One-size EU research policy doesn’t fit all

What do tailors and policymakers have in common? They both struggle to mass-produce their products and still make them fit the individual case. Hence the one-size-fits-all approach that actually fits no one very well.

A case of such one-size-fits-all policy-making is upsetting medical researchers across Europe, but in particular in Sweden, one of the continent’s leaders in the field. The General Data Protection Regulation, which aims to make research data available while protecting personal information, has alarmed medical researchers in Sweden so much that they have fired off an angry letter to policymakers.