The rapporteur, Christophe Clergeau, calls for the
level of scientific excellence to be improved in
Europe as a whole and not in just a few large
regions and cities.
With an opinion drawn up by Christophe Clergeau
(FR/PES), Member of the Pays-de-la-Loire Regional
Council, the European Committee of the Regions
reiterates its call for a comprehensive approach to
the Union’s financial effort for research, training
and innovation and warns of the consequences of the
fall in cohesion policy budgets, which is in danger
of increasing disparities between European regions.
The opinion
, which was adopted unanimously at the plenary
session on 9 October, underlines the need to
formally recognise the role of regional ecosystems
and innovation hubs and strengthen links with smart
specialisation.
In the context of the next long-term EU budget
(2021-2027), the European Commission proposes EUR 100
billion for research and innovation through the new
Horizon Europe
Framework Programme. The European Committee of the
Regions — Europe's assembly of local and regional
elected representatives — welcomes this budget increase
but is concerned at the risk of inequalities growing
between cities and regions that benefit hugely from the
framework programme for research and innovation, and
the others, who will suffer the consequences of the
fall in cohesion policy budgets.
The rapporteur, Christophe Clergeau,
is disappointed that “the steps taken to close the gaps
between regions and to promote access for all to
Horizon Europe are insufficient to improve the level of
scientific excellence in Europe as a whole and not just
in a few large regions and cities."
Dan Nica
(RO/S&D), the European Parliament rapporteur,
addressed the plenary session and stressed that
his report
shares the concerns of regions and cities. “Referring
to the lessons learned from Horizon 2020, we firmly
believe that Horizon Europe should be simpler, clearer
and more accessible and that the initiative should
facilitate fair, transparent participation. For the EU
to maximise its potential in R&I, it must
distribute excellence more equally across the EU as a
whole and close the research and innovation gap between
Member States and between regions."
To this end, cities and regions are asking to be fully
involved in the planning and implementation of research
and innovation policies as stakeholders in the
strategic planning of the future European Innovation
Council forum.
Moreover, the European Committee of the Regions is
disappointed to note the lack of recognition of the
territorial roots of scientific excellence and the
contribution made by regional ecosystems and innovation
hubs that bring together public and private actors from
quadruple-helix networks (academia, industry, public
policy-makers, civil society), structured at regional
and local level. These actors coordinate R&I
activities and speed up the dissemination among
themselves of the results, knowledge transfer,
innovation and the development of new economic
activities and services. Although support for "European
innovation ecosystems” is envisaged, the amount is
conditional and, the Committee believes, too low.
For cities and regions, it is particularly important to
strengthen ties with smart specialisation strategies
and develop synergies with other EU programmes and with
national and regional programmes. According to the
rapporteur, Mr Clergeau, “these synergies should be
built in a way which makes it possible to share the choice of major
objectives, to combine and rationalise resources, to
ensure a clear division of roles, to design, finance
and pilot projects together and to recognise the role
of local collective initiatives.”
In this sense, cities and regions strongly oppose the
fact that the option of transferring a share of
cohesion policy funds to the Horizon Europe programme
is systematically decided by the Member States and not
by the managing authority concerned, which is often a
region.
The opinion also stresses that any additional funding
should be deployed according to the same rules of
application. It fully supports the new European
partnerships and co-financed actions, which can “become
the main funding tools for trans-regional cooperation
and programmes run by consortia of regional ecosystem
and innovation hubs (a process to connect
territories)”.
Contact:
Lauri Ouvinen
Tel. +32 22822063
lauri.ouvinen@cor.europa.eu