Geoghegan-Quinn outlines EU's top research priorities

LORNA SIGGINS Western Correspondent

EUROPEAN Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn has identified climate change, energy, food security and quality of life for an ageing population as top priorities in her new portfolio.

Speaking at NUI Galway yesterday, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn also said that her job was to transform Europe into an “i-conomy”, as in a “really vibrant innovation economy”.

The commissioner said that although she was not blind to the current difficulties, she was optimistic Europe had the right assets to overcome them, and had outlined those in its proposals for a Europe 2020 strategy.

“In times of crisis, those of us in public life have a public duty to optimism,” she said.

Ireland had “actually got a lot of things right” in terms of economic planning over the last decade, she said, and it was “easy to forget” Ireland’s strong track record of “sustained strategic investment in research and education”.

“This will stand it in good stead now as it seeks to emerge from the crisis and ensure a durable recovery,” she said, while also warning that research and development budgets should not be cut.

This week the European Commission told the Government that its projections for correcting the economy were too optimistic and that cuts might have to be more severe than planned.

Ms Geoghegan-Quinn said that there was a “huge commonality” between the “smart economy approach adopted by the Government here at the end of 2008 and the Europe 2020 strategy”.

In identifying her focus on the “grand challenges” facing society, including climate change, energy and food security, she said her first step would be to strengthen the science base, and she strongly supported the 3 per cent of EU gross domestic product target of investment in research and development.

“I am worried that, with budgets under pressure, governments may view research and development as an easy area for cutbacks,” she said. “This would be completely the wrong reaction.” She said she was committed to a single European research area, and more collaboration between the EU’s 4,000 third-level institutions.

“I want to remove, once and for all, the pension and social security obstacles which prevent researchers from moving freely between countries,” she said.

“And I want to put an end to the fragmentation of national research efforts and avoid duplication of effort,” she said.