New challenges for science in Europe

1. New challenges for science in Europe Andrzej B. Legocki President of the Polish Academy of Sciences International UNESCO/ICSU/TWAS SymposiumVenice, 2-5 March 2005

2. Science-driven challenges and EU paradigms Current century might be defined by the globalization approaches in creating challen-ges for healthy food, clean water and energy supply.Basic research is now widely recognized as the foundation of new technologies andnew products. Basic and applied research became joined, inseparable trends.Commitment to excellence defined by international standards is now a widely acceptedparadigm.Science-based commitments for Europe require building new relationships betweenscience and government (i.e. between science and society). Traditionally, the division in the type of research was marked along the line “BASIC vs. APPLIED”. It should be now replaced by “SCIENCE vs. POLICY-DRIVEN” which reflects the role partnership between the research community and the society providing the resources.

3. EU commitment to excellence To establish more competitive environment in Europe challenging more effectively with the USA and Asia. The advantage of the American system is shaped to a great extent by the participation of the talented scholars in the research and innovation activity.New EU investment strategy in science should recognize the necessity in larger extent to attract the outstanding young researchers providing them with attractive and stimu-lating environment not limited by bureaucratic restrictions.Since science is integrated with specialized education, special attention must be paid to European higher education sector. In order to make it more competitive in prepa-ring future scientific and innovation leaders, it needs significant investments. Examination of world-league rankings of the universities performance reveals practi-cally total domination by the US academic institutions. This reflects the fact that large investments in highly competitive, merit-based granting systems have been intro-duced to the USA much earlier that to Europe.

4. The EU competitive research environment a lesson from the USA (1) EU has to build more effective system in science. An important step towards this goal is the creation of postgraduate schools and centers with highly demanding selection system. The best scholars should have access to the best professors, the best laboratories where they can be exposed to the highest intellectual challenges. Such centers are functioning in various disciplines in several places in the US and European countries are unable to create more serious competition. It turns out that each year many European talented researchers still prefer to build their scientific careers overseas. The importance of highly advanced education for the development of science has already been recognized by Asian countries some time ago. By sending their most promising young adepts to the US and, later, by bringing them back home these countries were able to recognize the shortcuts in implementing modern research technologies. Such a strategy with pro-innovative policy made these countries front-runners in the world science.

5. The EU competitive research environment a lesson from the USA (2) The research funding in the US represents a very productive combination of federal and private funding of university research with industrial searching for innovation technologies. This system is coupled with extraordinary staff mobility practice. The researchers are constantly exposed to the challenges of novel basic discoveries and, at the same time, they experience pragmatic practices connected with innovation procedures.Effective EU-wide investments in academic research should emphasize long-term fundamen-tal research that allows selecting a pool of young talented researchers, so essential for mo-dernization of the European economy. The enlargement of the EU in 2004 by 10 new member states may be a great chance for Europe to advance in the global race. The enlargement of the EU includes an increase of population by nearly 100 million. In all countries of Central Eastern Europe, a great interest in education has been observed for the past several years. For instance, in Poland, there are 1,8 million university students out of the 38-million population.The education has become an extremely important capital in the new transformed system. Similarly, there has been great interest in all kinds of specialized (doctoral) education. The societies of CEE are young and proper investment in the development of education and science in these countries may be one of the best investments of our continent.

6. Advancing the European Research Area Although the process of establishing the European Research Council is still on its way, most of its experts agree on the major European research objectives: Creating European centers of excellence through collaboration betweenlaboratories.Following the thematic priorities of collaboration is of particular importance: life scien-ces with biotechnology, information and communication technologies, nano- and micro-technologies, climate and environment, energy and sustainable technologies, aeronautics.Launching European Technological InitiativesStimulating the creativity of basic research through competition between teams at the European levelsMaking Europe more attractive to the best researchersDeveloping research infrastructures of European interestImproving coordination of national research programmes

7. Horizontal activities Increasing the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).Funding smaller projects with few partners and flexible use of funding instruments should be possible. The SMEs should be given property rights. The quality of the planned innovation and its application potential should be the main selection criterion.Science and society with the emphasis on technology acceptance, bioethics, and on interesting the young generation in research and technology.Cooperation with the third countries within INCO and INTAS programmes.INTAS is the International Association for the Promotion of Cooperation with Scientists from the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union.COST for coordinating national research activities and Joint Research Centre (JRC)-research-based facility providing services.