Munich

The European Union's main research programme has met with only “modest” success in its main goal of strengthening Europe's industrial competitiveness. That's the somewhat sobering conclusion of the latest five-year assessment of the Framework funding programme, published last week.

The report's recommendations echo calls that have come from the science community for several years. These include the establishment of a European Research Council (see Nature 425, 440; 2003 10.1038/425440a), the simplification of Framework's notoriously cumbersome funding administration, and the extension of programmes that provide relocation fellowships for young scientists. It also calls for greater participation of small high-tech companies in the next Framework programme, which begins in 2006.

The assessment covers 1999–2003 and was conducted by a 13-strong panel of representatives from both academia and industry, chaired by Erkki Ormala, vice-president of technology policy at the Finnish IT company Nokia.

“Only a few European universities are recognized as global leaders,” laments the report. “This is, at least in part, a result of insufficient resources combined with the fragmented nature of the European research-and-technology development landscape.” Opening some national science programmes Europe-wide and improving the coordination of national research activities are suggested as ways to strengthen the overall quality of research in the European Union (EU).

Some of the report's recommendations could well be implemented thanks to an anticipated rise in funds for the Framework programme (see Nature 433, 96; 2005 10.1038/433096a). The new EU research commissioner, Janez Potočnik, hopes to get approval from the European Parliament this summer for a doubling of the EU's four-year research budget to €30 billion (US$40 billion).

Scientists in the new EU member states, where national funding opportunities are few, will be watching to see if the budget rise comes through, and if the report's recommendations are followed. “Any proposal that increases our chance of getting funded is very welcome,” says Anna Pytko, vice-director of the Polish National Contact Point for EU research in Warsaw.

http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/ reports/2004/fya_en.html