The objective of this opinion is to formulate ERAC’s view on the added value of and the room for improvement in the context of certain groups within the frame of ERA priorities for the MS/AC. The scope of this exercise is to look principally at the groups set up by the Commission. It does not cover the ERA-related groups (GPC, ESFRI, SGHRM, Helsinki Group, the new ERAC SWG on Open Science and Innovation and SFIC) in any detail, though it looks at potential overlaps between the ERA-related groups and Commission groups.

The final decisions about the future of the advisory structure will be for the Commission to take as the groups have been set up by the Commission, but the Commission has asked ERAC to be clear and direct in putting forward MS/AC views as an input to its thinking.