Investing in innovation should encompass the principle of leaving no one behind, MEP Josianne Cutajar said.
Speaking during the last plenary, the Socialists and Democrats MEP said that she was committed to research and innovation policy. "Research in Europe has a lot of potential we still need to unleash," she said.
The European Research Area is the ambition to create a single, borderless market for research, innovation and technology across the EU. It helps countries be more effective together, by strongly aligning their research policies and programmes. The free circulation of researchers and knowledge enables better cross-border cooperation, building of critical mass and continent-wide competition. The European Research Area was launched in 2000 and a process to revitalise it began in 2018.
"Working to improve the innovation performance of Member States is also a formidable opportunity for the most peripheral areas, like European islands, to become the testbed for innovative solutions to the most urgent societal challenges," Cutajar said.
This work is in line with her work as a full member of the ITRE Committee (the parliamentary committee dealing with industry, research and energy) where she is the S&D negotiator on public-private partnerships on research and innovation. This dossier represents the first step towards the implementation of Horizon Europe, the EU-funded programme foreseeing almost €100 billion to transform the European research sector over the next seven years.
During the plenary, Cutajar welcomed the efforts to strengthen the European Research Area, which needs a new impulse for future societal changes.
"Research and Innovation are crucial to enhance the sustainability of our Union and cannot be neglected. We should not forget that an innovative Europe means more quality jobs and ultimately, more resilience," she said.
"Research in our continent has a lot more potential. A new European Research Area needs everybody's contribution to succeed," she added.
This article forms part of a content series called Ewropej.This is a multi-newsroom initiative part-funded by the European Parliament to bring the work of the EP closer to the citizens of Malta and keep them informed about matters that affect their daily lives. These articles reflect only the authors' views. The European Parliament is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information these articles contain.
