Considerations on COM(2023)436 - European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe - Main contents
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| dossier | COM(2023)436 - European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2023)436 |
| date | July 13, 2023 |
(2) The Commission Recommendation 2005/251/EC42, played an important role in supporting researchers and research careers in the Union. The Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers (‘Charter and Code for Researchers’) have become reference points for researchers and employers or funders of researchers, contributing to strengthening the European Research Area and supporting the development of a more attractive, open and sustainable European labour market for researchers. A European procedure certifying the commitment and progress of an institution towards the implementation of the principles of the Charter and Code for Researchers, the Human Resources Strategy for Researchers (HRS4R), is in place since 2008.
(3) The Commission Communication on a ‘European Skills Agenda for sustainable competitiveness, social fairness and resilience’, adopted on 1 July 202043, underlines that researchers are at the forefront of science and innovation, and that they need specific sets of skills to have successful careers within and outside academia. It foresees the definition of a taxonomy of skills for researchers, including to allow the statistical monitoring of brain circulation, the development of a European Competence Framework for Researchers, and support for equipping researchers with the skills needed for inter-sectoral mobility. The first flagship action of the Skills Agenda, the EU Pact for Skills, supports upskilling and reskilling through collaboration between industry, education and training providers, social partners and public authorities in large-scale skills partnerships.
(4) The Commission Communication on ‘A New ERA for Research and Innovation’, adopted on 30 September 202044, acknowledges that career development conditions to attract and retain the best researchers in Europe are necessary in the global race for talents, and that precarious employment, notably for early-career researchers, has not adequately improved over the past years. It also highlights the frequent misalignment between researchers’ skills and the needs of society and of the economy, notably those of industry and businesses, and the importance to incentivise researchers to pursue a career outside academia. The Communication points out that in order to strengthen research careers in Europe, there is a need for a toolbox of measures aiming at the recognition of researchers’ skills, the development of a Competence Framework for Researchers, enhanced mobility and exchanges between academia and industry, targeted training opportunities, and a one-stop-shop portal that researchers can access for a wide range of support services. The Communication also foresees the improvement of the research assessment system.
(5) The Council Conclusions on the ‘New European Research Area’ of 1 December 202045 stress that creating attractive and safe working conditions, and enhancing the attractiveness of research careers, taking into account open science, gender equality, digital skills, research assessment, diversification of research careers and multiple career paths, are vital elements of the new European Research Area, contributing to attracting and retaining excellent researchers.
(6) The Council Conclusions on ‘Deepening the European Research Area: Providing researchers with attractive and sustainable careers and working conditions and making brain circulation a reality’ of 28 May 202146, recognise that researchers are at the heart of the European research and innovation system, and that more coordinated action at European level is needed to overcome the existing challenges faced by researchers in view of having adequate and sustainable research careers, stimulate balanced talents circulation, and make Europe an attractive destination for researchers. They suggest analysis on the possible evolution of the Charter and Code for Researchers towards a single and comprehensive framework, addressing all challenges related to research careers beyond values and principles, and focusing on all possible research employment domains, and request the Commission to make a proposal in 2022. Aspects such as recruitment, incentives for early-career researchers, career diversification and progression, interoperability with all sectors of the society including industry, researchers’ assessment, gender equality, work-life balance, and an improved governance and services for EURAXESS, are suggested as elements to be included in the proposal.
(7) The Council Recommendation (EU) 2021/212247 includes research careers and the mobility of researchers, together with assessment of research, researchers and institutions, as important fields of action in the context of the priority areas for joint action by the Union and Member States in support of the European Research Area, and specifies a common set of principles and values to underpin research and innovation in Europe. It also highlights the need to give greater attention to early and mid-stage researchers’ careers, including the specific barriers that women face in those stages.
(8) The ERA Policy Agenda annexed to the Council Conclusions on the ‘Future governance of the European Research Area’ of 26 November 202148, includes dedicated actions to ‘Advance towards the reform of the assessment system for research, researchers and institutions to improve their quality, performance and impact’, and to ‘Promote attractive and sustainable research careers, balanced talent circulation and international, transdisciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility across the ERA’. The last-mentioned action foresees the development of a European framework for research careers, together with the upgrade of existing instruments and initiatives, and the creation of new ones. This includes the launch of an observatory on research careers; an evolution of the Charter and Code for Researchers; the setup of the ERA Talent Platform as a one-stop-shop online gateway to EURAXESS services, network and portals including HRS4R, and RESAVER; the launch of the ERA4You initiative to promote talent circulation between sectors and across the EU; the exchange of good practices with regard to research and innovation systems to support balanced brain circulation; and the piloting of the new framework for research careers with the European Universities alliances.
