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Challenge 4a:Legal aspects
C. Fischer-Dieskau, Honorary Director of European Commission
Setting the scene
ESFRI workshops conducted in March and December 2006 collected and discussed the different legal forms used for existing bi- or multilateral research infrastructures financed by several countries. Neither a purely national legal form (basically national company law) nor a legal form under international public law (basically that of an international organisation) are optimal solutions. The joint undertakings Galileo and JET which were created and mainly financed by the European Union (EU), may be attractive legal structures but could hardly serve as a model; any proliferation of supranational legal bodies would appear incompatible with the principle of subsidiarity.
An EU wide applicable legal instrument for research infrastructures does not exist. The European Economic Interest Grouping with the unlimited liability of its members and its economic and profit orientation is not the adequate answer. A Community framework regulation for the creation and operation of research infrastructures of European interest would be the best way forward.
M. Bas Sanchez, Legal Officer, Research DG, European Commission
Need for new legal formats: a new European model?
European consortia of research players need a new legal instrument for the operation of new research infrastructures of Pan-European interest and for Community research programmes. One solution to be considered could consist of an EC regulation providing a common legal framework for new research infrastructures of pan European interest. A limitation of the responsibility and a membership open to private and public entities including third country entities are some of the main characteristics required by research players. This framework should allow considerable flexibility for the individual consortia to negotiate the adequate rules to the specific infrastructure.
J. van Helleputte, Vice-President of the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Centre (IMEC)
Public-Private Partnerships
R&D challenges are becoming more complex, more cross-disciplinary in nature and more costly. New scientific insights are evolving at a never experienced pace, whilst new models of cooperation and funding of R&D are mandatory to cope with such changing environment. Strong multi-disciplinary teams are required to work closely together in mixed teams, not only to address R&D challenges and to create new insights but also to transfer and translate them quickly. Mixed research teams are increasingly based on a blend of academic and industrial researchers, incorporating continuous feed-back loops from a users perspective (future requirements) and from a technology perspective (future possibilities).
New Public-Private Partnership models based upon open innovation are required. Strategic research centres (SOCs) will have to focus on exploring new insights, on creating generic, re-usable building blocks or technology platforms, and on exploring different technology options in parallel, with mixed academic-industrial research teams. This will require state-of-the-art research infrastructure in combination with visiondriven R&D programmes, with sufficient critical mass, efficient leveraging effects and through participation in multi-annual, multi-partner research programmes, in order to create high knowledge added value at reasonable cost and in due time.
Funding of such expensive research infrastructure will be based upon mechanisms other than purely publicly funded RIs. It will rely in part on public funding, playing a catalytic role, being complemented later-on by industrial contributions. The IMEC-case is an illustration of such an approach.
K. Rouhana, Head of Unit, Information Society and Media DG, European Commission
Pre-Commercial procurement for innovation
The presentation focuses on the concept of pre-commercial procurement. It will highlight the benefits of public procurement of R&D services in which a number of suppliers are challenged to develop in competition new solutions for mid or long term public sector needs. This corresponds to areas where either no commercially viable solution yet exists on the market, or existing solutions exhibit shortcomings which require new research and/or development. As an illustration to set the debate, the presentation will close with a number of potential application areas in the ICT sector, notably in the research infrastructure domain, where pre-commercial
procurement could be applied.
