CORDIS Archive

FIFTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME for Research and Technological Development (1998-2002)

Commission Working Paper on the Specific Programmes:
Starting Points for Discussion

COM(97) 553

05-11-1997

Unlocking the resources of the living world and the ecosystem (1)

INTRODUCTION

Economic and political developments in Europe have globally resulted in much prosperity, increased life expectancy and better working conditions. These improvements were however accompanied by challenges such as higher health care costs, an ageing population, and environmental degradation. Increasingly, a gap is becoming evident between natural resources, whether from agriculture and fisheries, mining or the global environment, and human activities. Paradoxically, this has occurred at a time when there is an "explosion" in the knowledge base concerning the structure and working of all living things and of the ecosystem, pointing at new developments in the corresponding sectors, e.g. health-care, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, food, and the environment.

Europe has a strong tradition and an excellent record in research and application of environmental and life sciences and technologies. Furthermore, Europe provides a huge single market with a certain receptiveness for bio- and eco-based products. It has, therefore, the potential to address and solve major challenges such as a varied and safe food supply, affordable health care and the protection of ecosystems and the environment. The scientific basis on which living and natural materials are exploited for these ends is undergoing a dramatic change, in which the intimate and interactive workings of living and ecosystems are being revealed. With the progress of scientific knowledge of recent decades, one can now expect to probe more deeply the questions surrounding the production of food, curing diseases, and the sustainable management and use of natural resources. One can also anticipate clarifying their relationships with human behaviour and needs, industrial practices and consumer demands.

Strategic objective of the programme

The aim would be to link the ability to discover to the ability to produce, in order to address the needs of society and to meet the requirements of the consumer, leading to future wealth and job creation and respecting the principles of sustainable development. Therefore the research strategy of this programme would be to focus on specific areas where the growing knowledge potentially contains technical answers to some of the pressing questions of the citizen facing biological and/or ecological issues which require to be tackled at a European scale.

The novelty of the approach is the willingness to couple the dynamics of massive knowledge production with few areas of expected desirable spin-offs, while pursuing the renewal of knowledge for the reinforcement of positions in sensitive fields associated with further growth and quality of life. The proposed scientific and technological solutions should be seen as part of an integrated "system" approach, in which man is a key interacting component of both natural and man-made ecosystems. Six priority key actions have been identified in which European research could make an urgent contribution, by way of innovative products, processes or services, to problem resolution. These key actions are targeted at immediate socio-economic needs including the needs of the Community's policy objectives, with a view to aligning resources and expertise to a common thrust of public interest. They are supplemented with generic research and development of technologies as well as support for research infrastructures activities aiming at the longer-term, building up the knowledge base in identified areas of strategic importance for the future.

Socio-economic needs. On the demand side, research should be developed which promotes health, reconciles economic developments with environmental requirements; improves the response to consumer needs and facilitates consumers' understanding of available products, diets and foods. On the supply side, there is huge potential for economic growth and job-creation in this field, both in the traditional industries including primary production (employing some 19 million people in Europe) and in the nascent high technology industries (fast-growing ectors, with a large role for SMEs).

European added value. Cross-border issues would have to be selectively addressed, such as health aspects (nutrition, food safety, ageing, rare diseases), environmental problems, climate change, natural hazards or transboundary resources management (terrestrial and aquatic living resources). Other examples such as drug abuse, biosafety or bioethics, involve the reinforcement of scientific bases in support of Community policies. Significant environmental issues affecting Europe (pollution diffusion, air and water quality, land degradation), have been recognised as important European issues in the Community 5th Environmental Action Plan. Many of the activities to be addressed in the programme (e.g. genomic research, natural hazards), due to their size and complexity, are only feasible if they are addressed at the European level.

European competitiveness. The programme will capitalise on specific scientific strengths in new knowledge areas and on productive sectors with strong growth potential, such as the biotechnology-eco-and food industries. Thus, the heart of this programme, promoting life sciences and technologies, improving the quality of life and decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation, will contribute in the short and in the longer term to European competitiveness and employment. As a reminder, Europe holds a leading position on environmental technologies, and must close the gap with the US in the number of biotech-related start-ups which have recently shown a consistent 20 % growth rate.

LINKS WITH OTHER PROGRAMMES

Coordination with the thematic programme on "creating a user-friendly information society"is based on the following principle : activities concerned with the development of information society technologies as such (which may include demonstration and take up actions) will be concentrated in the "information society" programme; activities concerned with the integration and adaptation of information society technologies in applications relating to the living world and the ecosystem would be conducted in this programme.

This principle would apply in particle to (i) work in the area of Management and quality of water, which would be closely coordinated with related work in programme 2 on Systems and services for the citizen (environment) and (ii) work in the area of Environment and health which would be closely coordinated with related work in programme 2 on Systems and services for the citizen (health and environment).

• Most key actions are likely to involve third country participations to give a reasonable coverage to wide transboundary issues. Generic activities and infrastructures are essentially based on critical pools of knowledge and capabilities, suggesting participation in world-wide networks.
  
  
• Concerning innovation and the participation of SMEs, an objective is to short-cut complicated pathways leading from a cascade of discoveries of the life and environmental sciences to their diversified routes of exploitation, by setting up within the programme giving birth to such opportunities any measures promoting partnerships and profitable interactions.
  
  
• Training with a view to providing qualified human resources in the entrepreneurial and professional sectors, as well as socio-economic analysis of technology impacts will be carried out right in the frame of this programme, to accommodate the rapid turn-over of new expertise in many traditional fields.

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