(9) The Commission Communication on ‘A European Strategy for Universities’, adopted on 18 January 202249, foresees the development of a framework for research careers, in synergy with a European framework for attractive and sustainable careers in higher education to be proposed by 2023.
(10) The Commission Communication on ‘A new European Innovation Agenda’, adopted on 5 July 202250, acknowledges that innovation depends on the successful nurture, attraction and retention of talented individuals and a diverse array of skills, and underlines the importance of inter-sectoral mobility.
(11) The Council Recommendation (EU) 2022/241551 emphasizes the importance of investing in the development of entrepreneurial culture, practices, skills and capacities for researchers and other research and innovation actors, including intermediaries, whose continuous professionalisation is essential, to maximise the transformation of research and innovation results into solutions that benefit society. A Code of Practice on industry-academia collaboration will support the implementation of the Recommendation.
(12) Researchers are a fundamental resource for society. They perform research, foster innovation, contribute to solutions to societal challenges, including the digital and green transition, thus contributing to the Commission overarching priorities for ‘A Europe Fit for the Digital Age’, and of ‘A European Green Deal’. Researchers are highly skilled talents who have great potential to meet the labour market demand, thus contributing to the other overarching priority of ‘An economy that works for people’. It is crucial to improve their overall working environment by strengthening research careers, their effectiveness, and making them interoperable between sectors.
(13) Enhancing the attractiveness and stability of research careers across the Union is a key element of the European Research Area. Therefore, there is a clear need to make research careers more attractive for school-leavers, and to put in place framework conditions to retain talented researchers in the Union, as well as for making it an appealing and competitive destination for international researchers.
(14) Talent is at the core of innovation. It is thus indispensable to create conditions to deliver and ensure a flow-through of highly skilled and resilient talents able to contribute to Europe’s recovery and competitive edge. This entails stronger ties between academia and industry, and an entrepreneurial and innovation culture, with talents able to take the ideas they develop to the market.
(15) The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) have been supporting for over 25 years, as part of the Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation, researchers from all over the world, at all stages of their careers, with a focus on training, skills and career development. The programme has also had a structuring impact on organisations (universities, research centres, enterprises etc) by spreading good pratices and increasing their international attractiveness and visibility notably through the development of excellent doctoral programmes. MSCA is a best practice example in contributing to inter-sectoral, inter-disciplinary and geographical mobility, developing researchers’ skills, addressing gender imbalances, retaining talented researchers and attracting new talent to Europe. The MSCA Industrial Doctorate programmes, where the research experience, location and supervision of a doctoral candidate are equally shared between an academic and a non-academic establishment, are an important example of interaction and cooperation between ecosystem actors, fostering transversal skills and inter-sectoral mobility, and helping industry’s needs of highly skilled talents.
(16) Eurostat data indicate that the number of researchers in Europe experiences a growing trend. In 2021, there were 2 million researchers (in full-time equivalent) working in the Member States, 627 thousand more than in 2011. Most researchers work in the business enterprise sector (56%) and the higher education sector (32%), followed by the government sector (11%). It is important to sustain this growing trend with adequate investments, infrastructures and policies at national and Union level supporting the attractiveness of research careers, including as regards diversity and gender equality, and to promote a culture of equal value and reward of research careers in all sectors of the society.
(17) There is a need for a clear and common definition of ‘researcher’ at European level, such as for example the definition of the widely accepted Frascati Manual, and for a common understanding of research professions. The research professions should be intended as the occupations that researchers can take up in all relevant sectors, comprising academia (universities, polytechnics and research institutes), business (including industrial laboratories, start-ups, spin-offs or small and medium-sized enterprises), public administration bodies (including public laboratories and the health care system), and the non-profit sector. Efforts are needed for the full recognition of the research profession, and to aim at the comparability of the research professions across Member States and sectors, including through the update of the R1-R4 researchers’ profiles introduced in 2011 and their wider use in vacancies for researchers.
(18) Performing high-level research and innovation requires the support of a multitude of research management roles, undertaken by researchers or other professionals. These highly valuable professions deserve proper recognition, including by way of further analysis and alignment at the level of the Union, with a view to strengthening their capacity, developing relevant training, fostering comparability, and allowing them to effectively manage and support research and innovation.
