A European Research Council: an idea whose time has come?

Abstract

The vision of a European Research Area (ERA) has encouraged proponents of basic research to propose the setting up of a European Research Council (ERC) as a correction to the national limitations of existing funding agencies and the applied nature of the European Union (EU) framework programmes. This paper examines the recent rise of the idea of an ERC, including the historical-institutional background, the positions of the most important players and the factors working for and against it becoming a reality. A distinction is drawn between radical and incremental variants of the idea, implying either a large, independent funding agency, or a lighter, co-ordinating ‘agency of agencies’. Even if the radical idea of an ERC has been revitalised in the context of ERA, it still faces a difficult environment dominated by basic research organisations attached to the national level and EU institutions and interest groups wedded to applied research, as well as a divergence at European level between focused and general research organisations. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.