Category: News

An Academia Europaea statement of principles for the Future of Research and innovation policy of the European Union – Forward from 2020.

Academia Europaea wishes to express our strong support for the further development of the European research area and in particular the European Research Council. We express our concern about the July 2020 Council conclusions[1] and the budgetary decision on Research and innovation.

We are of the clear opinion, that ‘armaggedon’ is not on the horizon. Nevertheless, we share the worries expressed by our sister Academy organisations and other related organisations. Member States and the European Parliament should not see research funding as simple tap, to turn on and off when things get difficult. Political short-termism puts at risk the capacity to deliver the essential longer-term research and innovation gain. We are of the strong opinion that the various extant threats we collectively face and the as yet unrealised and to an extent unknown consequential impacts, now more than ever require a steady hand and an increased and substantial active dialogue between policy makers, political agencies and the research and innovation communities. Such an approach will ensure that Europe can maintains its capacity to deliver research and innovation in an effective and prioritised way at whatever level of budget is agreed.

Over past decades, the EU has with the support of the member states and its citizens, made enormous and positive advances in research training and Innovation policy and through consistent increased financing, delivered significant improvements in collaborative research capacity and research excellence across all phases of the research spectrum. The establishing of the European Research Area and its proposed renewal[2] and within it, the creation of Erasmus, Marie Curie, The European Research Council (ERC) and Framework/Horizon programmes, have all severally and collectively made real and significant contributions to our European research, training and innovation capacity. There has been a positive but perhaps unimagined scale of stimulation of collaborative research efforts and cross -cultural community development. These impacts can be seen through the many direct and indirect benefits to European Society across very diverse areas that have flowed out of these very large investments of public money. However, we must not lose sight of the ongoing reality: that even now the majority of investments into research and innovation are those made at national level and which respond to national priorities and communities. It is vital that all member states and those states associated fully to EU programmes continue to see EU level programmatic support as additional and complimentary and not as replacements for their own sound and viable national funding programmes.

The Academia Europaea is pleased to note in particular, that the development of the ERC has perhaps been the singular policy innovation with the highest recognition and impact on the landscape of European research. This model institution must be nurtured and further developed for future generations.

The Academia Europaea now takes this opportunity to re-state in a positive way, some of the underlying and critical policy objectives that the next budgetary frame should be focussed to deliver. Whatever the final political outcomes are in terms of budgetary decisions, these priorities must stay as guiding tenets to inform the future, provide the community with a balanced and equitable distribution of resources and condition the content and priorities for research and innovation that support European societal needs. We should all agree that the overall objective of publicly funded, collective European Research and Innovation actions must be to contribute towards delivery of resilience, security and sustainable economic prosperity for all of European society and in addition, must contribute towards the most urgent priorities that underpin a sustainable future for our common home.

We see the following as guiding tenets for EU level research and innovation policy in the next financial framework:

• Ensure the most efficient and effective application of public resources in support of the whole chain of research and innovation for the longer-term.
• Ensure that support for future generations is deployed through the most effective training; education and research support schemes and in particular addresses regional inequalities of opportunity.
• Ensure a continuing effort to put European fundamental research capacity at the global forefront of excellence. Fully support the ERC to target and develop the best in terms of research and innovation capacity and support those in less research-intensive regions through relevant channels to achieve the best.
• Focus the priorities for EU research and innovation policy on effective and efficient knowledge and innovation activity that responds to future societal needs and on the delivery of an anticipative capacity that can mitigate future risks in a timely, equitable and sustainable way.

The Academia Europaea feels confident that the institutions of the European Union will collectively recognise that whatever the detailed budgetary debates may be, a collective and substantial EU -level investment in common research, education and training public investment is beneficial for the whole of Europe. We therefore strongly urge Member States, to take real steps to achieve effective co-ordination through co-operation of their national investments in R & I with the EU level investment. Effective implementation of the new European Research Area policy and programme is a priority. The AE wishes to emphasise, that the ERC and its support instruments having achieved an unparalleled global recognition as a guarantee for excellence in research innovation must see the resources allocated to the instruments of the ERC at the Horizon 2020 levels – as a minimum.

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Published under the authority of the Board of trustees of the Academia Europaea
21 October 2020
London

[1] https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2020/07/21/european-council-conclusions-17-21-july-2020/
[2] https://ec.europa.eu/info/research-and-innovation/strategy/era_en#revitalising-era-timeline

Open access is highlighted as the new opportunity to make research publications available to all interested parties, regardless of expensive subscriptions. In Plan S, the Research Council of Norway has demanded full and immediate open publication for announcements from 2021. At the same time, this policy is accused of being a threat to academic freedom, scientific quality and the rights of researchers. Why is the debate over Open Access and Plan S so polarized? And does it look the same in all subject areas?

