully and effectively involved in managing (2) ERA-related initiatives. Knowledge and innovation must become the economic driving force. Active participation in the ERA by local and regional authorities helps to boost productivity and competitiveness;

6.

notes that in the field of international S&T cooperation, cities and regions are particularly important. Through supportive programming and structural and legislative framework conditions in the context of their research policies, cities and regions make a significant contribution to creating European added value in the field of research and to the creation of a living European research area (1);

7.

welcomes the Communication, with particular reference to its aim of strengthening the EU's scientific and technological base, boosting the competitiveness of its industry and helping to deal with global challenges within a context of ‘global responsibility’;

8.

reminds the European Commission that it will closely monitor the agreed principle of involving cities and ‘regional authorities, as well as stakeholders such as universities and research organisations, civil society and business which should be actively engaged in ERA governance’ (3), as well as the references made to respecting the principles of subsidiary and variable geometry;

9.

recognises the need for cooperation between the EU and neighbouring countries in the field of S&T. This should entail the participation of our neighbours not only in the EU Research Framework Programme (4), but also in the other dimensions of the European Research Area, such as the coordination of research programmes and infrastructures, enforcement of knowledge-sharing principles and seamless mobility of researchers (5);

10.

emphasises the importance of S&T cooperation with neighbouring countries, which can also have a great impact on regional development within the EU area. This can apply to Russia with its significant S&T capacity, but also to East European, Balkan and Mediterranean non-Member States;

11.

welcomes the actions to open up the FP7 and CIP to neighbouring countries, which would give a further territorial dimension to these programmes;

12.

recalls the conclusions of the ERA expert group (6) concerning the increasing importance of national and regional stakeholders in developing major new European initiatives such as ERA-NETs, Eurostars, EIT or Joint Technology and Cluster;

13.

wants to ensure the coordinated use of FP7, SF, CIP and EARDF, as this is essential for EU competitiveness and synergies between cohesion, research, higher education and innovation policies at national and regional level, as stated in previous CoR opinions (7);

14.

strongly emphasises that European research, training and innovation capacity must be enhanced in the context of support for research infrastructure, research for the benefit of SMEs, regional research-driven clusters, unlocking research potential in the EU's ‘convergence’ regions, ‘science in society’ issues and ‘horizontal’ activities in the field of international cooperation (8);

15.

advocates a wide-ranging interpretation of the concept of innovation, covering social and human sciences and their fertile interplay with the urban and regional cultures of their localities;

16.

notes that the objective of achieving critical mass at the level of research institutes and international networks is dependent on the subject of study, the research area and the participants. A ‘one size fits all’ approach should not be applied to all international partnerships;

17.

recalls the objective put forward in the Green Paper (5): finding an appropriate balance between institutional and competitive funding. In line with views expressed in previous opinions on related issues, the Committee of the Regions calls for continued debate on the appropriate balance between institutional and competitive funding;

18.

is inclined, as it has pointed out previously (1), to have more faith in scientists and their teams selecting interesting and useful areas of research and in voluntary (bottom-up) and horizontal networking rather than heavy-handed top-down management and the resultant ritualised cooperation;

19.

calls for policy coherence in the case of multi-level and multi-stakeholder programmes, especially those involving third-country partners, requiring an efficient multi-level governance system (7);

20.

agreeing completely with the notion that mobility of researchers is an essential feature of international S&T cooperation, the Committee underlines the following points:

21.

points out that it is also necessary to attract excellent academics from outside Europe and therefore emphasises the importance of EU mobility programmes such as the Marie Curie programme and measures that have been taken in some regions to support returning academics (1);

22.

agrees with the conclusions reached by the Competitiveness Council on 30 May 2008 calling on the Commission and Member States to support regional and local authorities in applying for, building and implementing modern research infrastructures. In this context, the Committee has suggested:

23.

highlights the importance of regional and local authorities in promoting joint research programmes, including ones with third-country participation, as they are more in touch with the specific local situation in terms of science, technology and the economy, and therefore know when cooperation on areas of strategic importance is required (2). Some regions in Europe are already successfully involved in cooperating in the coordination of instruments for research programmes, as in the case of the ERA-NET projects. Like the Member States, cities and regional authorities should be involved in promoting cooperation agreements in the framework of joint programming (2);

24.

notes that the Communication does not take account of all local and regional aspects and the European Commission does not present an impact assessment for this Communication. This refers to the powers of local and regional authorities and highlights the particular relevance of international S&T cooperation for cities and regions.