(19) The European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations (ESCO) classification has been updated in 2022 to include improved taxonomies of skills and occupations for researchers, thus specifying the occupations relevant for researchers across labour market sectors, and the transversal skills researchers need to be successful. The implementation of the ESCO classification in EUROPASS and in the European network of employment services (EURES), facilitates the uptake of this improved terminology in the labour market. Interaction by the Commission with the International Labour Organization is needed to have the specific category of ‘researcher’ included in future revisions of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), on which the ESCO classification is based.
(20) As recognised by Article 13 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and as stated in the Bonn Declaration on Freedom of Scientific Research of 20 October 2020, in the European Higher Education Area Rome Communiqué of 19 November 2020, and in the Council Recommendation (EU) 2021/2122, academic freedom and the freedom of scientific research must be safeguarded as essential prerequisites for researchers to advance research and innovation,. In this respect, a Staff Working Document was published by the Commission in January 2021 on how to mitigate foreign interference in research and innovation. The publication outlines best practices to support higher education and research institutions in safeguarding their fundamental values, including academic freedom, integrity and institutional autonomy, as well as to protect their staff, students, research findings and assets.
(21) Women continue to be under-represented among researchers, constituting only 33% of the total population of researchers in the Union. Data also show that a higher percentage of women researchers are employed in the higher education sector, compared to men researchers, whereas their percentages are lower in the government and business sectors. Across the Union, a higher proportion of women researchers, compared to men researchers, work part-time and under precarious contracts in higher education (11% for women and 7% for men) and women only occupy 26% of top academic positions (full professorship or equivalent researcher position). There is a need to effectively address persisting gender inequalities in research careers – including gender pay gap, gender biases in assessment, work-life balance issues as well as gender-based violence, which all affect participation and career progression – through institutional change, including through the instrument of inclusive gender equality plans. Moreover, specific efforts are needed to address women’s under-representation in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields in research and innovation, as well as in the higher education sector as highlighted in the European strategy for universities which proposes a manifesto from STE(A)M-oriented universities on gender-inclusive STE(A)M education.
(22) To support the full personal and professional development of researchers in the Union, and in particular of early-career researchers, it is essential to address existing challenges which have negative consequences on the overall research and innovation system in the Union, and on the internal market for research. Such challenges include employment and working conditions aspects, such as a different students/employees status of doctoral candidates across Member States, frequent lack of open, transparent, and merit-based recruitment, precarity linked to short-term project-based contracts, unsatisfactory equal opportunities, work-life balance and wellbeing measures, and weaknesses of social protection tools, including difficulties with the portability of entitlements between sectors and Member States.
(23) The employability and career development of early-career researchers would benefit from dedicated incentives for their recruitment, such as financial and social protection ones, including opportunities for permanent or open-ended contracts in line with the intent of Council Directive 1999/70/EC of 28 June 1999 concerning the framework agreement on fixed-term work concluded by ETUC, UNICE and CEEP52. In this respect, a wider use of baseline funding or life-cycle research funding could be promoted alongside project-based funding. Baseline funding provides universities or research centres with a projection of guaranteed financial support in return for meeting certain deliverables and quality standards; life-cycle funding is characterised by an initial competition for funding that is renewed if assessed positively following a monitoring process. This allows research organisations to develop more long-term research strategies and engage in sustainable commitments towards employees, while using project-based funding to continue exploring new itineraries.
(24) As asserted in Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for dignity and the free development of personality. Article 9 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that the guarantee of adequate social protection must be taken into account when defining and implementing Union policies and activities. Principle 15 of the European Pillar of Social Rights states that both workers and the self-employed in retirement have the right to a pension commensurate to their contributions and ensuring an adequate income. Yet, mobile researchers experience difficulties accumulating adequate supplementary pensions as a result of vesting periods, high transfer fees, limited financial literacy and administrative burden at retirement age. Therefore, safeguards based on the Council Recommendation of 8 November 2019 on ‘Access to social protection for workers and the self-employed’53 should be ensured to researchers.
(25) RESAVER, the pan-European institution supported by the Commission which deals with occupational retirement provisions for research performing organisations and will be one of the components of the upcoming ERA Talent Platform, has the full potential to address social protection issues of mobile researchers, but its uptake is hindered by limited awareness and substantial administrative and legal hurdles. With the aim to safeguard the occupational pension rights of mobile researchers, information about how potential mobility might affect pension rights should be provided, and participation of research performing organisations in RESAVER should be promoted.
(26) Inter-sectoral, inter-disciplinary and geographically balanced mobility are essential to make research careers in the Union more effective, sustainable and attractive. With such mobility, the overall research and innovation system becomes more competitive, and fosters better knowledge production, circulation, and use. Those forms of mobility should be promoted, incentivised and adequately integrated into the researchers’ professional development, and action should be taken to promote the elimination of existing obstacles of any possible nature, including e.g. the limited portability of grants.
