Maria da Graça Carvalho participated as a speaker in the open debate among ERA-net coordinators, Regions and EU Policy makers about the furute of the ERA-NETs that took place today in the Committe of the Regions. In the quality of rapporteur on the specific programme implementing Horizon 2020, Ms. Carvalho participated in the Policy debate on future ERA-NETs.
The transnational co-ordination of research and innovation programmes was included for the first time in the 6th Framework Programme (FP6) with the ERA-NET scheme. The aim was to support the networking of national research programmes in order to facilitate the exchange of views and good practices, the strategic planning, the design of joint research programmes and the development and implementation of joint activities, including joint calls.
Initially aimed at national Programme Owners and Programme Managers, the ERA-NET scheme saw the progressive involvement of Regions, which committed themselves to support the development of transnational R&D collaborations and concretely helped realizing the ERA vision.
Today some very positive experiences of regional participation in ERA-NETs can be highlighted, with some relevant cases where Regions represent from 60% to 100% of the project consortium (like in ERNEST, LEAD-ERA, CROSSTEXNET, MANUNET, NET BIOME), counting over 10 regional partners.
Moving from the experience of CROSSTEXNET and from a survey run to 15 ERA-NET coordinators involving regional participants, this workshop focused on Regions expectations and requirements for the future of ERA-NETs.
The workshop explored the European Commission view on the future of ERA-NETs, looking at Horizon 2020 and at the regional dimension of research and their relation to the smart specialization policy, in order to exploit at maximum the added value that can derive from the involvement of Regions.
The workshop moved from case studies presentations and opened to an interactive policy debate around key issues related to perspectives for regional ERA-NETs.
The workshop was targeted to ERA-NET coordinators and regional partners, as well as to regional Programme Owners and Programme Managers generally interested in the future of ERA-NET scheme.
Presentations of the event: