A meeting of science ministers from across Europe met in San Sebastian in Spain earlier this month and agreed unanimously to release the 'Donostia Declaration' - a 300-word statement endorsing the role that science must play in assisting Europe to recover from its worst economic crisis in recent decades.

The nine EU Ministers of Science, together with the Norwegian Minister as observer and several deputy ministers, met within the framework of the Council of Competitiveness for an informal meeting organised by the Spanish Presidency in San Sebastian (in Basque: Donostia) earlier this month.

Europeans will now be intensely interested in how these intentions, originally launched by the Swedish EU Presidency last July in the Lund Declaration, will be carried out.

The emphasis in the Donostia Declaration implies moving from declarations to discussions of dimensions, priorities and use of instruments in the EU's 27 research policies. Since thousands of comments will be filed during the process in developing the European Commission's 8th Framework Programme over the next three years, the Lund and Donostia declarations might prove to be important points of departure.

The Swedes had three goals in their 'Grand Challenges' as set out in the Lund declaration:

* An 'Apollo-spirit' for research investments in Europe.
* Alignment of science budgets among member states and the EU, with a stronger role for the former as a 'Bologna process for research'.
* Increased use of the Knowledge Triangle, that is, linkages between higher education, research and innovation.

Before the meeting in San Sebastian, the Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation, Christina Garmendia Mendizábal who chaired the meeting, said: "Over the next six months we will try to give more prominence to help tackle the major challenges facing Europe, and make this more effective. Right now, the most pressing issue is economic recovery, but there are other challenges such as the search for new energy sources, climate change, ageing and health.

"This is why we are drawing up the Donostia Declaration where we will try to reflect on Europe's effort in these directions. The scientific sector in Europe needs a more flexible, simple research system. If we work to bring this about, we will have more scientists and more entrepreneurs developing more science for Europe".

The topics for discussion in San Sebastian were integration, involvement and inclusion, each presented by a prominent keynote speaker.

The interest among observers in Brussels is how the Lund concept of Grand Challenges, now reiterated by the Donostia Declaration, will find its way into the planning processes towards creating the FP8 research programme.

As Germany will be the first country to prepare a statement on the programme, it is expected soon, it holds the key to the opportunities and challenges for European research because it is the only European country with sufficient resources to allow for a significant expansion of the programme.

Professor Tony Davies, previously Director of the Cancer Institute in London and now a private consultant for EU research projects, said the preliminary wording of the Donostia Declaration should put emphasis on the exploitation of science rather than science per se.

"I know it is too late to change that but in my view it is vitally important not simply to continue to accumulate stones on the cairns of knowledge that are beside our scientific mountain climbing, but also to look at the view and see where we have got to and where we go next," Davies said.

"Additionally, if Europe wants to encourage innovation, it is about time it did more research on how research knowledge is taken up and used in Europe, and how the methods for doing so might be further encouraged."

(See Davies' detailed response to a request for comment by University World News here)

Inga Vesper, a reporter for Research Europe said: "I believe it is unlikely that Framework Eight will be expanded to two or three times the size of Framework 7 as Europe is still reeling from the effects of the financial crisis and will have little money to spare in the upcoming budget discussions.

"It is quite likely there will only be a marginal budget increase for Framework Eight. A decrease would, however, also be unlikely as member states are beginning to recognise the importance of research and science for their economy and their international competitiveness."

* The Donostia Declaration can be read here

Printable version
Email to a friend
Comment on this article

Disclaimer: All reader responses posted on this site are those of the reader ONLY and NOT those of University World News or Higher Education Web Publishing, their associated trademarks, websites and services. University World News or Higher Education Web Publishing does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with any comments, opinions or statements or other content provided by readers.