Canberra, 13 November 2003

1
Research Priorities in the European Union -
Putting Policy into Practice -

• Canberra, 13 November 2003
• Dr. Christian Patermann
• European Commission

2
Structure of the presentation

• The European Research Area (ERA)
• Putting Policy into Practice the example of
  environment research and the related instruments
• 6th Priority Global Change and Ecosystems
  research
• 8th Priority Scientific Support to Policies
• EU Water Initiative
• Global Monitoring of Environment and Security
  (GMES)
• European Technology Action Plan (ETAP)
• Conclusions

3
A. What is the European Research Area?

• Long-term goal of ERA, launched at Lisbon summit
  in 2000 to create a true internal market for
  research in Europe
• Why do we need ERA?
• Europe will fall far short of its economic
  potential unless it reverses decades of
  technological underperformance. For that to
  happen, Europe must first tackle deep-rooted
  structural weaknesses in its research and
  innovation systems
• hence ERA

4

• What are these structural weaknesses?
• Underinvestment in the research system
• Unfriendly environment for research and
  innovation
• Including a weak culture of entrepreneurship
• Excessive fragmentation of public research
• Why FP6 became a tool to realise ERA?
• The FP is the only funding arm of EU research
  policy
• Previous FPs had a different mission
• Therefore, to address the new mission of FP6, the
  design of the FP had to be totally rethought

5
The enlarged European Union

• EU
• Candidate countries
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus
• Estonia
• Hungary
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Malta
• Poland
• Czech Republic
• Romania
• Slovenia
• Slovakia
• Turkey

6
B. Putting policy into practice the
environment research

• Greater concentration on important topics for
  Europe
• More effective instruments to mobilise resources
• Better balance between objective-driven research
  and actions to reinforce Europes research base

Note these new instruments - integrated
projects, networks of excellence, Article 169 -
are the principal innovation in the
thematic component of FP6
7
Sustainable development policy

• The Political Driving Forces
• The Lisbon process on competitive knowledge-based
  economy
• The Göteborg strategy on EU Sustainable
  Development
• The Johannesburg World Summit on the global
  Sustainable Development
• The European Research Policy and the 6th
  Framework Programme

8
Architecture of FP6

• excluding Euratom (7)? of which, 15 for SMEs

9
Priority 6 Global Change and Ecosystems
Specific Objectives To strengthen the capacity
to understand, detect and predict global
change and to develop strategies for
prevention, mitigation and adaptation for all
greenhouse gases. To preserve the ecosystems
and protect biodiversity through activities
aiming at the development of common and
integrated approaches necessary to implement
sustainable development.
10
The historical perspective on environment
research
FP3 4 Research on ecosystem functioning and
environment protection technologiesFP5 Int
egration of the environmental dimension in
research more attention to climate, water,
coastal integration and urban dynamics
FP6 Sustainability to be integrated in all
areas of research, especially Energy,
Transport and Agriculture
11
Integrated Projects
Objectives Real breakthroughs, SusDev,
Technologies
Clear and Quantified Deliverables and
Integration...
across Activities Research, Support to SMEs,
Int. Cooperation, Technology Transfer, Disseminati
on, Training
across Areas Basic science, Modelling, Monitorin
g, Technologies, Management of resources, Instrume
nts and devices, Engineering, Logistics, etc.
50 EC Funds
among Participants e.g. technologists,
environmental scientists, users, environment
managers, sociologists, industry, SMEs,
universities, research institutes, etc.
12
Integrated projects Objectives
13
Integrated Projects- An example -

• 1. Ensemble-based Predictions of Climate Changes
  and their Impacts (ENSEMBLES)
• climate estimates at various time scales
• reduce uncertainties in model formulation
• integrate applications on agriculture, health,
  food security, energy, water resources,
  insurance and weather risk management
• contribute to IPCC and UNFCCC mechanism
• Australian participant

14
Integrated Projects- An example -

• 2. Understanding River-Sediment-Soil-Groundwater
  Interactions for Support of Management of Water
  Bodies (River Basin Catchment Scale)
  (AQUATERRA)
• determine filter, buffer, transformation
  capacity of soils and sediments
• quantify the processes affected by climate
  change
• identify adverse trends (in water quantity and
  quality)
• develop integrated numerical soil-water system
  models reflecting all relevant transport
  processes at various scales

15
Networks of Excellence
Restructuring, Integration, Advancing Knowledge
Objectives To strengthen EU S T Excellence
and assemble EU Research Capacities
Integration by Specialisation and
complementarity, Common use of infrastructures,
Interactive working, Joint training
Joint Program of Activities (JPA) Merging
national or regional activities for improved
competitiveness and sustainability
EC Contribution to the Integration of Resources
Participants Wishing a Progressive and Lasting
Integration of Research Capacities
16
Networks of Excellence Objectives
17
Networks of Excellence- An example -

• Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning
  (MARBEF)
• develop a European taxonomy clearing system
• establish a joint training programme
• form a Board of Governance to establish links
  with funding agencies and policy makers at
  national and European levels.
• contribute to the EU biodiversity research
  strategy and to international initiatives and
  agreements (GLOBEC, CoML, DIVERSITAS etc.)

