Welcome and opening remarks
- Prof. John Wood, European Research Area (ERAB) and Conference Chair
- Ms Montserrat Torné i Escasany, Director General for International Cooperation and Institutional Relations, Ministry for Science and Innovation
- Ms Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research and Innovation
Speech
- Dr. Ronald Schenkel, Director General of the Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Speech
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Session 1: The ERAB Strategy 2030: the long-term view
Chair
Rapporteur
Objectives:
Present the ERAB Strategic View and put it into an international perspective.
- Prof. John Wood, European Research Area (ERAB), United Kingdom
- Prof. Han Jianguo, Director-General, Bureau of International Cooperation, National Natural Science Foundation of China, China
Presentation
- Mr Daan du Toit, South Africa's Senior S&T Representative to the EU
Presentation
- Prof. Nicholas S. Vonortas, Director, Centre for International Science and Technology Policy, The George Washington University, US (as presented by Richard Hudson, CEO and editor, Science|Business, The media network for research, industry and policy, Belgium)
Presentation
Q&A
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Session 2: Is the ERAB Strategy 2030 ambitious enough?
Chairs:
- Prof. Marja Makarow, CE, European Science Foundation (ESF), France
- Prof. Carlos María Romeo-Casabona, Inter-University Chair in Law and the Human Genome, University of Deusto, Spain
Rapporteur:
- Dr. Vanessa Campo-Ruiz, European Science Foundation (ESF), France
Objectives:
In view of mankind’s grand challenges for the immediate and log-term future, and taking into account the emerging economies around the world, Europe needs to design a research strategy that is ambitious and risk-tolerant, strives for true excellence and competitiveness but also maintains our core societal values. Research organisations, industries, policy makers and the civil society must all find a common ground for action in the spirit of open dialogue. The ERAB Strategy 2030 identifies six main areas where a united European Research Area is a necessity, and describes an optimal scenario for a successful ERA. This session’s objective is to examine whether the View is ambitious enough.
- Dr. Molly Morag Stevens, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, ERC Starting Grant Awardee 2007, United Kingdom
Presentation
- Mr. Francisco Belil, Chief Executive Officer Siemens, S.A. Spain & Cluster South West Europe, Spain
Presentation
- Prof. Eva Malmström-Jonsson, Deputy President, Kungl Tekniska Högskolan, Sweden
Presentation
- Mr Lars Kolind, Chair of the Industrial Technology Research and Entreprise Association and Chairman of the Board of Poul Due Jensen Foundation (Grundfos), Denmark
Presentation
Q&A
Conclusions from the morning sessions
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Session 3: United ERA in a global world
Chairs:
- Prof. Georg Winckler, Rector, University of Vienna, Austria
- Prof. Zaneta Ozolina, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Latvia
Rapporteur:
- Dr. John H. Smith, Deputy General Secretary, European University Association (EUA), Belgium
Objectives:
Europe faces mounting economic difficulties, and a consequent fascination with leaders and policies that put the immediate, local interest first and the longer-term common interest second. ERAB warns against emerging research nationalism and advocates that unless we complete a common market in research and innovation, unless we make the European Research Area a fully functioning reality, our progress will stagnate. A united ERA is a place where there will be no barriers to either researchers or ideas moving freely from country to country, private to public sector (and vice versa), or between disciplines.
Speakers:
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Session 4: Science, Society and Policy
Chairs:
- Dr. Leif Kjaergaard, President, LEIF and FOOD Science, Denmark
- Prof. Nüket Yetis, President, Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBITAK), Turkey
Rapporteur:
Objectives:
The speed of innovation will increase and this acceleration of change will pose additional challenges for our societies. We therefore must increase our awareness of the extent by which scientific and technical innovations affect social and economic processes. It is also important that our complex societies need scientific research to support long-term evidence based decision making in society. In order to gain a greater trust between science and society, we need a new ‘social contract’ between them that emphasizes not just the researcher’s freedom of thought but also the responsibility of scientific action. We have learned that every powerful new technology can have bad as well as good consequences, and researchers can no longer ignore the ensuing political debate over how their discoveries will be used. Scientific excellence, therefore, must be paired with social awareness and responsibility.
