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N. 32, March - April 2007
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 | Editorial
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The need to promote knowledge sharing between European
universities and industry
José Manuel Silva Rodríguez
Director-General, DG Research, European Commission
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Since the establishment of the University of Bologna in 1088,
European universities have been creating new knowledge and training a
professional workforce. However, a new millennium brings new challenges and
there is a need for these institutions to embrace change if they are to rise to
the opportunities presented to them.
I believe that there are two main challenges on the horizon –
global competition and social cohesion. The 2005 Glasgow Declaration (see
www.EUA.be) accurately identified a number of issues that must be addressed by
universities in the coming years. I particularly noted the point that strong
universities must share a commitment to the social underpinning of economic
growth and the ethical dimensions of higher education and research.
I interpret this as meaning that universities have an increasingly
important role in promoting European competitiveness. As increasing investment
in research proves difficult, it is even more necessary to increase the rate at
which R&D results – in particular publicly-funded research results
– are translated into actual products, services and socio-economic
benefits for the good of society at large.
This does not mean that universities should do everything by
themselves. Indeed, partnering with industry to bring a product to market is
usually a more suitable mechanism when it is done in a responsible manner (cf.
www.responsible-partnering.org).
However, university-industry relations are often considered too
complex to be worthwhile, especially in trans-national situations. Our recent
consultation on knowledge transfer (see
http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/pdf/download_en/consult_report.pdf),
confirms that there are still fundamental difficulties in aligning interests
and that there is a need to get the broader framework right if collaboration is
going to occur across Europe.
We have therefore prepared Commission guidelines on knowledge
transfer between the public research base and industry, which proposes a number
of voluntary actions to be implemented by both stakeholders and by Member
States in order to facilitate cross-border university-industry relations. These
guidelines, which should be adopted in 2007, will cover the topics of IPR
management and collaborative research.
The Commission is playing its part – starting the debate at a
transnational level, offering various sources and types of support for
knowledge transfer activities and trying to ensure that the regulatory
framework – from the IPR regime to the State aid rules – all work
toward making effective university-industry links a reality.
Indeed, the Seventh Framework Programme is going to promote
university-industry staff exchanges in the Marie Curie scheme, the creation of
research capacity in convergence regions in the Research Potential scheme and
is going to continue to promote industry-university relations in all thematic
areas.
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