Joint statement by Commissioners Navracsics and Moedas on the EU’s approach to maximise the impact of science

A study by the Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) published in Nature today confirms that EU researchers perform considerably well thanks to the scientific openness of European countries. The article shows a significant correlation between the degree to which a state cooperates with other countries in the field of research and the quality and success of its research. On the occasion of the publication TiborNavracsics, Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, responsible for the Joint Research Centre, and Carlos Moedas, Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, said: “In research and innovation, cooperation across disciplines and countries is a must. That is one of the many areas where the EU has a clear added value as Member States perform exceptionally well thanks to the enhanced collaboration within the Union and with third countries. It unquestionably helps our researchers produce world changing science and our public and private sectors to improve people’s lives. In fact the EU-28 has maintained its share of the world’s top 10% most highly cited scientific publications, in the face of strong competition from China and elsewhere. Across five different locations in the EU 2000 researchers from the Commission’s Joint Research Centre support European policy makers with the best available science. We are particularly proud of the role played by the Commission’s research and innovation programmes Horizon 2020, and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, which has enabled more than 100,000 research fellows to work abroad since its launch 20 years ago. As two very recent examples, EU funded scientists have participated in the ground-breaking research that led to this year’s Nobel Prizes in Physics for the discovery of gravitational waves and in Chemistry for the development of cryo-electron microscopy. We warmly congratulate the researchers on their achievement.” More information on the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions is available in this factsheet.