The ITRE MEPs Maria da Graça Carvalho (EPP), Kent Johansson (ALDE), Ioannis Tsoukalas (EPP), Teresa Riera Madurell (S&D) and Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA), in collaboration with the Horizon 2020 NGO Alliance hosted the roundtable "HORIZON 2020- for a more sustainable and fairer knowledge society: what role for the citizen, civil society and the public good?",which took place in the European Parliament.
Members of the European Parliament, the Horizon 2020 NGO alliance, representatives from the EC, from research institutions and from NGOs, discussed the demand for a strong involvement of civil society in research programmes in a time when our societies face immense ecological, social and economic challenges; and time for "business as usual" is over, and radical change is needed.
Current proposals for the new European framework program for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020, keep focussing on the interests of big industrial players. Research and technology have a crucial role to play, but must - especially when publicly funded - benefit the whole society.
During Ms Carvalho´s intervention, in the quality of ITRE PPE Rapporteur H2020 Specific programme, she spoke about the role of the citizen and of the civil society in promoting the public good with particular reference to a more sustainable and fairer knowledge society.
Ms. Carvalho added that "this is particularly important" because active input from Civil Society contributes to increasing the quality, relevance and sustainability of innovation outcomes by integrating society's interests and values; by promoting broader social interest in science and innovation and by furthering their active participation in the development of science and technology.