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EU research commissioner Philippe Busquin launched a new initiative this week that aims to make it easier for researchers and their families to move around Europe. The commissioner hopes that making the everyday life of "mobile" scientists easier will increase the attractiveness of Europe for research.
The official launch of the European Network of Mobility Centres was made at a 2-day event entitled "Brain Drain, Brain Gain: New Challenges" that opened in Paris on Tuesday (June 29).
The network will consist of 200 centers in 33 countries throughout Europe and beyond. These centers will act as social translation centers, offering researchers who have moved outside their home country assistance with housing, schooling, languages, social security, and more.
"The hermetic nature of the current structures is one of the greatest menaces to the attractiveness of the European Union," said Busquin at the launch. "The real challenge of attractiveness—and through it the competitive future of the Union—will be our capacity to promote career conditions and perspectives which will incite researchers to come to or stay in Europe."
The network of centers is one of several European initiatives to make Europe a better place to do research. In July last year, the commission launched a "mobility Web portal," linking some 3000 sites relating to moving across Europe.
Later on this year, two of the commission's recommendations should lead to new actions. The first is to draw up a European charter for researchers, which would facilitate the management of careers in research; the other is to draw up a European code for recruiting researchers.
"What we want is for the value of scientists to be recognized everywhere, regardless of the framework they happen to be part of," Busquin told The Scientist.
"All of these actions, which help forge, at a European level, career perspectives founded on a better understanding of the different forms of mobility, come together around a single goal, one which is challenging but determining for the future of European competitiveness: to create a European job market for researchers."
In order for this to come to pass, three things must happen, Busquin told The Scientist. First, awareness of the need for excellence in research must be raised. Secondly, research policy must be made a national and European political priority. Finally, state budgets must be adapted to reflect this prioritization.
"That is a political choice which is becoming more and more pressing, and that needs to be developed across Europe," Busquin said. He pointed out that achieving the goal set in Barcelona in 2002 of devoting 3% of gross domestic product to research is crucial to these purposes. European heavyweights such as France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he said, must set this as a priority for themselves.
Finally, Busquin stressed the importance of raising public awareness. In 2005, the European Commission will launch a campaign entitled "Researchers in Europe." "The public must be conscious of the importance of research and innovation for the future of Europe," he said. "Our only richness is intelligence."
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