(27) A change of approach would be needed by academia and researchers, whereby research careers are considered fully interoperable and inter-sectoral, the reward system attributes equal value to careers undertaken in all sectors and does not penalise geographical, inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral mobility or career breaks, including sabbaticals or parental leave, and researchers take into consideration indistinctly careers in academia and beyond.
(28) In some instances, doctoral training is still directed mainly at a future career in academia, and it does not sufficiently take into consideration the wider range of occupations relevant for researchers across sectors, as well as the importance of fostering researchers’ entrepreneurship. Equipping researchers with transversal skills through formal and informal trainings, in addition to strong research skills, is highly important for better career opportunities, inter-sectoral mobility and innovation, and to make research careers in the Union more attractive. Furthermore, it would be important for researchers to have a clear understanding of their societal responsibility and of the societal impact of their research, including aspects related to sustainability.
(29) The European Competence Framework for Researchers (ResearchComp) developed by the Commission in consultation with Member States and stakeholders, will play a key role in equipping researchers with a wide set of transversal skills and closing the skills gap between academia and all other relevant sectors. Doctoral training, and targeted training opportunities, should be developed according to the competences described therein, including based on the exchange of best practices, in order to allow for the up-skilling and re-skilling of researchers with a lifelong perspective. Adequate recognition and validation mechanisms for formal and informal training opportunities, including on-the-job training, should be ensured.
(30) To ensure that researchers’ training is developed or co-developed on the basis of actual skills needs, interaction and cooperation between academia, business, public administration, the non-profit sector, and all other relevant ecosystem actors should be promoted, including for example in relation to internships, traineeships or job shadowing.
(31) Fostering an entrepreneurial mindset and the related competences in researchers, including competences for seeking investors and capital, is crucial to improve knowledge valorisation and the transformation of innovative ideas into new services and products with higher potential for market uptake, sustainable growth, innovation and societal benefits. For a successful entrepreneurial path, intellectual assets such as publications, data, know-how and intellectual property should be properly understood and efficiently managed as referred to in Council Recommendation 2008/416/EC54.
(32) Cross-sectoral talent circulation, improved interoperability of research and innovation jobs between sectors, and strengthened academia-business collaboration for both knowledge and talent transfer demand a combination of different and complementary measures at national and Union levels, including system reform. A policy approach that involves mutual learning on the basis of successful models for inter-sectoral mobility schemes can contribute to (i) strengthening academia/non-academia cooperation, and reinforcing innovation ecosystems, (ii) improving training and lifelong learning for researchers, innovators, and other research and innovation talents, including upskilling to build support capacity, and (iii) boosting researchers’ development of entrepreneurial skills.
(33) Researchers should be made aware of the crucial importance of policy making and policy measures in the field of research, and the impact they can have on the overall research careers and research and innovation system. It would be important for doctoral training to include and instil this understanding, in order to ensure more involvement of researchers in policy making activities related to the research field.
(34) Researchers, in particular early-career ones, should be made aware of prospects available in all sectors and of the possibility of pursuing those opportunities for widening their spectrum of personal and professional development. Career advisory and support services, tailored to the needs of researchers, have an important role to play, stimulating inter-sectoral, inter-disciplinary, geographical and virtual mobility, and the possibility of developing entrepreneurial activities. Inter-institutional mobility, notably between different profiles of higher education and research institutions and along diverse and flexible academic paths should be promoted, including by addressing obstacles linked to the competences developed in the previous institution, and the ones required in the new one.
(35) Research assessment should enable evaluating the performance of researchers and research to achieve the highest quality and impact. As highlighted in the 2022 Paris call on research assessment, in the scoping report ‘Towards a reform of the research assessment system’ published by the Commission in 2021 and based on broad consultation of stakeholders, in the Council Conclusions on ‘Research assessment and implementation of Open Science’ of 10 June 202255, and in the Agreement on Reforming Research Assessment published in July 2022, a proper evaluation of performance requires recognition of increasingly diverse research outputs, activities and practices, including collaboration and open sharing of outputs, and ensuring high research integrity standards. Researchers’ assessment should therefore move to a more balanced approach between the quantitative and qualitative evaluation of research, by favouring qualitative assessment with peer-review, supported by responsible use of quantitative indicators.
