Illustrative photo, Source: flickr.com/Jay Cross
On the occasion of the ERA conference in Brussels (23 June 2015) EUA renewed its commitment to strengthening the European Research Area (ERA) by signing a new Joint Statement with the European Commission.
The Joint Statement was signed together with other stakeholder organisations in the ERA Platform (CESAER, EARTO, LERU, Science Europe). The European Commission was represented by Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas. A follow-up to the first joint statement signed in July 2012, EUA looks forward to the next phase of this important European partnership initiative as a way of further building trust between the European Commission and the major European stakeholder organisations and to develop a better functioning ERA.
At the event, former EUA President Professor Maria Helena Nazaré drew attention to the Antwerp Declaration, which includes a strategic agenda for universities and aims to mobilise public authorities at all levels to further support universities in enhancing their research and innovation capacity to maximise benefit to society. The full speech of Professor Maria Helena Nazaré is available here.
The conference “A new start for Europe: Opening up to an ERA of innovation” focused on three main thematic areas: Open Science, the European Research Area and new approaches to innovation. During the conference, Commissioner Moedas announced the intention of introducing a “seal of excellence” for Horizon 2020 projects evaluated as excellent, but which could not be supported due to lack of funds. This would allow such projects to access Structural Funds. Commissioner Moedas further announced new initiatives in the area of research integrity, open access to research data and stronger linkages with other regions such as China, Latin America and the United States.
European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen emphasised the need to increase investment in research and development activities and the importance of universities in supporting knowledge transfer by, for example, creating start-up companies. He also indicated that the EC is preparing an initiative on Open Science and Innovation Market.
The Joint Statement here.
