The European Research Area (ERA) was launched in 2000, in the context of the Lisbon strategy, to address the fragmentation of the EU’s research and innovation system, which at the time consisted of the national R&I systems and an EU level funding programme. It aims at building a common scientific and technological area for the EU. Creating a single market for research and innovation fostering free movement of researchers, scientific knowledge and innovation, and encouraging a more competitive European industry. This involves restructuring the European research landscape towards more cross-border cooperation, continent-wide competition, building of critical mass and coordination, and the improvement of national research policies and systems. Since 2009, achieving the ERA has also become an explicit Treaty objective, as expressed in Article 179 TFEU.
Since 2000, the European Research Area has seen major achievements: The work of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) resulted in the development of plans for more than 50 European Research Infrastructures, across all fields of science, mobilising close to EUR 20 billion in investments. Jointly addressing common challenges through coordination and pooling of resources has resulted in more than EUR 7 billion of national investments in joint research programmes, with current annual joint spending of EUR 800 million. Significant progress has been made in removing the geographical barriers to researchers’ mobility and the fragmentation of research careers in Europe, driven by the European Charter for Researchers and a Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers. In addition, the EURAXESS initiative supports researcher mobility and career development by delivering information and support services to professional researchers. The ERA has enhanced access to open, free of charge, re-usable scientific information through the Open Science initiative and the European Open Science Cloud (EOSC) creating a cloud area for research data in Europe allowing for better science through open and collaborative knowledge sharing.
Despite this progress, since 2018 discussions were evolving about re-vitalising ERA, giving it more visibility, relevance and effectiveness. To this end, the Council of the EU and the European Commission initiated a process to renew the ERA and to establish a more effective ERA governance. In November 2021, the Council of the EU adopted a Pact for Research and Innovation in Europe, as the foundation of the “new ERA”, as well as a new governance framework for its implementation. Furthermore, the Council adopted a first ERA Policy Agenda for the years 2022-2024 and called on the Member States and the European Commission to work together in partnership towards its implementation.