(36) Researchers’ assessment should promote an equal recognition and reward of careers of researchers regardless the sector of employment or activity, and be based on an unbiased talent-based approach. A multiple career path, characterised by geographical, sectoral, and inter-organisational mobility, or hybrid paths characterised by the simultaneous combination of sectors, deserve full recognition and consideration on a par with a linear career path.
(37) In order to reinforce careers in academia, up to the top positions, a transparent, structured, inclusive and gender-equal career accession and progression system is needed. The adoption of tenure-track-like systems, to be intended as a fixed-term contract with the perspective of a progression to a permanent position subject to positive evaluation, could be considered for this purpose at the level of Member States and research performing organisations.
(38) Despite efforts at Union, national and regional level, the issue of talent drain from less developed regions in the Union persists, as pointed out in the Commission Communication on ‘Harnessing talent in Europe’s regions’56, and additional measures are required to achieve a more balanced geographical mobility for researchers. The Commission talent circulation analyses 2021-2022 indicate the positive contribution of existing actions at Union level to encourage more balanced talent circulation, but they also identify persistent challenges and provide pathways for brain gain. Excellent research environments, attractive working conditions and a remuneration commensurate with professional qualifications and the activities performed, play a very important role in this context, but they often require reforms of the national research and innovation systems. A policy approach that aims to support and incentivise such system transformations should be pursued, involving mutual learning exercises on the basis of successful pathways that enabled establishing a more balanced circulation of talents in Member States.
(39) Supporting researchers’ mobility and career development, while ensuring a sustainable talent pipeline for the research and innovation domain and enhancing scientific collaboration between the Union and the world, is the main objective of EURAXESS, a unique pan-European initiative delivering free of charge information and support services to researchers and their families. To further support this objective, EURAXESS should expand its information delivering and support activities for researchers and higher education and research institutions, with optimised structure of services and governance, improved digital and user experience and interoperability with other Union initiatives such as Europass and EURES. The effectiveness and coherence of EURAXESS information portals and services would benefit from strengthened financial and human resources of national bridgehead organisations, notably with regard to the implementation of initiatives at Union or national level, leveraging the expertise base and the distribution of tasks amongst EURAXESS entities at national level while monitoring performance and measuring results.
(40) To remain globally competitive, the EU needs to become more attractive for talent from around the world. The Commission Communication on ‘Attracting skills and talent to the EU’, adopted on 27 April 202257, emphasizes the necessity for the EU to enhance its appeal to global talent, notably by promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the EU and by exploring further potential avenues for legal migration to the EU in the medium to longer term. The revision of Directive (EU) 2021/1883 of the European Parliament and of the Council58 was an important step to improve the EU’s attractiveness allowing highly qualified migrants to benefit from improved rights as well as quicker and streamlined procedures. Directive (EU) 2016/801 of the European Parliament and of the Council59 also contributes to these objectives by making it easier and more attractive for student and researchers to come to the EU while at the same time promoting the circulation of knowledge and skills through enhanced EU-intra mobility rights.
(41) The Charter and Code for Researchers need to be revised to respond to the new reality and the current challenges faced by researchers and institutions, including a better integration of gender equality and inclusiveness as well as Open Science practices. The new version should be streamlined to simplify its implementation, and the uptake beyond the academic sector should be promoted. The revision should not prejudice the institutions that have endorsed the principles of the existing Charter and Code for Researchers. They should be considered as continuing to endorse the Charter and Code for Researchers in the new version. This should apply notably to the institutions that have entered the HRS4R process, of which the endorsement of the Charter and Code for Researchers constitutes the first step.
(42) An observatory on research careers, combining the best of the current Union data in one single place, is needed to monitor the implementation of measures to strengthen research careers and system reforms. It should support data needs of Member States and research performing organisations relevant for the adaptation and development of policies for research careers. It should equally support researchers to have a better understanding of challenges and opportunities, and promote the attractiveness of Europe’s research performing organisations for the best talents. Relevant links with the European Higher Education Sector Observatory proposed in the European Strategy for Universities should be considered. Data collected in application of Regulation (EU) 2019/1700 of the European Parliament and of the Council60 could be adapted to respond to the needs of the research careers observatory’s users.
(43) In order for the European framework to attract and retain research, innovation and entrepreneurial talents in Europe to be successful, commitment by Member States and all stakeholders involved is needed. In particular, alliances of higher education institutions, such as the ones established under the European Universities Initiative and supported by the Erasmus+ Programme and the Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation, as well as the wider higher education sector and all relevant stakeholders, could be encouraged on a voluntary basis and following a bottom-up approach, to contribute to a broad implementation of the framework by piloting relevant activities.