State Secretary Hirayama at an informal EU ministerial meeting on research and innovation

On 2 and 3 April State Secretary Martina Hirayama, Director of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI, will be attending an informal meeting in Bucharest (Romania) of ministers of EU member states responsible for research and innovation. At this event, which takes place twice yearly, ministers will discuss how the EU can promote excellence and at the same time encourage broad participation in research and innovation. The multi-year framework programmes for research and innovation (FPs) are the European Union's main instrument for implementing its joint science and innovation policy. Researchers from one or more countries usually draw up project proposals in response to specific calls, and these proposals are then evaluated by panels of independent experts. Countries thus receive EU research funding on a competitive basis; the criterion is the excellence of the project proposals and there are no country quotas. The aim of Romania, which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council of Ministers, is to reduce disparities in research and innovation activities between the EU member states and so strengthen research in Europe. With a view to the next programme generation, Horizon Europe (2021-2027), the informal discussions in Bucharest will focus in particular on ways of encouraging countries with weaker innovation systems and those with less experience to take part in the FPs.