18
New Instruments1st Call for Proposals - Some
conclusions -

• Rejection and funding rate indicate a strong
  competition between consortia
• Several work programme areas not covered due to
  lack of high-quality projects
• Global change adaptation and mitigation
  strategies
• Climate modelling at catchment - regional scale
• Climate variability, floods and drought
• Forestry/wood chain for SD

• Focussing on aspects essential to achieve the
  objectives of the WP, in particular
  integration (NoE)

19
Traditional Instruments1st Call for Proposals -
Some conclusions -

• Strong competition for STREPs success rate
  17.0
• All work programme areas represented in the 16
  projects of the funding list, but
• 4 projects on river basin twinning
• 4 projects on technologies for biodiversity
• 2 projects each for socio-economic impacts on
  biodiversity and on desertification
• 1 project each for the other areas (technologies
  for water stress, scientific validation of
  technologies, methods and data , sustainability
  indicators)
• 5 projects in reserve 9 GO to be rejected

20
..over 1 billion people worldwide lack access to
safe water supply... almost 2.5 billion people
lack adequate sanitation... more than 5 million
people die each year from water-related diseases
that are mostly preventable.. water problems
are most acute in Africa where it is estimated
that 300 million people are affected by water
shortages.
EU WATER INITIATIVEWATER FOR LIFEHealth,
livelihood, economic development,peace and
security

• RESEARCH COMPONENT

21
Initial partners of theEU Water Initiative

• European Commission
• Member States of the European Union
• African Governments
• 12 Countries in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and
  Central Asia
• .and many more
• Green Cross International, WWF, Tearfund, Water
  Aid, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative
  Council WASH, ICLEI, Public Services
  International, Global Water Partnership, Global
  Nature Fund, European Environmental Bureau,
  Ramsar, UNEP UCC-Water, OECD, UN-ECE, The
  International Secretariat for Water, BPD Water
  and Sanitation, Protos Water Powers People,
  International Network of Basin Organizations,
  INBO, EUREAU, Northumbrian Water, Suez,
  RWE-Thames Water, Vivendi

22
Within Thematic Priorities the International
Water Research Component will be mainly addressed
within Thematic Priority 6 - Sustainable
Development Global ChangeSub-Priority 1.6.3 -
Global Change and Ecosystems, which include the
following topics
Within INCO the International Water Research
Component shall be mainly addressed within
Regional Work Programmes (Developing Countries,
Mediterranean Partner Countries, Western Balkans,
Russia and other NIS.
23
. by 2008 an operational and
autonomous European capacity for Global Monitoring
of Environment and Security.
GMES
Data collected through space, airborne and
in-situ observations
24
. by 2008 an operational and
autonomous European capacity for
global monitoring of environment and security.
OBJECTIVE
Implemented progressively to reach
routine functioning by 2008
Able to deliver timely, relevant,validated and
sustainable information
Independent information

• A European Partnership
• A European Shared Information System
• A dialogue between all parties

25
An Action Plan on Environmental
Technologies(ETAP)

• Environmental technologies
• A recognised potential
• They could contribute to both protection of
  environment and economic growth
• A broad range of technologies and applications
• e.g. water waste treatment, white biotechnology,
  hydrogen
• But a slow market penetration
• Due to different types of market, regulatory,
  economic, social or technical barriers

26
ETAP history

• March 2002 Approval by the Barcelona European
  Council
• Mandate an Action Plan by the end of 2003
• Three main objectives
• a survey of promising technologies that could
  address some of the main environmental problems
• the identification, with stakeholders, of the
  barriers holding back the development and use of
  technologies
• the identification of a targeted package of
  measures to address these barriers, and building
  on existing instruments

27
ETAP Conclusions so far

• A new initiative in support of the EU Sustainable
  Development policy
• The Action Plan should come up with concrete and
  innovative measures to overcome the identified
  barriers
• Need to investigate the role of all relevant EU
  and national policies, without taboo!
• Stakeholders consultation will ensure
  consistency with practical needs and wide
  endorsement for implementation

28
Scientific Support to Policies

• Sustainable management of Europes natural
  resources

• Agriculture
• Fisheries
• Environment

• Providing health, security and opportunity to the
  people of Europe

• Public health
• Sustainable social protection
• Security, migration, crime

• Underpinning the economic potential and cohesion
  of a larger and more integrated European Union

• European economy and sustainable development
• Transport/energy
• Information society
• Cultural heritage statistics

29
SSP-Implementation

• Budget 340 M from which 265M are presently
  allocated

• Workprogramme

• Well-specified WP, complemented by a detailed
  task description document in the guide for
  proposers
• One call per year
• Possibility of emergency calls (eg. on SARS)

30
1st SSP Call for Proposals - Some conclusions -

• 4 areas (with 22 tasks) open
• Environmental assessment
• Environmental technologies
• Policies for sustainability
• Cultural heritage
• Proposals cover only 15 of the 22 tasks in the
  WP
• Oversubscription factor low 2.4
• Only 15 proposals with sufficient quality for
  funding
• Thus, only 26 of the 29 million available can
  be spent
• No AUS or NZ partners in proposals

31
Australia and New Zealand in Global Change and
Ecosystems research

• First call
• 14 AUS, no NZ participants in proposals
• 2 participants in funded projects
• Project ENSEMBLES (IP)
• Bureau of Meteorology, Research Centre Melbourne
• (Coordinator UK Met. Office)
• Project GRAND (SSA)
• IOC Perth Regional Programme Office
• (Coordinator International Ocean Institute,
  Malta)

32
C. Conclusions

• Putting policy into practice by
• Reversing under-investment in research
• Concentrating the research programmes on
  important topics
• Using more effective instruments for
  re-structuring EU research
• Providing contributions to European policies
• Putting emphasis on sustainable development
• Cooperating with third countries to tackle
  world-wide issues

33
Information

• To build on current EU Research
• www.cordis.lu
• Information on FP6
• http//europa.eu.int/comm/research/nfp.html
• FP6 Instruments explained
• http//europa.eu.int/comm/research/nfp/networks-i
  p.html
• Calls for proposals
• http//fp6.cordis.lu/fp6/