Constructing the European Research Area in Times of Crisis

Abstract

Amidst the financial crisis, the nature of the European Research Area (ERA) is seemingly changing. The advent of the Horizon 2020 framework programme (2014-2020), which encourages a market-driven approach to tackle ‘societal’ challenges, suggests a shift away from ‘pure’ knowledge generation towards the innovation of viable products with immediate commercial potential. With such an emphasis on producing marketable deliverables for profit, this panel asks whether policies emanating from the ERA are likely to strike a balance between the respective demands from the market, research communities and society. For instance, to what extent is the current projected vision of the ERA in danger of moving away from the motivations and expectations of scientists and researchers at the grassroots of the European innovation chain? Could the aims of the market be reached via such a strong push to ‘bring ideas to the market’? If so, what could be done to ensure that the ‘essence’ of science and research is not lost? What systems must be in place to safeguard and increase trust between policy-makers, scientists and citizens? Could the ERA be constructed in such a way so as to simultaneously address the needs of all stakeholders? If not, who ‘should’ be the ‘winners’ and ‘losers’? And, most importantly, who decides? This panel invites contributions from all theoretical and methodological schools addressing the above questions that would allow us to reflect on the impact that the crisis has had on the construction of the ERA. All papers should touch on whether the trend we are currently observing has been in the making since 2000 and the crisis merely expedited this process, or if the crisis is actually a critical juncture in the history of European research cooperation and governance so that the reactions we are seeing now indicate future pathways.

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