ERAC, the European Research and Innovation Area Committee, is a strategic policy advisory committee, providing early advice to the Council, the Commission and the Member States on research and innovation policy issues.
ERAC’s tasks include:
- to advise on strategic policy orientation and future trends that require the refinement of Union and national, including regional, R&I policies, including on the current and the next Union R&I Framework Programme and other relevant R&I-driven Union initiatives;
- to initiate updates of the ERA policy agenda, by providing early strategic advice informed, among other things, by consideration of the progress made in ongoing ERA actions;
- to reflect and provide advice on new policy demands which fulfil the ERA policy agenda criteria, throughout the implementation of the ERA policy agenda;
- to interact with governance and coordination structures at a similar level in other relevant policy areas, such as higher education and industry.
ERAC is co-chaired by the Director-General of DG RTD and by an elected Member States’ co-chair (with a term of three years). Since January 2022, Barbara Weitgruber, the Austrian Director-General for Scientific Research and International Relations acts as Member States' co-chair. In March 2023, Marc Lemaitre took over as co-chair for the European Commission.
Following up on discussions in plenary, ERAC may decide to adopt ERAC opinions or summary conclusions on issues of joint strategic relevance; this was e.g. the case for the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024 (ERAC Opinion on the ERA Policy Agenda 2022-2024).
Most recently, ERAC adopted a Report on the role of R&I for the recovery of Ukraine (ERAC Report Ukraine) and Summary Conclusions on its policy debate about a European Science for Policy ecosystem.