September 25, 2003
Press Release and Cover Letter
Summary Document
The European Research Council Expert Group (ERCEG) was set up on the initiative of the Danish Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Helge Sander during the Danish EU presidency in December 2002 as a follow-up to a debate in the Council of Ministers on the status of the European Research Area (ERA) in November. The task of the Expert Group is to further discussions on the purpose and scope of a European Research Council (ERC) and to explore options for its possible creation. The Expert Group is to deliver its report to the EU research ministers by the end of 2003.
The discussion in the Council of Ministers was preceded by a conference in Copenhagen, organized by the Danish Research Councils in October 2002, which made guiding recommendations on the basic principles of a possible European Research Council (ERC). Important inputs to the discussion have also come among others from the EU Research Advisory Board (EURAB), the European Science Foundation (ESF), the European Life Science Federation (ELSF), the Academia Europaea and the Heads of European Research Councils (EUROHORC).
The Expert Group has actively engaged in debates with various bodies representing different parts of the European research community and its ideas have been received with great interest. During the summer the Expert Group has prepared a Summary Document giving the present state of discussions in the Expert Group. It will be widely distributed to facilitate broad consultations with ministries, research organizations and other interested parties.
On the basis of these consultations the report will be finalized at the last Expert Group meeting on November 17th and will be presented to the European research ministers before the end of the year.
Enclosed please find the Summary Document. Questions and comments can be directed to members of the Expert Group or to the secretariat.
Professor Federico Mayor
Chairman of ERCEG
The members of the Expert Group are
Professor Federico Mayor, Chair, Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid and President of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Phone +34 667 542 007
Professor Mogens Flensted-Jensen, Vice Chair, from the Board of the Danish Research Councils, Phone +45 3528 2343
Professor Norbert Kroó, Secretary General of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Dr. Wilhelm Krull, Secretary General of the VolkswagenStiftung
Dr. David J. McConnell, Professor of Genetics at Trinity College Dublin and Chairman of the Irish Times Trust
Professor Gérard Mégie, President of the CNRS
Professor Helga Nowotny, Chair of the European Research Advisory Board
Dr John Taylor, Director General of Research Councils, UK
Mrs Myrsini Zorba, Member of the European Parliament, Member of its Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy, and the Committee on Culture, Youth, Education, the Media and Sport
Professor Peter Nijkamp, Chairman of NWO, is observer from the Netherlands and Mr Peter Kind, Director for Structuring the European Research Area, is observer from the European Commission. Secretary to the Expert Group is Professor Dan Brändström, Director of the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation.
Secretariat
Dan Brändström
Phone +46 850 626 401