Informal meeting of Ministers for Competitiveness in Prague at an end

On 3 and 4 May 2009 an informal meeting of Ministers for Education, Science and Research was chaired by Czech Minister of Education, Youth and Sports Ondřej Liška. He invited his colleagues to an informal dinner at Troja Castle in Prague where the Czech band Mako Mako provided the musical accompaniment.

“We had chosen two topics for today’s ministerial discussions concerning the implementation of the European Research Area Vision 2020 (ERA), namely the possibilities of improving the relations between the three sides of the so-called knowledge triangle - education, research and innovation - on national level, supplemented by reflections resulting from the consultations of representatives of organisations that have a direct relationship with the elements of the knowledge triangle in Europe.

In the afternoon session we discussed the development of human resources in research on the basis of a document prepared by the Portuguese Minister, José Gago, and the Luxembourg Minister, Francois Biltgen,” the Czech Minister and acting President of the Competitiveness Council, Ondřej Liška, informed the participants.

Two areas which form part of the implementation of the European Research Area Vision 2020 were part of the programme, i.e. the relationship between the elements of the knowledge triangle (science, education and innovation) on political level and the development of human resources in research. At the request of the Czech Presidency a short introduction to the first subject was prepared. It is a proposal for an opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on the subject “Research and development: in support of competitiveness”.

In his opening remarks European Commissioner responsible for Science and Research Janez Potočnik stated that it is time to advance from ERA 1.0 management by experts to ERA 2.0 management where all stakeholders and citizens participate. The meeting thus reiterated emphasis on cooperation with experts and representatives of the industrial sector, since they are the ones we require to participate in research financing.

In the morning part of the programme Vice Chairman of the Research and Development Council of the Czech Republic and Director of the National Educational Fund Miroslava Kopicová gave a speech. She mentioned the experiences with reform of the system of research, development and innovation in the Czech Republic that was launched in March 2008. The reform and its European dimension in connection to the knowledge triangle served the Ministers as a concrete example for discussion of further implementation of Vision ERA 2020.

Representatives of three significant European institutions - EUROHORCs, the European University Association and Business Europe – also contributed to the discussion in their capacity as speakers representing organisations that stand for funding of research programmes, the position of European Universities and the position of entrepreneurs. All sides of the knowledge triangle were thus represented at the meeting in practice.

During the afternoon part of the informal meeting the document prepared during the French Presidency in cooperation with Portuguese Minister Gago and Luxembourg Minister Biltgen at the request of French Minister Pécresse was discussed in some detail. This document relates to the status of researchers that was introduced for the first time at the Competitiveness Council in December. Based on the obtained comments, the text was amended by both authors and submitted to the Ministers for discussion during the afternoon part of the meeting.

Contact:

Tomáš Bouška, spokesperson of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports for the Presidency
tel.: +420 257 193 426, mobile: +420 724 374 245; e-mail: tomas.bouska@msmt.cz