Public Interventions Great Investment in research - a way out of the European Crisis?

The crisis in Europe is persisting. When attempting to identify its causes, mistakes made in the more distant past are rarely considered. However, couldn't the low levels of private and public expenditure on research and development also have been a factor? In some EU Member states the gross domestic expenditure on R&D is far below 1.0% of GDP. How significant is research to value-creation chains in industry? How can sustainable and competitive research structures be established?

Maria da Graça Carvalho participated, as a panel guest, in an exchange of viewpoints on these current issues concerning European research policy at the Max Planck Society's new premises in Brussels. Together with representatives of the EU Commission, Council of Ministers and Parliament, as well as members of the European press in Brussels, the seminar pretended to discuss the major contributions that research policy and research promotion can make to overcoming the current crises and ensuring the sustainable development of the European Research Area.

Programme:

6:30 p.m. Kick-off presentation - Peter Gruss, President of the Max Planck Society

6:45 p.m. Panel discussion - Robert-Jan Smits, Director General of the DG for Research and Innovation; Barbara Kudrycka, Minister of Science and Higher Education, Poland; Stefan Marcinowski, Member of the Board of Executive Directors of BASF until 2012; Maria da Graca Carvalho (see intervention here), Member of the European Parliament.