Coordinating ICT Research across Europe

Europe must better coordinate its efforts - private, regional, national and European - if it is to become a global leader in ICT research.

The vast majority of all public ICT research funding in Europe is spent by national and regional research programmes, so the EU’s own Research Framework Programmes can only ever be a small fraction of all research funding across the EU.

"The vast majority of all public ICT research funding is spent by national and regional programmes"

With increasing global competition, no single EU country can now build the know-how and skills to master these increasingly complex technologies. Staying at the cutting edge of ICT research therefore means both:

Coordinating Research Policy
Coordinating European, national, regional and private research programmes

Coordinating Research Policy

A key mechanism here is the National ICT Research Directors Forum which is an informal framework through which national ministries responsible for ICT research policy and funding (typically research and industry ministries) and their Commission counterparts meet twice a year to discuss and develop shared visions and strategies for ICT research in Europe. Further information about past Forum meetings and accompanying events is available..

The National ICT Research Directors Forum is complemented by a number of supporting measures:

ISTAG, the IST Advisory Group: established to advise the Commission on overall ICT research within the Framework Programme for research as well as to reflect and advise on policies related to the European Research Area (ERA) and i2010;
Coordination of IST Research and National Activities (CISTRANA), which aims to foster coordination of national ICT programmes with each other and with European RTD programmes. Results include the CISTRANA IST research portal, which provides information on relevant research across most European countries, and a range of studies.
Studies of economic analysis of investment in ICT R&D.

Industry, finally, plays an important role via European Technology Platforms (ETPs) - industry-led initiatives to create Strategic Research Agendas in strategically important areas. Some ETPs, moreover, are leading to the creation of Joint Technology Initiatives (JTIs) - long-term, public-private research partnerships.

Coordinating Research Programmes

Programme-level coordination in strategic ICT research areas can range from basic information exchanges to strategic cooperation and possible joint initiatives, depending on the maturity and nature of the area.

While national funding has been coordinated by several EUREKA project clusters and under the intergovernmental COST initiative for many years, the creation of a European Research Area (ERA) became a Commission priority with the launch of its Sixth FP6 Research Framework Programme (2002-2006 - see EU Research).

During FP6, the Commission launched CISTRANA (above) and some 25 “ERA-NET” projects to coordinate national research programmes in the ICT area.

Building on the success of the 25 ERA-NET projects in FP6, the coordination of national or regional research programme or initiatives is an objective within Challenges 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7, as well as FET, within the ICT Research under the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013).