Ageing, Health and Pensions in Europe: An Economic Perspective (original) (raw)
Related papers
Ulnicane, I. (2015) Broadening aims and building support in science, technology and innovation policy: The case of the European Research Area. Journal of Contemporary European Research 11 (1): 31-49.
The aim of this article is to analyse the evolution of the ideational framework of the most ambitious initiative in supranational research governance so far – the European Research Area (ERA), launched by the European Commission in 2000. In order to do so, the ERA initiative is analysed against the background of the long-term development of the science, technology and innovation policy ideas. The analysis reveals that over the course of 14 years, the policy aims of, and support for, the ERA initiative have considerably broadened. While economic competitiveness goals initially dominated the Commission’s initiative to launch the ERA, the initiative has gradually expanded towards social and scientific aims as well as stronger involvement of member states and stakeholders. Recent “big ideas” of excellent science and Grand Challenges help increase support for the ERA initiative among the research community and society. In the broadened ERA ideational frame, diverse aims of scientific freedom, societal relevance and economic competitiveness co-exist but attention to the relationships between them has been limited. Further exploration and conceptualization of the relationships between diverse policy ideas is an important challenge for future research policy studies and practice.
Quantitative Science Studies, 2020
Numerous EU documents praise the excellence of EU research without empirical evidence and in contradiction of academic studies. We investigated research performance in two fields of high socioeconomic importance, advanced technology and basic medical research, in two sets of European countries, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain (GFIS), and the UK, Netherlands, and Switzerland (UKNCH). Despite their historical and geographical proximity, research performance in GFIS is much lower than in UKNCH, and well below the world average. Funding from the European Research Council (ERC) greatly improves performance in both GFIS and UKNCH, but ERC-GFIS publications are less cited than ERC-UKNCH publications. We conclude that research performance in GFIS and in other EU countries is intrinsically low, even in highly selected and generously funded projects. The technological and economic future of the EU depends on improving research, which requires structural changes in research policy within the...
2009
, underlined that the ERA is firmly rooted in society and responsive to its needs and ambitions in pursuit of sustainable development. In July 2009, the Lund Declaration called for a new deal in European Research advocating that the identification of the Grand Challenges must engage the major stakeholders including the European institutions, business, public services, NGOs and the research community. Citizens have an increasing and widely acknowledged stake in science, research and innovation. The objective of the programme 'Science in Society' in FP7 'Capacities' to reinforce the societal dimension of the European Research Area is intrinsically linked with the efforts to revitalise the economy and improve the quality of life in Europe. It supports European trans-national research and policy activities, with a focus on the dynamic governance of the research system, the ethical soundness of research and the responsible conduct of science, public engagement in science and involvement of Civil Society Organisations, the gender agenda and the promotion of scientific education, scientific culture and science communication. This report by the MASIS expert group is the first step of an innovative initiative of the European Commission, the MASIS Project: MASIS stands for Monitoring Activities of Science in Society in Europe. It represents a collective overview on emerging trends and cross-cutting issues in Science in Society, making it a potentially valuable tool for researchers and for decision-makers, who strive for excellence and relevance. It is forward-looking into a number of challenging futures and develops the hypothesis of a European Model of Science in Society which needs further discussion. European research policy will continue to stimulate reflections and debate on the ways science and technology supports developments in our societies, as well as on how the latter integrate and make sense of research. European diversity is therefore an invaluable asset, from which we can all benefit. I am confident that this thought provoking report will provide a basis for reflection and innovative ideas on the ways European societies interact and shape science in the context of a true European Research Area.
Introduction: The European Research Council @ 10—What has it done to us?
European Political Science
The European Research Council (ERC) was established in 2007 to encourage highquality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields. The sole criterion was to be scientific excellence. The ERC was to complement other components of the European Commission's Horizon 2020 initiative for research. Why did states and the European Commission agreed to the ERC? There are several partially competing explanations (König 2017). Among the motives were concerns to secure supranational funding at the EU level for basic research in addition to various areas of applied research and to make European research more globally competitive-against the US in particular-through competition among researchers. These objectives led to such imported terms as "frontier research" and "excellence," specified in peculiar ways (Hoenig 2017). The Mission Statement of the ERC identifies several short-term and longer-term objectives and indicates some means by which to pursue these. To assess the ERC, these objectives merit extensive attention: The ERC's mission is to encourage the highest quality research in Europe through competitive funding and to support investigator-driven frontier research across all fields, on the basis of scientific excellence….
Health research in the European Union: over-controlled but under-measured?
The European Journal of Public Health, 2011
We examined health-related projects funded within the FP5 and FP6 programmes (5000) to assess the impact of EU research on policy and practice (K. Ernst et al., submitted for publication). These projects can be found in Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS)the European Commission's Publication Office 'information space' that purports to contain details of all EU research and development activities and projects (Box 1). It is available in searchable form at http://cordis.europa.eu/home\_en.html.
Present status and future strategy for medical research in Europe
The return on investment in medical research are enormous for society, and proper funding for medical research in Europe will lead to better health, welfare and economic prosperity. We hope that this White Paper will lead to a debate followed by actions to create improved conditions for medical research in Europe, and thereby secure for European patients and citizens the benefits from significantly improved health and welfare in the future.