Parliament reports on statistics in R&D
The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the interim report on the multiannual programme for the development of Community statistics on research, development and innovation (REDIS) at its meeting, in Brussels, on 30 January 1997. The REDIS programme runs from 1993 to 1997 and is managed by the Community's Statistical Office (EUROSTAT). The aims of the programme are threefold: - To set a Community reference framework for R&D statistics; to establish a Community statistical system for R&D and innovation; - To promote and support harmonization of Member States' statistics on R&D and innovation; - To facilitate the dissemination of comparable information. The report shows that the first two years of the programme have seen considerable progress made in developing statistics in R&D, but that there are still a number of shortcomings yet to be resolved. The Parliament, in its resolution, welcomes the Commission's interim report and recalls its opinion from 1993 on the Council Decision which established the programme. A number of the points made in that opinion are, the Parliament claims, still valid. Parliament welcomes the Commission's consideration of a legal basis for regular surveys of R&D and innovation throughout the European Union and suggests that this would help the internal market function properly. Commissioner Neil Kinnock, speaking in the debate, noted that although the Commission was considering this, a number of Member States had strong reservations in the current climate of budgetary restraint. The resolution calls for the Commission to establish a database of science and technology essays in the context of the establishment of a Community statistical information system. Parliament also calls for additional indicators, particularly of innovation, to be taken into account, and calls for further efforts towards increasing harmonization of methodologies and comparability of data.