Speakers:
- Prof. Michal Kleiber, President of the Polish Academy of Sciences and Advisor to the President of the Republic of Poland, Poland
Presentation
- Dra. Barbara Haering, Econcept INC, Switzerland
Presentation
- Prof. Maria Anvret, Senior Advisor to the CEO, Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Sweden
Presentation
- Dr. Gonçalo Lobo Xavier, Executive Director, Portuguese Technological Centers Network (RECET), Portugal
Presentation
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Opening of second day proceedingsa
Keynote speech: Dr. Martin Schuurmans, Chair of the European Institute of Technology (EIT), Hungary
Presentation
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Session 5: An ERA of Open Innovation – Public and Private Partnership
Chairs:
- Prof. Lena Treschow Torell, Chairman, Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Sweden
- Mr Reinhold Achatz, Siemens AG Corporate Technology, Corporate Research and Technologies, Germany
Rapporteur:
Objetives:
‘Open innovation’ by 2030 means that the entire European system for getting ideas from lab to market in Europe, from input to output, must be open to all players. At present, an array of barriers impedes this free exchange of capital and ideas. Conflicting fiscal policies, from member-state to member-state, fragment the risk-capital markets and make it harder to fund high-risk technology start-ups; they also skew investment decisions by large companies. The lack of a coherent intellectual property system raises costs and magnifies risk. Furthermore, the lack of incentives and non-supportive taxation systems in EU hampers private investments in research and innovation from the private sector and from private donations. Our innovation clusters are under-sized. Funding – needed to build the research facilities, schools and social amenities that make a cluster attractive – is scattered and uncoordinated. In short, we need a genuine ‘single market’ for innovation in Europe promoted by regulatory incentives and a supporting taxation system.
Speakers:
- Prof. Geneviève Berger, Chief Research & Development Officer, Unilever House, United Kingdom
Presentation
- Mr Ulf Wahlberg, Vice President, Industry and Research Relations, Ericsson AB, Sweden
Presentation
- Prof. Jan-Erik Sundgren, Senior Vice-President, Volvo AB, Sweden
Presentation
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Session 6: An ERA to deliver excellence and cohesion
Chairs:
- Dr. Ingrid WÜnning Tschol, Head of Science and Research Department, Robert Bosch Stiftung GmbH, Germany
- Prof. Frank Gannon, Director General, Science Foundation Ireland, Ireland
Rapporteur:
Objetives:
Excellence and Cohesion are potentially opposing goals. But both must be addressed in the European Research Area. In this session the steps towards selecting excellent projects will be addressed with the realisation that mere quality is not sufficient if research is also going to be an economic driver. How should peer reviewing - characterised as it is as being risk-averse - address the challenge of selecting the best projects and, simultaneously, ensure that sufficient outcomes from the labs will translate directly or indirectly to the economic sector? Will the selection of the top applications on quality only result in the exclusion to large areas of European Community and what steps should be taken to achieve coherence and cohesion in such a system? Will the processes to increase the quality and the impact of research in the ERA eventually become common to all member states? Excellence can also mean excellent strategies on how to improve science and research in a given region. Ultimately the ERA will have to achieve an increase in quality in a manner that strengthens all countries and this means developing a wide range of funding instruments – cohesion programmes, infrastructure development, mobility grants and developing tools to make the most prudent choices to match specific needs in the system.
Speakers:
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Session 7 - Optimising the ERA by 2030
Chair:
Rapporteur:
Presentation
Session rapporteurs’ reports and discussion on actions to implement the Strategy.
The output will be a set of recommendations targeted to all major stakeholders.
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Concluding remarks
Chair:
Dr. Leif Kjaergaard, President, LEIF and FOOD Science, Denmark
- Ms Anneli Pauli, Deputy Director General, DG Research, European Commission
- Ms Angeles Rodriguez Peña, Deputy General Director of European Programmes, Ministry of Science and Innovation
- Ms Ines Sanchez de Madariaga, Director - Unit of Women and Science, Ministry of Science and Innovation
Speech
- Ms Caroline Mancel, Attaché, the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the EU
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