This debate meeting was arranged on 6 October 2020 by the Research Ethics Committee at the Norwegian Academy of Sciences.

The global challenges, like climate change, loss of biodiversity and migration, are very complex. At the same time, the research areas are characterised by uncertainty and conflicts. How does politicians find the best available knowledge? How do we create good road maps for science for policy?

The science academies of the EU has recently published the report Making Sense of Science, on how scientific knowledge can be a good fundament for policies in times of complexitity and uncertainty.

What characterises effective research based policy making in the EU? Can the experiences from EU be used in Norwegian conditions?

Se the presentations and discussions here:

 

Mange gjør det annerledes enn Norge. Hvorfor?

Av Eystein Jansen, akademisk direktør for Academia Europaea Bergen Knowledge Hub.

Vi lever i en tid med mye usikkerhet. Det er vanskelig å skille fakta fra feilinformasjon, og internett gjør at det er vanskelig å skille mellom forskjellige oppfatninger som kan bruke forskning som argument for ulike politikkalternativ.

Særlig er dette merkbart i miljø- og klimapolitikken, i helsepolitikken, mat-og landbrukspolitikken og i spørsmål knyttet til bioteknologi. Spørsmålet blir da om vi har et system som greier å sortere fakta fra skeivinformasjon og om politikerne har et system rundt seg der de får mest mulig uavhengig informasjon før beslutninger tas.

Ofte hører vi at beslutninger er tatt på bakgrunn av faglige råd, men hvor uavhengig er disse? I Norge har departementene sine faginstanser, ofte forvaltningsinstitutt og lignende som brukes aktivt. I mange andre land har man kommet til at dette ikke gir tilstrekkelig uavhengighet i komplekse spørsmål, og bruker vitenskapsakademiene for å sikre uavhengige prosesser for å frembringe faktagrunnlag for politikkutviklingen.

EU har opprettet SAM (Scientific Advice Mechanism) for dette forholdet, og har en gruppe uavhengige vitenskapelige rådgivere som gir faglige innspill til politikk. Rådgiverne kan på eget initiativ eller på oppdrag fra EU-kommisjonen be vitenskapsakademiene i Europe om å utvikle et faktagrunnlag på et felt som er uklart og som trenger politikk.

Dette skjer i prosjektet SAPEA, der de europeiske akademiene er medlemmer. Disse, som består av fremragende forskere, er helt uavhengige av myndighetene, og faren for bindinger bli mindre.

Systemet har fått frem faggrunnlag for politikk på en rekke områder. Slik får man et uavhengig faglig grunnlag, som de vitenskapelige rådgiverne kan bruke inn mot politikkutformingen. Systemet ser ut til å virke!

Burde ikke Norge etablere noe tilsvarende? I Finland har man nå utviklet en lignende ordning, med gode resultat. Politikken blir bedre, og den får større legitimitet med et slikt system. Hva holder oss tilbake?

På møtet “Forskningsbasert politikk?” (Facebook) på Litteraturhuset i Oslo den 4. november får vi høre fra europeiske eksperter om hvordan politikkutforming kan bli mest mulig i tråd med faglig kunnskap og være vitenskapsbasert, og vi får høre om hvordan norske akademikere og politikere tenker om den norske situasjonen og annerledesheten her i landet.

 

 

“We live at times of confusion whereby scientific knowledge as a basis for policies is under threat. A hub like this can be one avenue for disseminating research based information.” Eystein Jansen is the new Academic Director of Academia Europaea in the Bergen Knowledge Hub.

Eystein Jansen holds his position as professor at the Department of Earth Science, having previously led the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research for 13 years. He is still active in the centre, as well as in the new Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE) at University of Bergen.

As the academic director of the Hub, Eystein Jansen is responsible for establishing links between academics and society in areas of societal relevance and interest. In Bergen the focus is on marine, maritime and polar affairs, including the Nordic societal model, and energy and sustainability with a Nordic perspective.

Activities for the Nordic members and policy holders in Europe
Working with the hub means production of scientific plans and programming, leading to activities and events, for the AE members in the Nordic region.

“We aim to establish activities in support of science advice, whereby independent academic insights are used to help develop policies both in Europe and in Norway,” says Eystein Jansen.

In june 2018 the first local meeting was held. And soon there will be events involving Europe´s marine research policies and issues in the transformation to renewable energy supply.

Nordic input for the European Commission
So far there is no specified time limit for the Hub. The Hub is a small organisation with a limited budget, so the capacity is limited.  However, Jansen is optimistic.

“As long as we are successful in developing the Hub, and enjoy ourselves doing it, we can go on for several years. I hope that within one or two years we have established ourselves as a hub for collaboration in the science advice mechanisms of the European Commission, also in collaboration with national academies in Norway and the Nordic region,” the new director states.