| Abstract: | The aim of this contribution is to look at the impact of European research policies on the European Research Area. In 2000, during the preparation of the Sixth Framework Programme for RTD, the Commission published a communication calling for the creation of this area. There are, however, good reasons to think that the European Research Area existed already prior to this communication and, not least, as a result of the five Framework Programmes that preceded the one being launched in the near future. The main hypothesis of this contribution is that these programmes have already had an effect on creating sustainable research networks which are the building blocks of a European Research Area. If the new programme and the related instruments were not to take the experiences and needs of these networks into account, the new Framework Programme could represent a step backwards and might duplicate the mistakes of national research policies during the 1980s and 1990s. |
