03/12/2010
EUROHORCs Commentary on the Innovation Union Flagship Initiative
EUROHORCs welcomes the publication of the Communication on the Innovation Union. EUROHORCs very much agrees with the link that is being made between the improvement of the framework conditions and infrastucture for research and the success of the Innovation Union. However, EUROHORCs asks for a tighter co-operation between EU programmes and those of the Research Councils. Also EUROHORCs thinks that the evolution of research funding patterns in the national Research Council should be highlighted. Further, as regards Joint Programming, clarity regarding the processes that will give rise to a selection of themes will be required.
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16/11/2010
EUROHORCs Reflection Paper on the future of EU Research and Innovation
Ahead of the preparation of the next generation of EU Research and Innovation programmes, EUROHORCs would like to highlight a number of principles it considers important for the further development of EU initiatives and programmes in this field. The paper draws the attention to a number of challenges, such as economic and societal changes, the increased demand for interdisciplinary research, also to tackle the Grand Challenges, and the need for linkage between research and innovation. Further, it suggests fields which require the co-operation of the EC and national organisations: career opportunities for young researchers, project funding for individual researchers, instruments for mobility, and others.
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01/11/2010
Election of new Vice President
Jos Engelen, Chairman of NWO – The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research was elected new Vice President for research funding organisations. The election took place at the General Assembly meeting on 22nd October 2010 in Leuven, Belgium.
07/06/2010
Election of new Vice Presidents and new Steering Committee Members
Two new Vice Presidents and two new Steering Committee Members were elected at the General Assembly meeting on 29th May 2010 in Frankfurt. The new Vice Presidents are André Syrota (The National Institute of Health and Medical Research, France) and Frank Gannon (Science Foundation Ireland, his term will start in autumn 2010). The new SC members are Véronique Halloin (Fund for Scientific Research – FNRS, Belgium) and Jos Engelen (The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research).
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30/04/2010
EUROHORCs’ Principles for the further development of the European Research Area (ERA)
In continuation of its effort to support the further successful development of the ERA, EUROHORCs wishes to work actively with the Commission to achieve common goals. EUROHORCs has thus formulated a number of principles and recommendations on research funding activities that it considers crucial for the realisation of a strong ERA. The principles comprise continuing support of basic research, applying excellence as the central criterion for European research funding, facilitating mobility, re-partitioning work between the national and the European level as well as simplifying the rules for research funding.
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30/04/2010
EUROHORCs’ Key elements for simplifying the implementation of the research framework programmes
Following the EUROHORCs paper on Basic Principles for Robust Rules published in December 2009, EUROHORCs would like to contribute to the debate on simplifying the implementation of the research framework programmes. By focussing on a number of key elements for the improvement of the implementation of the research framework programmes, EUROHORCs seeks to help diminishing the administrative hurdles that the scientific community faces today. These key elements include consistent and traceable application of rules, acceptance of national authorities’ accounting practices, introduction of a science-based approach for control efforts, reinforcement of scientific/technical monitoring and implementation of a “project-specific lump sum”.
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30/04/2010
EUROHORCs’ commentary on the ERAB strategic paper “Preparing Europe for a New Renaissance”
As announced in late 2009, EUROHORCs has prepared a commentary on the ERAB’s first annual report. EUROHORCs welcomes the bold vision and sees a lot of overlap between the six areas for action proposed by ERAB and the EUROHORCs/ESF vision for a globally competitive ERA and a road map of actions for its delivery. Rather than analyzing in detail the pathway to the ERA, EUROHORCs wishes to highlight areas with a shared vision where joint activities of the ERAB and EUROHORCs should be focused.
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05/01/2010
EUROHORCs’ Position Paper “EU Regulatory Framework for Research Actions - Basic Principles for Robust Rules”
EUROHORCs prepared the position paper “Basic Principles for Robust Rules” as a contribution to the public consultation on the review of the Financial Regulations, conducted by the European Commission. The paper identifies a number of principles that need to be considered when adapting the financial regulations of the EU. According to EUROHORCs, the following principles are crucial for ensuring the competitiveness of European research: stability of the legal and financial framework, consistency of rules and their application, acceptance of risk, reliability and traceability, partnership and mutual trust and focus on best interest of the research project.
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