ERA must make European research more attractive, says Switzerland
'The main goal of ERA should be to increase the attractiveness of Europe for the best researchers,' according to the official Swiss comments on the European Commission's communication 'Making a reality of the European Research Area [ERA]: Guidelines for EU research activities' which has been written following a broad consultation of Swiss researchers and scientific organisations in the country. . 'This should be done by keeping scientific quality as the first selection criteria and by improving scientific as well as social, cultural and economic framework conditions,' the opinion continues. The paper welcomes the Commission proposal and makes a number of suggestions that the writers believe would benefit European research. The strengths of the Fifth Framework programme (FP5) receive much recognition in the report. Switzerland would, on the whole, like to see these instruments developed further in order to provide more flexibility, rather than the introduction of new instruments. Priority areas for the Swiss are the opening up of national programmes, the further progress in the development of relations between science and society and increased coordination of regional, national and international instruments. 'Switzerland welcomes the international dimension of an outward looking European Research Area,' states the opinion. Europe should become more attractive both for European scientists currently working abroad and for non-European scientists in order to compete effectively with the USA. More cooperation is necessary between organisations and at the regional level continues the paper, and particularly with regard to national programmes, for which the Swiss believe the employment of new instruments will be necessary. 'Switzerland thinks that the planned opening of national programmes as well as their coordinated implementation is likely to become the most important step towards the establishment of the ERA concept,' states the opinion. The Swiss government however outlines a number of conditions which should be fulfilled before Switzerland opens up its own national programmes, namely an agreement between the institutions concerned and the agencies of European States respecting the principle of variable geometry. Necessary funding for involved institutions and agencies should also be provided in priority scientific programmes and activities, possibly at national level, and a reasonable incentive, such as coordination costs, should be provided by the European Commission, according to the opinion. With regard to research priorities, the Swiss state that they would like to see a focus on 'issues of fundamental importance for Humankind'. Issues highlighted as fitting this criteria, and therefore as major priorities for the sixth Framework programme (FP6) are environmental issues, energy and transport, research on public health and medicine, the field of agriculture, food and freshwater supply and research in humanities, social sciences, economics and social policy. Caution should be aired when focusing on large scale projects, so as to ensure that no users, particularly SMEs miss out. It is also important to support individual scientists and teams as well as research instruments according to the Swiss, 'because experience shows that scientific and technological breakthroughs are the creative act of individuals not institutions.' Switzerland agrees with the suggested criteria for selection outlined in the communication, but would like to see them complemented by the principles of precaution and sustainability as well as non mainstream or high-risk research. 'Precautionary and sustainability principles should not be limited to fields of present public concern like BSE or genetically engineered organisms and foodstuffs in general, but should apply to all fields of European research including the fields of postgenomics, nanotechnologies and the information society. They should not be considered as a handicap for European Science and Industry - but rather be seen as a competitive advantage of tomorrow,' states the report. 'Whatever the structure is, scientific excellence must remain the most important selection critieria,' concludes the opinion. 'Therefore, an improved 'peer review' system must remain the fundamental pillar of the selection process. This could be achieved through a new selection method for project evaluators, replacing the current open public call for proposals with new search mechanisms, for example the provision of lists of experts by national funding agencies.
Countries
Switzerland