The EU ministerial meeting on research in Hungary was devoted to the European Research Framework Programme, the EU's main instrument for funding research in Europe.
The discussions centred on research cooperation and priorities for the next programme period. Norwegian Minister of Research and Higher Education, Tora Aasland was invited to give her view on Norway’s main priorities for the next period.
Norwegian partcipation
Norway has participated in the European Research Framework Programme since the beginning of the 4th Framework Programme in 1994. In the current Framework, the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), Norwegian institutions participate in about 7 per cent (726 research projects) of all the 10.797 projects receiving funding.
As the Research Framework Programme is of great interest for Norway, Aasland will continue the discussion with Hungary's Minister of State for Strategic Affairs, Zoltan Cséfalvay at a seminar on European Research in Oslo on May 20th.
The topics will include innovation in the Union, future of the EU's Framework Programme, Norwegian participation and the EEA Financial Mechanisms.
Funding research in Europe
At the ministerial meeting in Budapest, external speakers shared their experiences from the Framework Programme period, before the EU Commissioner for Research, Innovation, and Science, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, presented the first results of the debate on the Commission’s Green Paper of innovation, published on February 4th.
The Commissioner acknowledged that there was a unanimous need for simplifying the Research Framework Programme, including the stability and predictability of rules of grants.