The European Research Advisory Board goes into its second term

Brussels, 25 June 2004

On 15 June, the European Research Advisory Board (EURAB) unanimously re-elected its Chair Helga Nowotny and welcomed 22 new members for its second three-year term. The main topics on the agenda of the new Board are the preparation of the Seventh Framework programme for Research and Technological Development, the creation of a European Research Council, the mid-term evaluation of FP6 and the relationship between research and innovation.

Helga Nowotny (Director of “Society in Science”, The Branco Weiss Fellowship, based at ETH Zürich) has been unanimously re-elected Chair of EURAB 2 for a second mandate (2004-2007) on 15 June when the renewed Board had its first meeting. The 2 Vice-Chairs are Horst Soboll (Director, Research Policy, DaimlerChrysler AG) and Bertil Andersson (Chief Executive of the European Science Foundation). The other members of the Bureau are Kari-Pekka Estola (Vice President of Nokia Research Centre), Ian Halliday (Chief Executive of the Particle Physics & Astronomy Research Council), Elisabeth Jaskulké (Head of the European Technical Missions Suez-Lyonnaise des Eaux), Jerzy Langer (Professor of Physics at the Polish Academy of Sciences) and Jens Rostrup-Nielsen (Director of Research & Development Division, Member of Executive Board, Haldor Topsoe A/S).

The new composition of the Bureau shows a good balance between Academia and Industry, previous (5) and new (3) members. There is also a member coming from a new Member State.

“The first 3 years of the EURAB’s activities have been a real success” declared Commissioner Busquin while thanking all the EURAB 1 members for their good work. “EURAB 2 should now build on this experience and be closely involved in the preparation of the Seventh Framework programme and beyond.” The Board should actively participate to the debate opened by the recently adopted Commission Communication on the future of European research policy. Its advice will be sought on how to strengthen the European research, particularly in key areas for growth, and how to achieve excellence and innovation, which are essential factors for industrial competitiveness.

EURAB 2 will focus its attention on a number of research policy issues, for instance how to increase industry’s participation in the framework programmes, to develop a long term perspective for Europe beyond 2025, interaction between innovation and state aids policies; how to make Europe more attractive for the researchers or questions on intellectual property rights.

Website: http://ec.europa.eu/research/eurab/index_en.html