Research

Over the last 70 years, European institutions have invested in research and innovation by devising specific strategies and establishing dedicated bodies such as the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The JRC was initially established under the Euratom Treaty to promote nuclear safety in Europe. It now comprises seven institutes, coordinated by a Directorate-General of the European Commission, that provide scientific and technical support to EU policy-makers. European cooperation in the field of research also takes other forms, alongside the EU institutional framework. The European Space Agency (ESA), for example, founded in 1975, is an intergovernmental body dedicated to space exploration and science whose members include non-EU countries such as the UK, Norway and Switzerland.

This section illustrates some of the targeted programmes sponsored by the European Commission, such as BRITE, the key Community programme for industrial innovation launched in 1985, and Teleman, the research and training programme on robotics and remote systems in the nuclear environment established in 1989. The Commission has also run a statistical office since the 1950s, Eurostat, which provides EU institutions with comparable statistical information at the European level.

Research and innovation have historically been linked to economic growth, but they are also at the crossroads of sensitive issues like geopolitical competition, intellectual property and fundamental rights.

Jacopo Cellini