At today’s Council in Brussels, the EU Research Ministers have been negotiating an agreement on the content of the specific research programmes. Federal Minister Elisabeth Gehrer is confident of a positive outcome: “Agreement on the content of these programmes is important for Europe. The 7th Research Framework Programme forms the core of research promotion at EU level and breaks new ground, such as the first-time promotion of basic research.”
The RFP comprises various specific programmes: The “Cooperation” programme enables trans-national research projects to be carried out in different thematic areas. These include projects on health, alternative energy and issues relating to security and space research. The “Ideas” programme promotes basic research. To this end, the establishment of a European Research Council is planned. The “People” programme primarily supports young researchers, and the “Capacities” programme is aimed at promoting the research infrastructure throughout Europe.
“The prompt launch of the programmes on 1 January 2007 is the main priority for the coming months”, explained the current Council President Elisabeth Gehrer. “The aim is to reach agreement on the essential content today. To enable a smooth switch to the new framework programme, all decisions must be taken before the end of 2006”, continued Minister Gehrer.
Further topics at today’s Council include the recommendations of a group of experts led by former Finnish Prime Minister Aho on more research and innovation in Europe. Mr Aho is proposing a “Pact for Research and Innovation” between science and the business world, with the aim of making research results available on the internal European market at an early stage. According to Mr Aho, Europe still needs to catch up. The Aho report further recommends that the mobility of researchers should be increased, between countries as well as between companies, public research institutions and universities.
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