In the last meeting of the Competitiveness Council, that took place on 9-10 June 2022, the members of the Council discussed several issues relating to research. Depending on the agenda, the Competitiveness Council brings together Ministers responsible for trade, economy, industry, research and innovation and space from all member states.

The ministers adopted several conclusions, including:

• On principles and values for international cooperation in research and innovation, emphasising that international cooperation is of paramount importance in order to enhance the impact of research and innovation in addressing major global challenges. In the context of the current Russian military aggression against Ukraine, the Council added a statement to the conclusions deploring the Ukrainian crisis and its impact on research and innovation;
• On research assessment and implementation of open science, giving this way political impetus for joint action to be taken in three key areas: reform of research assessment systems, capacity building for academic publications, and the promotion of multilingualism, as a means of communicating and disseminating the results of scientific research; and
• On European missions, providing guidance on the framework for the implementation of the European missions, in particular concerning the governance of the new instruments at European, national and local level to enhance synergies between funding programmes. The recording of the discussions is available here.

The Council also held a policy debate on ways to support young researchers in times of crisis and, more generally, how to ensure good working conditions and long-term career prospects for them once an emergency situation is over. Most ministers stressed the need for safety nets to prevent the harmful effects of future crises. These actions should not be limited to research alone but should also cover other sectors, including social, employment and education policies. The recording of this debate can be found here.

Other topics included resilience and competitiveness of the EU space programme, space traffic management, Copernicus by 2035 and other topics related to internal market and industry.

Click here for more information about the meeting.