EU public-private research partnerships need a revamp to better attract business cash, says the member of the European Parliament tasked with drafting the European Parliament’s opinion on Horizon 2020.
In a working document released on 17 February, Teresa Riera, a socialist MEP from Spain, proposes to re-define rules for existing and future public-private partnerships, such as Joint Technology Initiatives.
“PPPs are absolutely necessary, but so far they haven’t been very successful in attracting private money,” Riera told Research Europe. “Public money should not be used to finance R&D activities in private companies,” she says, but to bolster business cash investment in priority areas.
“Public funds should be matched by a budgetary commitment from private partners and not only by in-kind contributions,” Riera says. PPPs should be more transparent, and should follow the overall Framework Programme rules for intellectual property and open participation for newcomers and small players, she says.
The former mathematician adds that relying too much on PPPs may be risky in times of economic crisis. Cash-strapped governments and businesses may not be able to invest, leaving parts of Horizon 2020 under-developed.
Riera’s working document lists six other main topics for discussion. First, she insists that the programme needs €20 billion more than the €80bn proposed by the European Commission for 2014-20. The Commission’s proposal “represents only a modest increase (around 6 per cent in real terms) compared with the funding level of Framework 7 in 2013,” the MEP writes.
Second, Riera says medium-sized collaborative projects between researchers from different EU countries should remain the bulk of Horizon 2020. PPPs should complement rather than replace them. Shifting the focus too much towards funding short-term, close-to-market innovation could harm long-term, basic research, she says.
Third, Riera suggests precise targets to monitor Horizon 2020, such as increasing exports or reducing imports by a certain percentage, the number of newcomers to the programme, or the number of researchers receiving training funded by Horizon 2020.
Other topics include measures to widen participation in less experienced EU countries, nurturing researchers’ careers and simplifying the programme’s rules.
Riera’s working document will serve as a basis for discussion with other members of Parliament’s Industry, Research and Energy committee. The first draft of the full report should be published in May.