Lessons to be learned from the 6 th FP Ramon Marimon Universitat Pompeu Fabra

European Parliament 22 September 2005

Ramon Marimon 1

Lessons to be learned from the 6th FP

Ramon MarimonUniversitat Pompeu Fabra

EPP-ED Hearing on 7th FP

European Parliament

September 22, 2005

European Parliament 22 September 2005

Ramon Marimon 2

Today’s EPP-ED hearing:A welcome and timely initiative!

What will happen with the EC initial budget (72726 €million) proposal?and the EP endorsement to double EC funding in R&D?

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FP6 shows the potentials of...

1. the European Community of Research and Innovation

2. the catalytic effect of EC funding on all EU public funding & ERA structuring

3. the appropriate (new) instruments to foster transnational collaborative research (recommendation 1)

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FP6 also shows the dangers of...

1. generating different perceptions & unfulfilled expectations

2. leaving some important actors out

3. having an inefficient implementation

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Share of New Instruments in total cost of projects approved

61%16%

21%

1%

1%

IP

NoE

STREPs

Ca

SSA

1. The contrast between the implementation…

(The New instruments in the first calls of FP6)

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and the opinion of participants regarding the role of ‘old’ and ‘new’ instruments

(from survey of Panel on “Efficiency…”)

7%

48%38%

7%Phase out for only newinstruments

Co-existence should becontinued

Co-existence should beenhanced

Other

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2. Not leaving important actors out!

• Emerging groups should be attracted rather than discouraged from participation. The best research groups and the most innovative firms should be attracted since they must play a leading role in structuring the ERA (recommendation 8)

• For FP7 a much more flexible approach to SME participation should be explored (recommendation 9)

• In it’s 100th anniversary, Einstein’s type of work would had not been founded by FP6…

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The “linear model” • Vannevar Bush’s Science, the Endless Frontier: A

Report to the President on a Program for Postwar Scientific Research (requested by F.D. Roosvelt in 1944)

Basic Research

AppliedResearch

Development InnovationMarkets &

Growth

Laser & GPS

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3. Achieving efficiency: 3 general issues

with 3 specific problems

a) Critical mass and

‘The effect’

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From the first round of financed Networks of Excellence in Priority 7...

• CLIOHRES.net: 45 Universities and Research Centers in 31 countries

• EU –CONSENT: 51 Partners from 27 countries

• GARNET: 46 institutions from 15 countries

• CONNEX: 43 partner Institutions in 23 countries

• EQUALSOC: 14 institutes from 11 countries

• EURODITE: 28 Partners from 14 Member States

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From the “Marimon” report...

• “Critical mass” depends on the topic, the thematic area, the participants and the potential impact and added value.

The concept of 'one size fits all' should not be applied across all thematic areas and Instruments. (recommendation 4)

• Networks of Excellence

should be designed as an instrument to cover different forms of collaboration and different sizes of partnerships. (recommendation 5)

• A greater role must be played by Instruments such as STREPs and small consortium IPs (recommendation 7)

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b) Setting priorities & objectives and the

“bottom-up”

“top-down”

“dicothomy”!

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Pasteur’s Quadrant (D. Stokes, 1997)

Pure basic research

(Bohr)

Use-inspired basic research

(Pasteur)

Pure applied research

(Edison)

Consideration of use?

No

No

Yes

Yes

Quest for fundamental understanding?

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The controversial “recommendation 3”

• The European Commission should specify the portfolio of Instruments available and the strategic objectives.

• Participants should define the specific research objective they will pursue and why this can best be met by the Instrument they have chosen.

i.e., set clear strategic objectives, but let researchers decide how to achieve them!

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A simplistic view of FP7

• “Bottom-up” ERC (European Research Council)

• “Top-down” JTI (Joint Technological Initiatives)

• “In-between” TCR (Transnational Collaborative Research)

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but...• Extremes are unrealistic (therefore, dangereous)• Separation of Science and Innovation may weaken them• Recall “Use-inspired-basic research”

How do we go

from Specific Programmes to

Work Programmes?

and why?

• Different Sciences and Technologies are at different stages

• While some “societal needs” are clear the specificways to achieve them are not

yet...

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c) Simplicity and flexibility

May require some

building complexity

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• To improve the efficiency and reduce the costs for participants, a well conceived two-step evaluation procedure should be introduced. (recommendation 11)

• Administrative procedures and financial rules should be significantly simplified and further improved to allow more efficiency and flexibility in implementing participation instruments. (recommendation 12)

The main challenge: Reducing participation costs, while assigning funds efficiently

(see also EC “Consultation on Simplification”)

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but...

• Rigorous evaluation is not a check list of predetermined criteria & without meaningful feedback

• Administrative simplification is not to pass the burden to the users (e.g., audits in NoE)

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Has FP7 learned the lessons?• Most issues have been dealt with and

its budget should be defended!!

yet...• Implemanetation is in the details

• The “simplistic” view may dominate

• Many practices and procedures are ‘rooted’ (e.g., unecessaryly detailed Work Programmes; some mechanistic evaluation procedures; complex contracts, ... )

• Its full potential in “people” and “capacities” should be exploited

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Thanks!