This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
The communication on the European Research Area (ERA) of September 2014 is the second progress report on the ERA. It highlights good progress by the ERA partnership - EU countries, research organisations and the European Commission - in establishing the single market for research. It also notes the challenges that lie ahead before the ERA can be completed.
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament: European Research Area -- Progress report 2014 (COM(2014) 575 final of 15.9.2014).
The communication on the European Research Area (ERA) of September 2014 is the second progress report on the ERA. It highlights good progress by the ERA partnership - EU countries, research organisations and the European Commission - in establishing the single market for research. It also notes the challenges that lie ahead before the ERA can be completed.
Its main conclusion is that the conditions for achieving the ERA, where researchers and scientific knowledge can circulate freely, are in place at the European level. However, the completion of the ERA is a gradual process, so reforms must now be made mainly at country level to make the ERA work.
The report confirms that the following conditions for completing the ERA, announced in the 2012 ERA communication, are now firmly established.
Research weaknesses to address
The progress report notes that EU countries must develop an ERA roadmap by mid-2015. This should result in initiatives that target countries’ own specific needs.
Future challenges
To maximise the potential of Europe’s open research systems and to foster innovation, the ERA needs to embrace new policy priorities and research developments and deliver sustainable solutions to challenges facing society. Growing demand for research integrity and accountability, as well as new modes of conducting and sharing research (i.e. open science), mean that new stakeholders will be central to its success.
last update 13.05.2015