Academics, SMEs and large companies are doing much more research in partnership. I would like to look back at some of the highlights of the move to open innovation in 2012, and the policy initiatives that are supporting this.
Parliament takes tough stance on Horizon 2020
After many discussions, debates and a series of draft parliamentary reports in 2012; MEPs in the European Parliament’s Research, Industry and Energy (ITRE) Committee almost unanimously adopted a series of amendments on the six legislative proposals that make up Horizon 2020, the EU’s next research funding programme.
It is expected that next year’s Irish Presidency will push for a deal with MEPs ahead of a meeting of research ministers in May 2013 – but the likelihood is that a political logjam over the broader, Commission-wide budget will hold up resolution of the R&D slice of the budget, about 8% of total EU spending. The latest, private betting among budget negotiators is that this could push a decision into Autumn of 2013. With Horizon 2020 set to kick-off in Feb 2014, there is little time to lose.
Innovation in an age of austerity
With austerity programs weighing heavily on Europe’s national budgets in 2012, MEPs and the member states have been fighting over the EU’s R&D budget. In 2011, the European Commission had proposed to reserve €80 billion for Horizon 2020.
EU research ministers are said to be eager to cut the budget, leading to rumours of a budget as low as €40 billion. MEPs, however, have been demanding €100 billion. To be continued in 2013.
After four decades, 2012 finally saw the dawn of a single European patent
After more than four decades of negotiation, impasse, posturing and fresh political drama in 2012, most EU member states have now agreed to create a unitary patent. MEPs who voted for the move promised simplification, lower costs and time-saving for hard-pressed SMEs.
2012 – A tipping point for personalised healthcare
The European Medicines Agency, at the fourth time of asking, decided this year to recommend approval of the first gene therapy, opening up a new era in the treatment of rare diseases, and unlocking the wider potential of such therapies.
Meanwhile, in the US, the trigger for the widespread and systematic deployment of personalised healthcare was pulled in early 2012 with the announcement of a desktop machine that can sequence an individual’s genome at a price of $1,000.
MEPs voted to maintain the current EU rules on stem cell research, this means that projects using human embryonic stem cells can be funded with EU money, but only if they are approved under the law of the Member State where the research takes place – defeating a proposal to ban stem cell research by a small group of conservative MEPs.
Space, Europe’s final frontier?
Although EU budget negotiations may have stalled in 2012, at least one collaborative science project – the European Space Agency – has agreed its long-term funding, allocating €10 billion for ESA’s activities and programmes from 2013 until 2017.
ESA – an intergovernmental organisation which includes non-EU countries – also officially announced this year that talks about its relationship with the EU have commenced, possibly pointing to the future integration of ESA into the European Union. Only a few years ago, the Lisbon Treaty introduced space policy as an EU competency.
Meanwhile, MEPs organised a conference featuring representatives from the worlds of politics, research and science fiction – including ESA astronauts and a Star Trek actor – at the European Parliament to highlight the need to inspire a new generation of European researchers.
New push to complete the European Research Area
After twelve years horsetrading, 2012 saw the light of a voluntary agreement between the European Commission and Europe’s research bodies aiming to get 27 national research systems functioning as one, and complete the European Research Area (ERA).
EU Research Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn signed the agreement this year with a broad swathe of Europe’s research funding bodies, in an attempt to glue together the European Research Area and open up a single market for research jobs and scientific data in time for the start of Horizon 2020.
Europe attempts to open up R&D funds while maintaining excellence
MEPs have called for specific measures to widen the horizon of the EU’s flagship research programme and ensure there is more participation from member states with less-developed R&D systems. Many MEPs however, along with scientists, research organisations and wealthier countries, stress that excellence has to remain the basis for EU research grants.
Suggested measures for achieving more participation from newer member states include matching richer universities with less well-off counterparts to apply for funding together in a new ‘twinning’ scheme, creating a grant programme for researchers who return to less-developed member states, and improving coordination between Horizon 2020 and Europe’s structural funds.
Europe celebrates entrepreneurship on campus
Seven start-up companies from across Europe were recognised at an awards ceremony as two programmes came together to hand out prizes to entrepreneurs. Start-ups from the UK and Germany lead the list of winners, which also included Spanish and Hungarian companies.
The European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an EU institution, launched its first entrepreneurship awards, for three start-ups. At the same time, the Science|Business Innovation Board, a not-for-profit association, awarded four prizes in its fourth annual Academic Enterprise Awards (ACES) competition.
Together, the cluster of awards made a powerful statement about the promise and importance of entrepreneurship in reviving the European economy.
Europe’s energy future
Europe has many of the technologies in hand to engineer a low-carbon economy by 2050 – a goal set by the EU. But getting there will require a radical shakeup to its energy market. Science|Business organised a number of meetings this year, to bring together experts from the worlds of academia, industry and policy to discuss the future of Europe’s energy supply.
Eco-innovation action plan targets radical shift in use of resources
Being green has been taking on a new urgency in Brussels – and a new meaning. The European Commission aims to pioneer a radical shift toward resource efficiency by 2020 and the overhaul could include get-tough measures, such as a Europe-wide ban on landfilling of waste materials.
