The Way Ahead - 9 November

The symposium will discuss how advances in science and technology have deeply influenced our way of life. More importantly, the symposium will discuss visions on developments in science and technology and its impact on the future of society and strategic options we can take today to lay the foundation for “The Way Ahead” with respect to preparing for the next European Framework Programme. The findings and outcomes of the symposium will lay the foundation of a larger conference scheduled for 2007.

The core topics for discussion will include:

• ‘Frontier’ Research / Technology development and exploitation of results
• Academia, Public Sector / Industry, Private Sector
• Long-term vision / Short-term goals
• Global research & innovation vs European research & innovation

Examples of detailed points for discussion by speakers and participants:

How to link ”frontier“ research with the exploitation of its results?

• Turning research results into development of technologies (material science to benefit novel computer hardware, …)
• Development of technologies to benefit research (high-throughput technologies, Bioimaging, Computational methods for science, …

Research vs Innovation

• Research: gaining new insights
• Innovation: exploiting new insights

Academia vs Industry

• European coherent research conditions that benefit both, Academia and Industry, and individual inventors.
• What is the role of industrial research and how is it embedded in the European Research area?

What is the long-term vision for European research?
Ensuring interdisciplinary and programme-spanning coherence in FP7?

• Coherent and compelling long-term vision (beyond Lisbon economic goals and towards ‘quality of life’) embracing the research programmes, vs short-term technology development

How to measure ‘success’?

• Number of employees in specific sectors?
• Turnover of companies in specific sectors & number of start-up companies?
• ‘Quality of life’ vs quantitative measures – what is the impact of technologies on societal models (relationship of technological and societal innovation), what is the long-term vision?
• Number of Nobel Prize winners in Europe
  (rather than European Nobel Prize winners)?

How to support researchers in Europe?
Global research & innovation vs European research & innovation

• In the end, individual researchers are driving research. Ensuring creative space for the brightest, early stage and established researchers. How to make exploitation of research results easier?

The way ahead for European research … next steps

• The European Research Council (supervised by the Scientific Council), supporting the brightest researchers – beyond programme directives
• The European Institute of Technology (EIT)?
• Long-term vision: a conference on coherent visions of the world of tomorrow („The Way Ahead: Visions of Science, Society and Technology“), involving the European Commission foresight, Academia, Industry on a global scale, to create compelling long-term visions