Making the European Research Area a reality
Since launching ERA, considerable progress has been made in enabling research institutions and businesses to move, work and cooperate freely across borders. Nevertheless, the EU has not yet fully developed its research and innovation potential. At the same time, the economic recession has created an overwhelming need for growth and jobs, as well as the increasingly urgent need for solutions to challenges caused by population ageing or climate change. Science underpinning innovative solutions to such issues needs to become more collaborative.Against this backdrop, the project 'Completing the European Research Area in the context of the innovation union' (ERACONFCY) was established. The Cyprus Presidency of the European Council and the Research Promotion Foundation of Cyprus in collaboration with the Planning Bureau of Cyprus and the support of the European Commission organised a conference on the topic of ERA for 14 November 2012. The objective of the conference, titled the same as the project name, was to contribute to the debate on policy measures and actions that must be implemented with a view to completing the ERA by 2014.Designed to be a one-day event, the conference consisted of both plenary and parallel sessions. Further to the opening session, the event continued with a plenary session, highlighting the importance of completing ERA in 2014. It focused on the long-term research prospects as well as on research and innovation in times of crisis, and followed a more fact-based format from which conclusions were drawn.The event continued with six thematic sessions on key specific and cross-cutting issues identified in the European Commission 2012 policy communication on ERA, including, inter alia, the effectiveness of national research systems, an open-labour market for researchers, gender issues, research infrastructures, knowledge transfer and open-access issues, cross-border cooperation and competition of research actors, international cooperation and transparent monitoring mechanisms. The parallel sessions focused on accelerating the ongoing work in the light of the ERA Communication measures.Conference activities and outcomes led to the conclusion that the realisation of ERA should deliver multiple benefits to European research in its totality. Also, in order to create a single market for research, joint efforts and well-orchestrated measures need to be introduced by EU Member States, the European Commission and stakeholder organisations.>