Research ministers agree on a new Pact for research and innovation and governance structure for the European Research Area

Aiming to be a political guide to creating a single market for research, and set as non-binding – implementation being left in the hands of national governments-, the Council adopted conclusions on the governance of the European Research Area (ERA) and a Pact for research and innovation (R&I) in Europe, setting out priorities and a streamlined governance framework for the ERA, including an ERA policy agenda for 2022-2024.

Under the new Pact for R&I, the EU Member States commit for the coming years to:

• a set of common EU principles and values for R&I;
• shared priority areas for action;
• investments and reforms, and iv) a simplified policy coordination and monitoring process.

The Council conclusions propose 20 specific ERA actions for the next 3 years contained in the ERA policy agenda 2022-2024 which will be implemented on a voluntary basis by the member states, together with the European Commission and in cooperation with countries associated to the ‘Horizon Europe’ programme, with research, academic and business organisations, and other partner countries where applicable. Among these actions are bringing science closer to citizens and improving EU-wide access to excellence.

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, called on governments to put research and innovation “at the very heart” of all their policies. “I am glad that member states have heeded the Commission’s suggestion to speed up the achievement of the 3% target. We need to invest more; we need to invest better. The adoption of the Pact and the Council conclusions is a step forward in our ambition to create an ERA fit for the future. It shows our common commitment to mobilise research and innovation policies with concrete actions towards the challenges of today and notably the green and digital transitions”, she said.

Next steps:

The EU Member States and countries associated to the ‘Horizon Europe’ programme will be invited to identify the ERA actions in which they wish to participate. By mid-2022, the European Commission should present a monitoring and evaluation framework for the implementation of the ERA. This implementation of the policy agenda should be reviewed every 18 months. It is also expected to issue a report to the Council on the state of play of the policy agenda.