A high-level European Commission assessment panel says
European Union research into information society technologies (IST)
is failing, despite it spending almost £700m a year on the
area.
The panel said the research was vital for competitiveness but
that it more investment and less bureaucracy are required for
success.
The panel was chaired by former Portuguese science minister Jose
Mariano Gago, who was one of the authors of the European
Commission’s 10-year Lisbon Strategy, which aims to make the EU the
“world’s most dynamic and competitive economy”.
Viviane Reding, European Commission information society and
media commissioner, said, “Fast-changing IST research is, and must
remain, a key driver for the rapid economy-wide technological
innovation on which Europe’s skilled jobs ultimately depend.”
She said, “I intend to respond very quickly to the panel’s
concerns about red tape, which is a general problem of EU research
programmes, but felt most directly in IST research where we operate
in a particularly dynamic and fast evolving environment.”
The Commission had asked the panel to assess the effectiveness
and achievements of IST research and development under EU research
programmes for the period of 1999-2003.
The EU spends more than €1bn (£697m) per year on IST research
and development.
The key recommendations of the panel are:
- Increase research funding to drive collaboration between firms
and academia
- Reduce bureaucracy which is threatening to kill research
- Step up the involvement of small- and medium-sized enterprises,
and new member states
- Improve communications and target them by audience to broaden
take-up of research results
- Assess the need for additional human resources in IST research
in Europe.