On 4 February, the European Commission announced the establishment of an expert group to design the governance structure for the European Research Area (ERA), the EU’s planned single market for research (which was first launched in 2000). The Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel announced the launch of the new group at a joint press conference with Portuguese science minister Manuel Heitor. The objectives of the group in 2021 will be to:
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Provide recommendations on a new ERA governance framework, including the mandate and objectives of its different components and the interactions between them
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Cooperate on the development of the first ERA policy agenda and advance its work in line with the roadmap set out in the communication “a New ERA for Research and Innovation”
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Provide input for a new yearly ERA Scoreboard to monitor the progress in implementing the ERA.
As part of the work around the ERA, the Commission aims to encourage Member States to increase the average research and development spend to 1.25% of GDP, up from the current 0.8% (below the 3% target when the ERA was first launched in 2000). You can access more information on the ERA and the new expert group here: https://ec.europa.eu/info/news/commission-launches-new-era-forum-transition-2021-feb-08_en
