Press Release: Expert panel supports Commission proposal to boost research funding

Publication of the third Five-Year Assessment of the Research Framework Programmes (1999-2003), being the final report of an expert panel led by Erkki Ormala, Vice President of Technology Policy at Nokia. The report, which reviewed the implementation and achievements of the Framework Programmes over the period 1999-2003, concluded that the European Union's Research and Development Programmes had made a major contribution to the development of Europe's knowledge base and had a positive effect on Europe's potential for innovation. However the panel found that if this positive effect was to be continued, more resources would be needed in the future. The panel also recommended more industry participation, especially SMEs; streamlined and simplified administration; and more emphasis on radical innovation and risk-taking.