"We must provide specific support for young researchers in Europe in order to improve our competitiveness. This includes greater mobility between science and industry – and the possibility of reciprocal transfers between scientific and industrial career paths", said Federal Research Minister Annette Schavan and the Science Minister of Land Baden-Wuerttemberg, Peter Frankenberg, when opening the European Researchers of Tomorrow Conference in Stuttgart on Monday. Germany is making good progress towards achieving this goal.
What structures must be created for promoting young researchers? How can it be made easier for them to transfer between science and industry? Approximately 500 international participants from science, industry and politics will be discussing these questions at the conference "European Researchers of Tomorrow - Crossing the Borders of Academia and Industry" from 13 to 15 May 2007. This conference, which is held within the German EU Council Presidency, has been organized by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) in conjunction with the Ministry of Science, Research and Art of Land Baden-Wuerttemberg and the EU Commission.
Federal Research Minister Schavan emphasized the need for action: "We must make research careers more attractive if we want to encourage talented young people to enter such careers". And she added that the Federal Government had already taken important steps in this direction with its measures to promote excellence, in particular its Initiative for Excellence. Within the framework of this Initiative, the Federal Government and the Länder are providing additional funding of approximately two billion euro in support of top-class research at German universities up to 2011. The transfer between science and industry is also a central topic of the Federal Government's High-tech Strategy. The Pact for Higher Education and funding programmes for gifted education are also important instruments for supporting young researchers. "The Federal Government is serious about offering young people first-class opportunities", said Schavan.
"Our efforts to enable young researchers in Germany to assume responsibility for their own research groups have produced highly positive results", Schavan added referring to the BMBF’s BioFuture and Nanofutur programmes as well as the Emmy Noether Programme of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft. It is therefore right and important that the promotion of young research groups should be among the first tasks of the newly established European Research Council.
Minister Frankenberg pointed to the importance of young researchers for the Lisbon Strategy, which aims to establish a European Research Area that is competitive in all fields. "In keeping with this goal, Baden-Wuerttemberg’s tenure track scheme is offering junior professors and lecturers a new, quick career path within a single university", said Frankenberg.
With regard to improving mobility between industry and science, he added that it was already possible to offer researchers company placements in industry. Many universities in Baden-Wuerttemberg are operating exchange programmes or conducting joint projects with industry. "But we still have to make further progress in ensuring compatibility between the different pay and social security schemes of the various sectors as well as the various nations", Frankenberg said. "We need mobility and exchange between industry and academia, but we also need mobility across national borders. I regard this as a real future challenge for Europe as a whole."
Further information on European research policy and the German EU Council Presidency can be found at www.bmbf.de and www.eu2007.de.
