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European Commission > Investing in European Research > Open method of coordination |
Open method of coordinationMember States have much to learn from sharing their experience of national policies in areas of common interest. This can help them to improve the design and implementation of their own policies, to develop coordinated or joint initiatives on issues of transnational interest, and to identify areas where Community initiatives could reinforce national actions. The “Open Method of Coordination” (OMC) was introduced by the European Council of Lisbon in March 2000. It was a method designed to help Member States progress jointly in the reforms they needed to undertake in order to reach the Lisbon goals. The method included the following elements:
Initially the OMC was only applied to Employment and Economic policy. When the European Council set the 3% of GDP objective for R&D investment, the Commission suggested that OMC should be applied for this objective as well. The Spring European Council of March 2003 thus agreed to apply the OMC for policies related to investment in research (and to human resources and mobility of researchers as well). Since October 2005, CREST decided to meet once or twice a year at the level of Directors General to review and facilitate the progress of policy coordination. The process is expected to produce the following outcomes:
First OMC cycle (2003-2004)CREST created five Expert Groups to address actions in the Commission’s 3% Action Plan where OMC was particularly relevant:
Issues related to the mobility and careers of researchers were dealt by the Steering Group on Human Resources and Mobility. Each Expert Group was asked to identify good practices and suggest policy recommendations to Member States. Each Expert Group presented to CREST a report with its findings. 1. Public research base and its links to industry On the basis of the group reports, CREST issued an overall report Second OMC cycle (2005-2006)Following the positive results of the first OMC cycle, CREST launched a second cycle in December 2004, built on the following principles: identification of a limited number of priority topics, leadership by countries, work modules (designed for each topic) and the use of peer review when appropriate. CREST decided to concentrate on more focused topics in each of the areas of the first cycle. It established an Expert Group for each of these topics and each expert group prepared a report.
In September 2006, CREST published its second overall report The Commission supported the OMC process by providing expertise and relevant analytical materials. Study "Examining the design of national research programmes" The Commission organised a conference on “Improving research policies in Europe through the Open Method of Coordination” under the auspices and in collaboration with the Austrian Presidency. The conference took place in Brussels on 18 May 2006. (Programme
OMC) You can find more information on http://cordis.europa.eu/austria/events_18052006_en.html. Third OMC cycle (2006-2007)For the OMC 3% third cycle four Expert Groups were established
CREST adopted the Guidelines For more information on the discussion with stakeholders please see http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/events_en.htm. The final report CREST report on the Internationalisation of R&D The final Report on R&D in Services In the third cycle, the main objective of the Policy Mix Group was to conduct a peer review process capable of acting as an instrument of mutual learning. The process aimed at helping Member States to better understand the policy mixes needed to raise R&D intensity. To the previous three countries (ES, SE, RO), six (BE, EE, FR, LT, NL, UK) were reviewed in this cycle. Fourth OMC cycle (2007-2008)The fourth cycle of the OMC, launched in December 2007, focused on:
Since 2003, the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) has been used as one of the principal tools to achieve progress towards the objective of increasing investment in research to approach 3% of GDP. In 2008, the "Expert Group for the follow-up of the research aspects of the revised Lisbon strategy (LEG)", created in 2006 by the European Commission (DG RTD), carried out an assessment of the impact generated by the OMC in the field of reserach policy at the national level. The results can be found here
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