Public Interventions Policy versus science: Who is in the driving seat?

Maria da Graça Carvalho participated in the conference Policy versus science: Who is in the driving seat? organised jointly by SwissCore and the Mission of Switzerland to the European Union, which took place in Brussels at the Swiss Mission to the EU.The Swiss Science Briefing is a platform for presenting specific aspects of the Swiss research landscape. The speakers invited to discuss the selected topic in a European context were Maria da Graça Carvalho, Prof. Dieter Imboden and Prof. Dirk Helbing (see article published by Science&Bussiness).

Maria da Graça Carvalho reflected on her experience regarding the interplay between politicians and researchers and the programming of European research and innovation funding instruments from 2014 to 2020. Which balance of bottom-up and top-down instruments will best serve Europe?. Maria da Graça Carvalho made an intervention on the Future EU - Research and Innovation Programme.

Prof. Dieter Imboden, President of the Swiss National Science Foundation presented the Swiss experience in this respect. A new wave of the National Centres of Competence in Research (NCCR) that promote long-term research programmes in areas of vital strategic importance for the development of science in Switzerland has just been launched. Is Switzerland moving away from its 'bottom-up' governance of science?

Professor of sociology and co-founder of the ETHZ Risk Center, Dirk Helbing elaborated on the potential and consequences of scientific modelling and simulation for policy formulation in general and in the case of the FuturICT flagship proposal in particular. How do new technologies change the relationship between policy and science?

More than 75 persons participated in the conference, including the director of COST or Directors and Heads of Units from DG Research and INFSO.

Policy versus science: Who is in the driving seat?: As Europe strives towards smarter, greener and more inclusive growth within the Europe 2020 strategy the role of science and innovation is greatly emphasised. The flagship initiative Innovation Union, the further implementation of the European Research Area (ERA) and the future programmes between 2014 and 2020 will play a major role in realising these ambitions. Much attention currently goes to solving grand societal challenges like demographic or climate change. It is clear that science can provide major contributions tackling these challenges. But this also poses fundamental questions around the interaction between researchers and politicians, the organisation of science systems and the programming of research and innovation funding. This Swiss Science Briefing raised the questions of who (state or science) should be in the driving seat when it comes to the contribution of science in tackling the grand societal challenges.