JOINT RESEARCH CENTRE EU

Abstract

The establishment of the European Research Area (ERA) and the increase of investment in R&D towards the "Barcelona objective" (European Council, 15-16 March 2002) of 3% of GDP are at the heart of the Lisbon strategy agreed in 2000. The ERA aims at creating a more coherent science and technology envi­ronment across the Europe through improved coordination of existing and future Member States' scientific and technology capacities. It aims at fostering scientific excellence, competitiveness and innovation. In order to design and implement effective policies and actions that can lead to the realization of the ERA and to increased investment in R&D, policy makers at the national, regional and EU levels must have easy access to appropriate and reliable information and intelligence (analyses) on national research systems, policies, actors and programmes. Today, there is a lack of such information and analysis. When information is available, it is in most cases not comparable, not only with non-EU countries, but even across European countries themselves. Furthermore, it is usually presented at a level that is too aggregated to provide valuable insight. The JRC is contributing to the goals of the ERA initiated by Commissioner Philippe Busquin. This contribution is built around five major activities: - common scientific reference systems, - networking - training and mobility - access and use of research infrastructures - enlargement Europe faces public concern about complex issues such as food contamination, genetic modification, chemical hazards, global change, environment and health, and nuclear safety. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) supports EU poli­cy makers in the conception development, implementation and monitoring of policies to tackle such trans-national and global problems.