The ‘European Research Area’ Idea in the History of Community Policy-making

Integration Processes in European Research and Development: A Comparative Spatial Interaction Approach Using Project Based Research and Development Networks, Co-Patent Networks and Co-Publication Networks

“…At the same time, regional and national research policies deal with similar issues as reflected by a growing awareness among national policy makers that national efforts are often insufficient to keep pace in the international innovation competition. In this context the European Council underlined the importance of cross‐border cooperation for the achievement of these objectives and placed collaborative R&D activities at the center of its strategy (Guzzetti ). Svanfeldt () highlights the crucial importance of cross‐border cooperation as instrument for adequately dealing with these challenges.…”

Conceptions and expectations of research collaboration in the European social sciences: Research policies, institutional contexts and the autonomy of the scientific field

“…However, Research only became a Community policy in 1986, leading the Commission to take a commanding role in the coordination of national policies from the mid-1990s. By then, the Framework Programme (FP) had become an important source of funding for most member states (Guzzetti 2009 (Guzzetti 2009: 74) signalled a cultural change in the mode of collaboration between national agencies involved, as well as in the coordinating role of the E.U. To some extent, the flexible steering championed by the ORA scheme (discussed in more detail below) is a reflexion of this new approach to research governance, but takes it further by bypassing the necessarily normative role played by the European Commission as coordinator.…”

“…However, research only became a Community policy in 1986, leading the Commission to take a commanding role in the coordination of national policies from the mid-1990s. By then, the Framework Programme had become an important source of funding for most member states (Guzzetti, 2009).…”

“…The formalisation of the ERA is commonly attributed to the 2000 Lisbon Strategy aiming to transform Europe into a world-leading knowledge-based society. The Open Method of Coordination “based on principles of voluntary convergence of States and reciprocal learning process though diffusion of best practice” (Guzzetti, 2009: 74) signalled a cultural change in the mode of collaboration between national agencies involved, as well as in the coordinating role of the EU. To some extent, the flexible steering championed by the ORA scheme (discussed in more detail below) is a reflexion of this new approach to research governance, but takes it further by bypassing the necessarily normative role played by the European Commission as coordinator.…”

“…The ORA also emerges in the context of the launching of the European Research Council (ERC) in 2007, which indicates a move in European research away from the principle of juste retour or formal criteria of multinationality (Guzzetti, 2009) and claims instead to “stimulate scientific excellence in Europe by supporting the very best, creative researchers of any nationality and from any scientific domain, including the social sciences and humanities” (ERC, 2010). As limited as it is in terms of volume compared with core EU funding schemes (i.e.…”