New EU Research Agency
The European Union needs to boost it’s global research profile to be able to compete with countries like the US and Japan, and soon China and India. A new agency has been set up under the name of European Research Council (ERC). It’s budget will be 7.5 billion euro to 2013. The agency will attract the brightest minds of Europe and boost the EU economy by funding important research projects. Professor Fotis Kafatos is the new president of the European Research Council.
The Council is envisioned as an independent, quality-driven funding body run by the scientists themselves.
Its creators expect it to stoke competition, and, by extension, drive up the quality of all scientific endeavour within Europe.
“We have a collection of small scientific communities, and that means you have a tendency to select the best in small parts, rather than looking for what will survive in global competition,” explains Professor Fotis Kafatos, the ERC’s president.
“The ERC is about pooling our efforts so that all of Europe can be a big player. We want to be the best in the world, not just the best in the local neighbourhood.”
Read the full article at the BBC clicking here.
Administrator @ February 27, 2007