Research opportunities under Seventh Framework Programme

There is growing awareness in Europe that research and innovation are central to our growth and well-being. If we want to develop new products and services that boost our export markets, discover new drugs and therapies for the diseases and conditions that threaten our health, protect our planet, and find sources of energy that are secure, limitless and non-polluting, then we need to know more and be better.

This requires a joint effort. At European level, we have set a target of investing three per cent of our GDP in research and development by 2010. The latest figures we have are for 2004 and these show the EU average at just under two per cent. But behind this figures we see great differences in what member states invest individually, ranging from 3.74 per cent in Sweden to 0.29 per cent in Malta.

Member states have made a clear commitment to increase the proportion of the wealth that they invest in research and development. In Malta's case, this is a commitment to raise R&D spending to 0.75 per cent of GDP by 2010.

I very much hope that the Maltese government will do everything it can to honour this commitment. Let's be very clear about this: there are two distinct elements to R&D spending - what governments spend and what comes from the private sector.

Public spending is extremely important - it can have a leverage effect on private spending, address market failure, and ensure that R&D is aligned with political priorities such as alternative energy sources, better provision of health services or developing entrepreneurship.

But we have to recognise that this is not the whole story - R&D is in large measure about innovation: stimulating new products and services. So the contribution of private enterprise is of paramount importance. Two-thirds of the three per cent target should, if we want to achieve our growth and jobs objectives, come from investment by companies themselves. The EU average is around 55 per cent, with a Maltese figure of less than 20 per cent.

Malta definitely needs to do more to boost spending on R&D by its private sector. But there's no government in Europe, or anywhere else for that matter, that can tell companies what to do with their money. What we need to do is create the conditions that will encourage greater private investment.

There should be no misapprehensions: research and development aren't only vital factors for traditional or hi-tech industries. One of the sectors with fastest growing investment in R&D is services, vitally important for Malta's economy. Some of Europe's top private sector investors in R&D are in fields such as banking, media and travel. R&D should be seen as an investment in the future of a company, whatever sector it works in and whatever its size.

Here too, Malta can gain a lot from working with its EU partners. Governments can learn from good experience in other member states and adapt it to their own situation. Together we can identify the factors on which companies base their decisions about their R&D investment.

Last year the European Commission identified a number of areas that are crucial to increasing private sector investment in R&D and later this year we will be making specific proposals in the fields of state aids, use of tax incentives and transferring knowledge from universities to industry.

An initiative that has had enormous success already is the creation of European Technology Platforms (ETP). An ETP brings together a sector - companies, universities, research institutes, financial organisations, consumers - to establish a vision of where they want that sector to go and then to identify the research needed to get there.

These strategic research agendas can really help to mobilise money for research and make sure it is spent effectively. European Technology Platforms also have the potential to be real drivers of innovation, by identifying barriers to innovation and proposing workable ways to overcome them.

This might include suggesting Europe-wide standards in an emerging technology, an approach which was fundamental to the successful development of the European mobile communications industry.

Our new Seventh Framework Programme for research and development will increase the possibilities for the involvement of companies in research projects, and will in particular look to increase the participation of small and medium-sized companies in its co-operative projects.

There will also be a sum set aside for SMEs to access research results that can help in their own economic development. I see great potential for Maltese companies to take advantage of both these aspects of the programme - because for a small country like Malta, European co-operation is vital. It can give Maltese scientists and companies access to facilities and infrastructure that are just not viable at national level.

By participating in EU research projects, or ETPs, you will be involved in the generation of knowledge on a much greater scale than could be achieved nationally.

At its heart, research, like anything else, is about people. This is why at European level we put such great emphasis on making it easier for researchers to move within the EU. At programme level, FP7 will have almost €5 billion to support researchers who wish to carry out their research in another member state. Equally, we will support university researchers who are interested in spending some time working in industry and vice-versa.

Such exchanges and fellowships provide a perfect opportunity to gain experience of another way of working that can really develop a researcher's career, as well as being and enriching personal experience. The opportunities are considerable for a small country like Malta to benefit from its researchers and scientists gaining experience of how research is run elsewhere in the EU.

Research is an area where the value for Malta in being part of a union is easy to see. By engaging with European partners, Maltese companies, your university and your people will benefit directly. I very much hope that Malta will seize the opportunities offered by the new European programme, and get involved.

Janez Potocnik is the European Commissioner responsible for Science and Research. This article coincides with Expo Science Med 2006, which is to be held at the University of Malta between November 13 and 18.