By far the most European research is conducted at national level, with limited cooperation between countries. Joint Programming is a new “method” for research cooperation among the EU member countries and is independent of research funding by the EU Commission. JP offers a process for increased and more effective cooperation – the idea is to channel the resources which already exist nationally and to use these to solve together the great challenges faced by Europe and the world. It is strongly emphasised that countries are free to take part in the JP they choose and that the different programmes may be designed differently, depending on the countries which take part and on the characteristics of the research area concerned.
Transparent control at high level
A high level group, GPC (Groupe de haut niveau pour la Programmation Conjointe), appointed by the EU Council of Ministers, was at work in 2009 on producing a first wave of proposals for Joint Programmes. Four proposals have been approved, of which a pilot project (concerning Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases) has already begun. The other three are at the planning stage and relate to
- Agriculture, food safety and climate changes
- Cultural heritage, and
- Healthy food for a healthy life.
During 2010, GPC will recommend that the Council of Ministers should resolve on a few more Joint Programmes which will be processed in the EU Commission and will then be ready to proceed. In GPC, Sweden is represented by Rolf Annenberg (Research Council Formas) and Rolf Höijer (Ministry of Education). In addition, representatives of Swedish research councils, VINNOVA and the Energy Agency are members of a working group in Sweden.
Of the total of six new proposals for JP which are now being processed, Sweden has taken an initiative that concerns resistance to antibiotics. Sweden is also taking part in the planning of a further three proposals which concern
- Climate changes
- The urban Europe, and
- The ageing population.
Agriculture and climate
Two examples of Joint Programmes are agriculture with food safety and climate changes. A global challenge that agriculture is facing is to produce more and better food for a growing population, while ensuring that the environment is not destroyed and finite resources are not used up. But production is at times threatened by e.g. an incipient shortage of non-renewable production resources (e.g. fossil fuels and phosphatic fertilisers) and by negative environmental changes (e.g. increasing drought and salinisation of large areas). Agriculture both contributes to, and is affected by, climate changes, but it also has the potential to produce renewable energy that can replace fossil fuels.
Agriculture is thus a key area for global sustainable development, and was consequently one of the three areas that the Council of Ministers had initially selected for Joint Programming. A large united endeavour in agricultural research is needed for a better future for the increasing world population. European research should take a leading role in this.
Around 20 countries have now started work on a joint research endeavour in this area. Work is led by the National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) in France and the Biotechnology and Biology Research Council (BBSRC) in the UK. In the first year a vision and strategic plan for research will be drawn up with the help of an international scientific panel whose members are being recruited.
Resistance to antibiotics
The discovery of antibiotics in the middle of the last century revolutionised treatment of infections caused by bacteria and made it possible to cure diseases that had previously been fatal. Today, bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a growing problem that poses a serious threat to global health. Unless measures are taken, humanity may be on the threshold of a future without effective antibiotics and thus a considerably reduced ability to treat infections. The Joint Programme on antibiotic resistance proposes a broad approach to solving these problems through combining European research inputs in the following seven main areas:
- Epidemiology and monitoring of infections, treatment and antibiotic resistance
- Dissemination of information among the countries
- Health economics
- Preventive inputs and treatment of infections
- Rapid diagnostics
- New antibacterial medicines and treatments
- Biology and the dynamics of resistant bacteria
At the time of writing, a group consisting of representatives from around 10 countries is working, under the leadership of the Science Council, on putting together a proposal that will in its final form be presented at the GPC meeting in May.
Author
:
Rolf Annerberg
Lisa Almesjö