15 Apr 2024
ERAC discusses major elements of future of EU R&I policy
Source: BMBWF
On 11 and 12 April 2024, ERAC held a meeting in Namur, hosted by the Belgian Council Presidency, with a rich agenda. The group discussed the next ERA Policy Agenda (2025-2027), the next Framework Programme (2028-2034), and the future of R&I missions.
The ERAC meeting started on 11 April with a strategic discussion on the next ERA Policy Agenda (EPA). The purpose of the discussion was to provide input for an ERAC Opinion to give guidance for the further work of the ERA Forum in finalising the co-creative preparatory work for the proposal of a Council Recommendation for the next EPA early next year. ERAC delegations very clearly supported the structure of the EPA, as proposed by the ERA Forum, consisting of a policy narrative, a set of ERA structural policies to set out activities in the long term ERA policy fields, and a set of ERA actions to define actions for current policy priorities. While several delegations expressed their preference for a smaller number of actions (compared to the 23 in the preliminary list of the ERA Forum), considering the limited personnel resources in the Member States, other delegations indicated the principle of variable geometry and stated that different priorities of the MS should be respected. Delegations did not ask for dropping particular actions, but rather encouraged the ERA Forum to continue working on the content of the actions - the “action fiches” - in order to ensure that they are focussed and viable, and to consider implementation at both EU and national levels. In the course of this work over the coming months, options for streamlining the list of ERA actions/structural policies might appear. ERAC will come back to this issue in its June 2024 meeting in order to finalise/adopt the ERAC opinion on the next ERA Policy Agenda.
On 12 April 2024, ERAC held a strategic discussion about an ERAC Opinion on the next (10th) Framework Programme. The ERAC Opinion is expected to be adopted at the next ERAC meeting on 26 June in Brussels. In November 2022, ERAC had set up a Task Force to prepare this ERAC Opinion. The Task Force was co-chaired by ERAC Members from the Netherlands and from Poland and met several times, both online and in person, to discuss in depth the expectations and recommendations of Member States towards the next Framework Programme. At the Namur meeting, ERAC members unanimously praised the content of the draft Opinion that they had received ahead of the meeting. Delegations were invited to send final comments on the draft in writing after the meeting, and most delegations asked for a short summary and the main recommendations to be set out at the beginning of the ERAC Opinion. The task for the Task Force in the coming weeks will therefore be to finalise the text on the basis of the last comments from Members States, and prepare the short summary/main recommendations for easier uptake of the document.
In addition to a general assessment of the document, ERAC discussed two specific questions arising from the draft Opinion. One was the issue of “capitalising on Europe’s full potential of excellence”, formerly referred to as “widening participation”. While all delegations supported a continuation of measures to tackle the innovation divide in Europe, some delegates emphasised the importance of continuing the current widening measures. Other delegations asked for a reassessment of these measures, based on the results of evaluations and according to changing needs, as well as for broadening the scope considering approaches to specifically support national reforms. The other specific question addressed in the discussion was the strategic steering of the implementation of the programme. Here the tenor of delegations' comments was to enhance strategic planning through establishing procedures that enable co-creation, and also to consider synergies with national funding instruments.
Finally ERAC discussed the future of R&I Missions. Most delegations expressed their support for a mission-oriented approach in R&I and underlined that this approach was also embraced on the national level. While ERAC delegates agreed that it was right to start with the EU Missions in Horizon Europe, they also underlined that implementation and governance of the Missions come with many challenges (e.g. involvement of other ministries and sectors; involvement of researchers, stakeholders and citizens). EU Missions cannot be seen as another funding instrument, but they request a different “culture” to develop their full capacity and impact. Furthermore, the current five EU missions are very different in nature and cannot all be treated/implemented in the same way. ERAC delegates welcomed the exercises that are already being carried out to gather and exchange experiences (TRAMI project, MLE) and asked for the continuation of such exchanges, which was confirmed by the Commission. Several ERAC delegations asked the Commission to consider whether the EU Missions in the future should be placed “above” the next Framework Programme in order better enable a whole-of-government approach, and to ensure the ownership of the sectoral policies to which they contribute, while still maintaining R&I funding through the FP.