Archive:Science, technology and digital society statistics introduced
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Science is part of almost every aspect of our lives: at the flick of a switch, we have light; when we are ill, medicines help us get better; when we want to talk to a friend we just pick up the telephone or send a text message or e-mail. Europe has a long tradition of excellence in research and innovation, having been the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Today, the European Union (EU) is a world leader in a range of cutting-edge industrial sectors – for example, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications or aerospace.
Research and development (R & D) is often considered as one of the driving forces behind growth and job creation. However, its influence extends well beyond the economic sphere, as it can potentially resolve environmental or international security threats, ensure safer food, or lead to the development of new medicines to fight illness and disease.
Since their launch in 1984, the EU’s framework programmes for research have played a leading role in multidisciplinary research activities. The seventh framework programme for research and technological development (FP7) is the EU’s main instrument for funding research in Europe; it runs from 2007-2013 and has a total budget of EUR 50 521 million, with an additional EUR 2 751 for 2007-2011 for nuclear research and training activities to be carried out under the Euratom treaty. This money is generally intended to finance grants to research actors all over Europe, usually through co-financing research, technological development and demonstration projects. FP7 is made up of four broad programmes – cooperation (collaborative research), ideas (the European Research Council), people (human potential) and capacities (research capacity). Through these programmes, FP7 aims to create European ‘poles of excellence’ across a wide array of scientific themes, such as information technologies, energy and climate change, health, food, and social sciences. FP7 also foresees direct research at the European Commission‘s own research institute (the Joint Research Centre (JRC)), whose activities are divided into 17 policy agendas, with an emphasis on understanding the relationship between the environment and health, internal and external security, and support for Europe’s 2020 economic strategy.
The European Research Area (ERA) was launched at the Lisbon European Council in March 2000. ERA aims to ensure open and transparent trade in scientific and technical skills, ideas and know-how. Europe’s research efforts are often described as being fragmented along national and institutional lines. Indeed, entire Member States may find it difficult to play a leading role in important areas of scientific and technological advance as research is increasingly complex, interdisciplinary and expensive.
ERA was given new impetus in April 2007 with the European Commission's Green Paper on the European research area: new perspectives. In May 2008 the ERA was re-launched as part of what has become known as the Ljubljana process, including specific initiatives for five different areas: researchers’ careers and mobility; research infrastructures; knowledge sharing; research programmes; and international science and technology cooperation. As a result, in the years through to 2020 the ERA will aim to establish a single European labour market for researchers, as well as single markets for knowledge and for innovative goods and services. Furthermore, the ERA should: encourage trust and dialogue between society and the scientific and technological community; benefit from a strong publicly-supported research and technology base and world-class research infrastructures and capacities across Europe; provide for the joint design of research, education and innovation policies; address major challenges through strategic partnerships; and enable Europe to speak with one voice to its main international partners.
International cooperation forms an integral part of the EU’s scientific policy, which includes programmes to enhance Europe’s access to worldwide scientific expertise, attract top scientists to work in Europe, contribute to international responses to shared problems, and put research at the service of EU external and development policies. In December 2008, the Competitiveness Council adopted a 2020 vision for the ERA, which foresees the introduction of a ‘fifth freedom’ for the EU’s internal market – namely, the free circulation of researchers, knowledge and technology.
In October 2010, the European Commission launched a Europe 2020 flagship initiative, titled ‘Innovation union’ (COM(2010) 546 final) which sets out a strategic approach to a range of challenges like climate change, energy and food security, health and an ageing population. The proposals seek to use public sector intervention to stimulate the private sector and to remove bottlenecks which stop ideas reaching the market (such as access to finance, fragmented research systems and markets, under-use of public procurement for innovation, and speeding-up harmonised standards and technical specifications).
Official European statistics on science and technology provide a leading example of cooperation activities between international statistical organisations. In the domain of R & D statistics a joint survey produced by the OECD and Eurostat has been introduced, which is based on the collection of information following guidelines laid out in the Frascati manual. As regards human capital, the OECD, UNESCO and Eurostat are working towards developing internationally comparable indicators on the careers and mobility of doctorate (PhD) holders. Within the domain of innovation statistics, Eurostat conducts a Community innovation survey, which is based on the guidelines laid out within the Oslo Manual (jointly produced with other European Commission services and the OECD). Together with the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and the OECD, Eurostat has worked towards the improvement of PATSTAT, a harmonised database covering EPO patent applications and USPTO patents granted.