Friday, January 20, 2012

Q&A: EU science chief seeks U.S. researchers, cooperation

By Lori Valigra

With research and innovation a central economic policy in the European Union, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, is in Boston to boost cross-pond collaborations and try to attract U.S. scientists to Europe. She took time during a packed schedule that included visiting Merrimack Pharmaceuticals at the Massachusetts Life Sciences Super Cluster, the Harvard Innovation Lab, and the MIT Media Lab to answer questions posed by Mass High Tech via email.

MHT: What is the goal of your trip to Boston? Are you trying to attract scientists/companies to the EU, or looking for collaborations stateside?

Geoghegan-Quinn: My trip is both about collaboration in research and competition for the best brains. Traveling to Washington, DC and Boston, I have stressed that the European Union and the United States are natural partners in research and innovation. This reflects the fact that the transatlantic relationship remains the most important in the world, and we have a lot of potential to step up our cooperation as we seek to emerge from this current economic crisis. Research and innovation is now a central economic policy for the European Union.

So I am here to talk to the U.S. authorities and to scientists about the opportunities for collaboration, especially through the future EU-funded research program Horizon 2020. At the same time, healthy competition between us is important, and we are in competition for the best talent. So I am in Boston launching the ‘Destination Europe’ event and participating in the MIT European Career Fair to highlight the opportunities for U.S. researchers in Europe.
 
MHT: Is your trip here tied to the first pillar of Horizon 2020 (the European program for research and innovation), i.e., to raise the level of excellence in Europe’s science base and assure a steady stream of world-class research to secure the long-term competitiveness of the EU? If so, what specifically would you like to accomplish?

Geoghegan-Quinn: My trip is not only tied to the first pillar of Horizon 2020, although that is important. Horizon 2020 is a seven-year programme running from 2014 to 2020, for which the European Commission has proposed a budget of €80 billion, or around US$102 billion. This is divided into three pillars – the first pillar focusing on excellent science, the second on making industry more competitive through leadership in innovation, and the third focusing research efforts on tackling challenges like climate change, food security and health and aging. These are global problems where we need to work together as much as possible.

What Horizon 2020 is particularly focused on is overcoming what I have described as an ‘innovation emergency’. We have great researchers and excellent ideas in Europe, but we haven’t been as good at bringing them to market in recent years. I am therefore also particularly interested in seeing how the innovation chain in the U.S. works. I visited the Harvard Innovation Lab, for example, which is looking at new and innovative ways to help its researchers bring ideas to market.

So there is, in fact, scope for collaboration with international partners across all three pillars. I am in the U.S. to encourage U.S. research institutes, academic institutions and companies to participate in the current Framework Program FP7 and then Horizon 2020, which will continue to be most open research program in the world for international participants.
 
MHT: The Boston-Cambridge biotech and technology clusters have become models for other similar efforts throughout the U.S. and the world. What can the EU learn from these clusters? What can the EU contribute to these clusters in terms of collaborations and other joint efforts?
 
Geoghegan-Quinn: The work being done here is indeed impressive. I visited Merrimack Pharmaceuticals at the Massachusetts Life Sciences Super Cluster yesterday, where there were also a number of young European scientists working. They highlighted in particular the fact that so many companies and researchers are working in the same area, all concentrated in a very compact and well-connected space. The networking opportunities and information exchange made possible by this are vital for advances in research. This is what we are also focusing on in the EU now. Horizon 2020 will continue to fund collaborative research that brings together multiple partners from across the EU. We are also creating a more joined up research space and a single market for ideas in the EU, through the European Research Area, which we aim to complete by 2014. Finally, I would highlight that the European Institute of Innovation and Technology is taking the lead in driving innovation through its Knowledge and Innovation Communities. 

MHT: What does the EU offer to draw US scientists to work there?

Geoghegan-Quinn: I think there are a lot of fantastic research opportunities for U.S. scientists to come to Europe or work collaboratively with Europe, but I would like to highlight in particular the work of the European Research Council (ERC). The ERC is a widely acknowledged success story. It supports world-class, blue-sky research, the ideas for tomorrow’s innovation. The ERC gives grants to top scientists of any nationality, including of course the U.S., to base their work in the European Union. Grants are worth up to 2 million euro for promising young researchers, and worth up to 3.5 million euro for established researchers with a strong track record. ERC grant holders, including from the U.S., have told me time and again that the ERC will fund research that they might otherwise struggle to support.

We have therefore proposed a very substantial increase of the ERC budget to 13.2 billion euro under Horizon 2020’s first pillar. Boosted by this, the ERC is now focusing more and more on stepping up efforts overseas in order to draw on global talent.
 
MHT: Have any specific actions/agreements resulted from any of your Boston meetings, eg., with Governor Deval Patrick and others? Are there specific areas of research/science that you are pursuing during your visit? What do you hope to get from the MIT visit, for example?

Geoghegan-Quinn: I was very happy to have the opportunity to meet with Governor Patrick and also with Massachusetts Senate President (Therese) Murray.  Both were very enthusiastic about exploring every possibility for cooperation in research, and I explained that Horizon 2020 would continue to be open for participation by U.S. researchers and companies as part of our collaborative research programs. We agreed that we would work closely to raise awareness of these opportunities now and in the future.

The life sciences were certainly a theme of the visit to Boston, and also in my discussions with National Institutes of Health Director (Francis) Collins in Washington, but EU funding goes to the full spectrum of research fields.  I was therefore particularly interested to explore new approaches to innovation in general during this trip, which is why the visit to the Harvard Innovation Lab and the MIT Media Lab were very important to me. 
 
MHT: The EC is to publish an action plan early next month setting ways to achieve a sustainable bio-based economy in Europe by 2020. Is there room for Boston-area companies/scientists/academics to participate in this? If so, how?

Geoghegan-Quinn: We will indeed be presenting a plan on the bio-based economy early next month, which underpins two flagship initiatives of the European Commission: Innovation Union and Resource Efficiency. It will highlight what we need to do in Europe to deliver the full potential of our bio-economy sectors, but on a sustainable footing.  Innovation and research under our framework programs will be a vital component of the work we need to do, and will inform policy in the area. As I have already said, we very much welcome the expertise and experience that international participants can bring to our collaborative research projects, including in this area.
 
MHT: Are there any other comments you’d like to make related to your trip to Boston, as well as to Washington?

Geoghegan-Quinn: This visit has left me more convinced than ever that the EU and the U.S. are on the same page regarding research.  Speaking with the Obama administration, including (Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy John) Holdren, (National Science Foundation Director Subra) Suresh, and others, it is clear that we both understand the need to drive our ability to invest in research and to innovate, or we risk falling behind. The EU and the U.S. must work closely together if we are to stay leaders, and not become followers, and our R&D intensity is an important driver of growth and leadership in the global economy.