No Europe of knowledge...

In March 2000, the Lisbon declaration was approved: Europe should become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.

... without adequate Human Resources

Scientific and technological development was since then at the core of EU objectives.
In 2002, the EU Barcelona Summit called for an increase in the proportion of European GDP invested in research from 1.9 % to 3 %. In terms of human resources, an extra 0.5 million researchers (or 1.2 million research related personnel) are needed to meet that goal between now and 2010.

A working group appointed by Philippe Busquin

As part of the European Commission's broad strategy to address the Lisbon and Barcelona goals, an independent High Level Group on Increasing Human Resources for Science and Technology in Europe, chaired by Prof. José Mariano Gago, was appointed by the European Commissioner for Research.
This High Level Group (J.M.Gago, J.Ziman, P. Caro, S. Sjøberg, G. Davies, C. Constantinou, I. Parchmann, M. Rannikmäe) analysed the current European situation and undertook an extensive consultation process with many relevant stakeholders in Europe as well as with the EC and with national governments.
The findings of the HLG show that the Lisbon and Barcelona targets will not be attainable without deliberate and sustained positive action.

An international conference

The provisional findings and recommendations of the High Level Group were presented and discussed at an International Conference held in Brussels on April 2, 2004.

The main topics of the conference were:

The need for increasing human resources for the scientific and technological development of the European Union

• Demand and Supply in the Science, Engineering and Technology Labour Market
• Career Perspectives in S&T
• Higher Education and Research Training
• Schooling in Science, Engineering and Technology
• The Social and Cultural Context of Recruitment to S&T Careers

The conference was very well attended and proved to be instrumental in the finalisation of the group's report [ 3.5 Mb].