Report on the JRC's progress towards a more competitive approach
The European Commission has published a communication on the progress of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in implementing the Council's call for a greater proportion of the JRC's work to be undertaken on the basis of competitive bidding (Council conclusions of 26 April 1994 on the role of the Joint Research Centre). Although the Council recognized the JRC's contribution to Community research policy, it called for a new approach to be adopted, whereby the JRC would enter the competitive arena in submitting proposals for the specific programmes of the Fourth Framework Programme, and give scientific and technical support to Community policies, on a competitive basis. Initiatives were taken by the governors of the JRC and the Commission to allow the JRC to move towards the competitive arena, but given the time taken to carry out the required changes, it was recognized that the changeover to competitive activities would be gradual. The JRC's activities fall into three categories: - Institutional activities: . Institutional research; . Institutional support activities; - Competitive activities under the Fourth Framework Programme: . Participation in shared-cost actions; . Competitive support measures; - Competitive activities outside the Framework Programmes: . Activities on behalf of third parties; . Other Community activities. The institutional research activities are funded entirely from the budget of the Framework Programme, and the activities are selected on the basis of the JRC's unique skills and neutrality. Institutional support activities are those necessary for the formulation and implementation of Community policies. The JRC's activities in this area are the result of agreements between the Commission Directorate-General requesting the work and the JRC, and financing is decided on an annual basis in the Community's budgetary process. The Fourth Framework Programme was the first in which the JRC was able to participate, in association with partners in the Member States, in the calls for proposals issued by the specific RTD programmes. The Council decided that competitive activities should average 22% of JRC activities under the Fourth Framework Programme, and 10% for the Euratom Framework Programme from 1995-1998. Between 15 December 1994 and 27 April 1995, the JRC, with its partners, submitted a total of 347 proposals to the specific programmes, of which 100 (29%) were accepted, receiving funding of ECU 11 million. The Commission also accepted JRC projects for competitive support measures totalling ECU 12 million during 1995. The JRC has also won contracts under the PHARE and TACIS assistance programmes for Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Up to May 1996, these contracts totalled ECU 5 million. Third party work, which the JRC has been able to carry out since 1988, brought in some ECU 30 million in new contracts during 1995 and the first half of 1996. The JRC's target for earnings from competitive activities during the period 1995-1998 is ECU 185.7 million. With earnings of ECU 43.4 million from competitive activities in 1995, the JRC has now estimated that earnings from the period will total ECU 204.9 million. The Council also called for the JRC to become better integrated into networks with partners from all the Member States. A recent report shows that the JRC is party to 93 bilateral and 63 multilateral collaboration agreements, across all Member States and beyond. The Commission finds in its report that the JRC has fully engaged itself in implementing the new modes of operation necessary to undertake a more competitive role, and that the first results of this are promising. The report recognizes that although there is still room for progress, many changes are still under way. In particular, the Commission suggests that more progress could be made in the commercialization of research results, in interactions with users of the JRC, and in customer relations.