ERC launch conference

27 - 28 September 2007
2.00 - 2.00
Berlin, Germany
ERC
Cover image of ERC launch conference

 The European Research Council was officially launched at an inaugural conference held in Berlin on 27/28 February 2007. Researchers and stakeholders from over 30 countries were attending the ERC launch to celebrate its establishment and discuss its strategic and programmatic objectives.

 

Speaking at the ERC conference German Chancellor Angela Merkel praised this new institution as a milestone in European research policy and declared that "research policies like these can provide a real basis for growth in Europe and increase its competitiveness".

She added that the ERC could become "a Champion's League for research" and "we [politicians] have to accept that research needs autonomy and freedom…"

According to Prof. Fotis Kafatos, the first President of the ERC and Chair of its Scientific Council, "the ERC will succeed, it is not a question of whether, it is a question of how fast".

Janez Potocnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research, expressed his strong support that the ERC will be "free from political interference of any kind" and will become a "powerful institution in the future".

Programme

Excellence in Research through Competition

Tuesday, 27 February 2007, Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW)

12:00 pm Registration and Lunch (Scientific Council, early participants)

12:00 pm Press Conference

1:15 pm

1:30 pm Welcome and Opening Remarks

  • Prof. Matthias Kleiner, President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG (German Research Foundation)

1:35 pm

  • Dr. Angela Merkel, President of the EU Council of Ministers and Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany

2:00 pm

  • Dr. Janez Potočnik, European Commissioner for Science and Research

2:15 pm

  • Dr. Angelika Niebler, Member of the European Parliament, Rapporteur of the FP7 Specific Programme „Ideas“

Session 1

The ERC: A new impulse for top level research in Europe

A Europe-wide competitive fun-ding structure for frontier research executed by individual teams is a key component of the European Research Area and complements other Community and national activities. Such a structure will help to reinforce Europe‘s dynamism and attractiveness for the best European and international researchers, but also for industrial investors and sponsors. It will actively contribute to strengthening and increasing Europe’s capacities in world-class research in all fields of science and technology. Europe needs to attract and retain the very best researchers. This not only requires the necessary resources but also the autonomy and flexibility needed to turn goals into reality and to master the most ambitious challenges. This session will consider how the ERC can initiate, stimulate and catalyse the structural adaptation of the European research base. More precisely, it will discuss how the positive impact of the ERC can be maximised to create complementarities between the ERC and national/multilateral research funding organisations and funding systems. In this respect, it will be important to discuss the communication channels and decision-making processes of the participating players at strategic, programmatic and operational levels. Consequently, the discussion will contribute to explaining how the ERC can adapt to the European research environment and vice versa.

2:30 pm Keynote Speech

  • Prof. Fotis C. Kafatos, ERC President and Chair of its Scientific Council, Greece

3:00 pm Coffee Break

3:30 pm Panel Discussion 

  • Moderator: Prof. Margret Wintermantel, President, German Rectors‘ Conference, Germany
  • Prof. Juri Engelbrecht, President of ALLEA; Vice President, Estonian Academy of Sciences, Estonia
  • Dr. Daniel Esteve, Vice Chair, ERC Scientific Council, France
  • Prof. Dieter Imboden, President, Swiss National Science Foundation, Switzerland
  • Dr. Robert Aymar, Director General, European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, Switzerland
  • Prof. Maciej Zylicz, President, Foundation for Polish Science, Poland
  • Dr. Angelos Michaelides, EURYI award winner, Ireland/Berlin

5:15 pm  Session Conclusion

5:30 pm

  • Prof. Federico Mayor, Chair of the ERC Expert Group, President of the Foundation for a Culture of Peace, Spain

Conference Dinner

7:00 pm Reception, axica Congress Centre

7:30 pm Welcome Speech: Prof. Matthias Kleiner, President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG (German Research Foundation)

7:45 pm Dinner

9:00 pm After Dinner Speech: Prof. Sir David King, FRS, Chief Scientific Adviser to HM Government, UK

Session 2

The ERC: A contribution to society and the knowledge-based economy

Investigator-driven frontier research is a key driver of wealth and social progress as it opens up new opportunities for scientific and technological advancement and is instrumental in producing new knowledge that leads to future applications and markets. In establishing the ERC, Europe will finally have the structure that enables it to make the most of its research potential and resources, to generate knowledge and to translate it into economic value and social welfare. This session will address the benefits that the ERC delivers in supporting frontier research in new or rapidly-emerging fields that may lay the foundations for future prosperity and growth in Europe. Important aspects will be how the ERC succeeds in establishing partnerships with the industrial world to stimulate and increase private investment in fundamental research and to translate cutting-edge knowledge into leading innovation and economic benefit.

9:00 am Keynote Speech

9:30 am Panel Discussion

  • Moderator: Dr. Ekkehard D. Schulz, Chairman, Executive Board of ThyssenKrupp AG, Germany
  • Prof. Imre Kondor, Rector, Collegium Budapest, Hungary
  • Hubert Jacobs van Merlen, President and CEO, IIE SA, Luxembourg
  • Prof. Helga Nowotny, Vice Chair, ERC Scientific Council, Austria
  • Dr. Mark Walport, Director of the Wellcome Trust, UK
  • Dr. Arend Oetker, President, Donor’s Association for the Promotion of Sciences and Humanities in Germany
  • Dr. Massimiliano Cavallini, EURYI award winner, SCRIBA Nanotecnologie, Italy

11:00 am Coffee Break

11:30 am Session Conclusion

11 :45 am

  • Prof. Carlos Martinez, President, Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Member of EuroHORCs, Spain

12:00 pm Lunch

Session 3

The ERC: A European player with an international scope

The ERC‘s openness to third countries and its appeal to industrial investors and foreign researchers will make it a strategic partner in the global international research landscape. The ERC will develop partnerships with major national funding agencies and with research performers, including universities, thereby taking into account the creation and transfer of knowledge. This session will address the ERC's potential international strategies, with a view to quickly establishing relations with matching structures in industrialised countries and emerging economies, as well as playing a constructive role in developing countries. Furthermore, it will aim to contribute to the advancement of science and mankind's well-being at the global level.

1:30 pm – Keynote Speech

2:00 pm Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, Director of the National Institutes of Health, USA

2:15 pm Panel Discussion

  • Moderator: Professor Leena Peltonen-Palotie, Member of the ERC Scientific Council, Finland
  • Prof. Peter Gruss, President of the Max Planck Society, Germany
  • Prof. Catherine Brechignac, President of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France
  • Prof. Motoyuki Ono, President of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan
  • Prof. Xu Zhihong, Rector of Beijing University, China
  • Prof. Georg Winckler, President of the European University Association, Austria
  • Dr. Brian O’Neill, International Institute for Applied Systems and Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria/USA

3:45 pm Coffee Break

4:15 pm Key Conclusions and Future Prospects

  • Prof. Ernst-Ludwig Winnacker, Secretary General, ERC, Germany

Closing Remarks

7:30 pm Prof. Matthias Kleiner, President of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG

(German Research Foundation)

Press