Former European Central Bank president Mario Draghi’s report on boosting Europe’s productivity should be a “final wake-up call” for the region, sector leaders have said.
In The Future of European Competitiveness, prepared by Dr Draghi at the request of the European Commission, the former Italian prime minister warns of an “existential challenge” to Europe should it fail to become more productive, identifying “low innovation” and inadequate funding for research and innovation as central challenges.
Among his recommendations are a €200 billion (£169 billion) budget for the next European Union research programme; better coordination of strategy through a “Research and Innovation Union” and a “European Research and Innovation Action Plan”; a greater emphasis on excellence among universities and research institutions; and a focus on closing the “skills gap” in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Speaking to Times Higher Education, leaders cautiously welcomed the report, commending aspects including the doubled budget for the next framework programme while calling for greater clarity on some of the new initiatives proposed.
Kurt Deketelaere, secretary-general of the League of European Research Universities (Leru), said his association had given input for the report, commenting: “Let’s hope that this final wake-up call to member states and EU institutions has the necessary effect.”
Dr Draghi said the successor to Horizon Europe “should be refocused on a smaller number of commonly agreed priorities”, while more of its budget should go towards “financing disruptive innovation” and the European Innovation Council should undergo reform to enable it to fund “high-risk projects with the potential of delivering breakthrough technological advances”.
Backing for fundamental research through the European Research Council should be doubled, Dr Draghi proposes, while an “ERC for Institutions” programme, accompanied by a new funding framework, should be created in order to “foster the emergence of world-leading research institutions”.
To address a lack of workers in STEM fields, the EU should establish a “Tech Skills Acquisition Programme” involving a new visa route for students and researchers, a “large number of EU academic scholarships”, and internships and graduate roles at EU research centres in order to “[retain] competencies in Europe in the early phase of researchers’ careers”.
Professor Deketelaere told THE that Leru was in “full support” of the recommendation to “scale up the budget for fundamental research” through the European Research Council, while a pilot of an “ERC for Institutions” programme would be “most welcome”.
The report’s multiple references to dual-use projects – technologies with both military and civilian applications – were among its only “warning lights”, he said: “We want to keep these things separate and not mix them.” Professor Deketelaere also pointed to immediate political opposition to the overall report, which calls for an €800 billion spending increase, from “frugal states” including Germany and the Netherlands.
Thomas Jørgensen, the European University Association’s director for policy coordination and foresight, said the EUA was “very happy with the clear messages that Europe needs to boost research, innovation and education and that we need public spending for that boost”.
He was less enthusiastic about the proposed “ERC for institutions”, however. “Europe is a world leader in research with a networked, collaborative system, and there are no convincing arguments to concentrate research capacity in a few, localised super institutions,” Dr Jørgensen said. “This is what you have outside Europe, but our edge is that we have bigger, networked institutions, and that works when it comes to research output.”
Jan Palmowski, secretary-general of The Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities, called the report “an important, concise and comprehensive assessment of Europe’s economic challenges for the future”, celebrating its emphasis on higher education, research and innovation.
Dr Draghi’s recommendations on closing the skills gap “should trigger a real dialogue about the kinds of skills employers need, how we can deliver them better, and what the logjams have been”, Professor Palmowski said.
He supported the proposed Research and Innovation Union and European Research and Innovation Action Plan as a means of “achieving critical mass in funding”, stressing, “It is vital that the research communities contribute to the definition of priorities and that these priorities are expressed in terms of societal challenges instead of focusing on specific industries and technologies.”
But further commentary on specific proposals was “impossible” without more information on how they would be organised and funded, Professor Palmowski said. He went on to address the importance of securing public approval: “Without voters’ support and their sense that their concerns are being addressed, a razor-sharp focus on competitiveness will fail.”
