Poland and seven other EU countries call for increasing the role of research in EU politics
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Ministers of eight European Union countries - including Poland - called for increasing the role of research in the work plans of the European Commission in 2016. In a letter to European Commissioner they stressed that Europe should increase its spending on this sector to 3 percent, or else it will weaken its position in relation to world economic leaders.
"With the science ministers of eight EU countries, we call for increasing the role of research and innovation in the work plans of the European Commission in 2016" - Minister of Science and Higher Education Lena Kolarska-Bobińska twitted last Monday.
She called for attention to the sector of research and development policy of the European Union in a letter to the Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation Carlos Moedas, together with the ministers of seven other European countries. In addition Kolarska-Bobińska, the letter was also signed by ministers from Spain, Bulgaria, Portugal, Greece, France, Italy and Slovenia.
As we read in the ministers’ letter, policy priorities of the European Commission are increasing the number of jobs, achieving economic growth and new investments. "However, to achieve this goal, Europe must undoubtedly increase their investments in R&D sector" - write European ministers.
According to the European Commission estimates, increase in expenditure in this sector to 3 percent of EU GDP will lead to the creation of 3.7 million jobs and annual income increase by about 800 billion euros. Meanwhile, over the last fifteen years, European spending on research development and innovation has not improved. According to the signatories of the letter, without taking into account these measures in the plans, the European Union may expose itself to the weakening of its position in relation to world economic leaders focused on innovation.
A good example is China, which for fifteen years has regularly supported research and development sector; their investments in this sector amounted to 2.09 percent GDP. From year to year there is an increasing number of scientific publications originating from China, graduating scientists and engineers, obtained patents.
The letter of the ministers is a response to the letter from the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, which included investment plans for 2016. Among the described activities, only few concerned research, technological development and innovation.
PAP - Science and Scholarship in Poland
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