History and Past Activities
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History and Past Activities |
ESA Conference: Ageing Societies, New Sociology
September 23-26, 2003 in Murcia, Spain
Two streams of sessions of the
Research Network 18: Sociology of Science and Technology (SSTNET)
Convenors:
Raymund Werle: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies, Köln, Germany (werle@mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de)
Marja Häyrinen Alestalo: Dept. of Sociology, University of Helsinki, Finland (marja.alestalo@helsinki.fi)
Luísa Oliveira: DINÂMIA/ISCTE, Lisboa, Portugal (luisa.oliveira@iscte.pt)
Maarten Mentzel: 38 Johan de Wittstraat, 2334 AR Leiden, The Netherlands (m.a.mentzel@planet.nl)
First Stream: Governing Science and Technology in the Era of Globalization
Wednesday Sept. 24
17.00 - 18.30 session 4 (Campus de La Merced)
Chair: Raymund Werle
4.3. Author(s): Edler, Jakob
Institution: Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research
Professional Category:
City: Karlsruhe
Country: Germany
E-mail: j.edler@isi.fhg.de
THE EMERGENCE OF EUROPEAN RESEARCH AREA: AN INTER-TEMPORAL COMPARISON TO MAKE SENSE OF A GOVERNANCE CHANGE IN EUROPE
For the first time since the beginning of the current approach of the European RTD policy back in the early 1980s, a serious attempt is underway to upgrade and restructure the European programmes. The major idea is to let Europe exploit its potential in the knowledge economy more comprehensively, by creating a European Research Area (ERA) in which the main features are mobility, the bundling of excellence across Europe, the upgrading of co-operation from specific, targeted research project to larger networks, longer-term institutionalised co-operation and self-management by the European actors. In addition national RTD policies should become more co-ordinated and should join forces more flexibly within the EU (variable geometry, opening up of programmes).
In light of the recent developments as regards ERA, this presentation analyses the conditions for and nature of the process of policy change in RTD policy at the European level. It does so by looking back onto a historic process of Europeanisation of RTD policy in the mid 1980s. This historic analysis is guided by a theoretical concept that stresses the meaning of ideas, consensus building and the role of the Commission as a central consensus-building actor. The lessons learned from the analysis of this first leap forward in European RTD policy will be confronted with what we know about the driving forces that led to ERA. This comparative analysis delivers some explanation for the success in pushing ERA through the political process at the European level and identifies potential dangers of the consensus building approach chosen by the Commission.
Sociology of Science and Technology NETwork - last update: April 2006