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The European Union (EU) produces almost one third of the world's scientific knowledge. Acknowledged areas of expertise include medical research and environmental sciences. The EU also has an important global role in other areas such as chemistry, physics, pharmaceutical, aerospace, telecommunications and transport.

However, the United States and Japan do better in some areas, for instance the EU is less successful at converting achievements into commercial technologies. An example of this is that, in the EU companies apply for fewer than 170 European and US patents per million inhabitants, compared with 400 for American companies. It is a concern and an overriding objective to bridge the gap between research carried out and its commercial application through technological development.

EU beliefs about Research and Technological Development

The EU believes that sound scientific research is crucial for the EU's continuing economic growth.

The EU believes that European industry will only take advantage of the Single European Market if it can combine research resources and priority technologies.

There is a belief that Research and Technological Development (RTD) is crucial for the competitiveness of companies and the employment they provide. It is the EU's opinion that pooling the expertise provided by scientists from different countries will prove beneficial to all EU members.

The objective of the research and technology policy is the organisation and co-ordination of national and EU policies, the co-operation of different research teams and an increase in the mobility of individuals and ideas to reinforce European competitiveness.

Research in the Treaties

Title XVIII of the Treaty that established the European Community covers all activity of the EU in the area of research and technological development. It also sets out the rules and procedure for implementation of the RTD activities.

Article 163 states the objective of the research programme. "The Community shall have the objective of strengthening the scientific and technological bases of Community industry and encouraging it to become more competitive at international level, while promoting all the research activities deemed necessary."

Articles 163 to 173 are concerned with the implementation of the multi-annual framework programmes.

Research Developments

Towards a European Research Area

Relationships forming the European Resaech Area

Figure 1 :: European Research Area

The Commission produced a communication in January 2000, outlining the need for greater research in order to keep in touch with a globalising world economy. The communication, called Towards a European Research Area, wanted to create a European research area in which there would be no borders to research, improving Europe's competitiveness.


The objective of the communication was recognised at the European Summit held in Lisbon in March 2000. At the summit it was stated that EU research and development was vital for the EU to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world. In order to realise this objective, in Barcelona in 2002 the next summit targeted research spending to increase to 3% GDP by 2010.

The Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), suggested at the summit, is a deliberate break with previous programmes, focusing on the establishment of a more integrated European Research Area (ERA). Previously there has been loose co-operation between researchers, but FP6 is designed to develop research programmes integrated across borders and scientific disciplines.

Research and Technological Development (RTD) Framework Programme

Since 1984 the EU has introduced framework programmes for their research and technology development. Over the years the budgets have grown significantly, from €3.25 billion or the First Framework Programme (1984-1987) to €17.5 billion for the Sixth Framework Programme (2002-2006).

Sixth Framework Programme (FP6)

Previous framework programmes had concentrated on stimulating co-operation between European researchers, whereas the sixth framework programme is designed to incorporate European researchers into one overall European Research Area (ERA).

The emphasis of this programme is placed on better integration of research efforts, on the basis of an improved partnership between the various members in the ERA. The goal is to achieve a common strategy for strengthening Europe's scientific and technological dynamism in a global economy.

Relatyionship between ERA and specific RTD fields

Figure 2 :: ERA and the policy objectives of FP6

Three main policy objectives:

Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)

The European Commission has unveiled its plans for (FP7), which is expected to cover a longer period (2007 to 2013). The budget has been increased by a factor of over four to €73 billion. This clearly outlines the importance the EU has attached to research as a vital part of the EU's continuing economic growth. FP7 will have a structure based on four specific programmes:

The aim of FP7 is to continue research along the themes of FP6 but to simplify the administrative procedures and project types. A new aspect is the involvement of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide additional funding as loans and spread the risk in order to attract more private funding. In addition, some key subject areas from the 28 Technology Platforms set up during FP6 will set the agenda for FP7 as Joint Technology Initiatives. Six of these have been identified so far:

This is an ongoing initiative with more platforms still being identified.

Although it has been agreed that the budget for FP7 will be increased to €73 billion, it is still a matter of debate as to what other EU initiatives will suffer to compensate for the increased spend on FP7.

For more information regarding FP 7 visit:-

www.europa.eu.int/comm/research/future/index_en.cfm

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