EUA Supports Launching of European Energy Research Alliance
At its recent Council meeting held at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, EUA agreed to give its support to the establishment of a European Energy Research Alliance (EERA). It was particularly welcomed that the European Commission had invited EUA to participate in EERA on behalf of Europe’s universities in what is regarded as an important pilot development in the new “joint programming” approach in the further building of the European Research Area.
In launching the EERA in Paris on 28th October in Paris the EU Commissioner for Science and Research, Janez Potocnik said: "The development of cutting-edge energy technologies requires the pooling of the best brains and resources beyond national borders. The creation of the European Energy Research Alliance that will coordinate national and European energy research programmes is a crucial step forwards. This test case of joint programming will enable us to leverage on a more efficient use of national and European resources and compete successfully on the international level."
The EERA will foster cooperation between major national research institutes and universities that will help to move from today's model of collaborating on individual projects towards a new way of jointly implemented programmes. There are many scientific fields which have an impact on the development of energy technologies, from engineering to the social sciences. The Alliance will be able to cover many different disciplines, bringing a much-needed multidisciplinary approach to energy research.
In participating in EERA, EUA wants to ensure the openness of the EERA to high quality research fostered through appropriate coordination and funding mechanisms (both national and European) that provide opportunities to bring excellent university-based researchers and research teams together to tackle the challenge of overcoming the fragmentation of Europe’s research efforts in this strategically important research field. The success of the EERA will be measured by its openness to European research communities to develop an innovative research agenda that includes both specialist disciplinary expertise and inter-disciplinary approaches to address commonly-agreed research priorities.
Professor Helena Nazare (Rector, University of Aveiro, Portugal) represented EUA at the EERA founding group meeting and the EU French Presidency Conference on the SET-PLAN on 27-28th October 2008 in Paris.
Published on: Thursday, 30 October 2008 09:15