Business: Improvement needed on 'pull side' of research 

Dr. Leif Kjaergaard is the Chairman of BusinessEurope’s Research and Technological Innovation working group and Chief Technology Officer at Danisco, a producer of food ingredients.

To read a shortened version of this interview, please click here. 

European industry considers that the Commission's view of the European Research Area (ERA) is too narrow. What is the business world's vision for ERA? 

The Commission has put the emphasis of the ERA mainly on the 'push side' of research [generating research activity, facilitating research movement and creating infrastructure]. However, the ERA is not only about public research, it is about industry and services as well, it is about research for all. 

Therefore, the vision should be for everybody, not only for the universities and the public research institutions. The 'pull side' [creating markets, intelligent customers and higher demand for research and innovation] needs to be given more importance. 

Business wants a more balanced vision of activities for the ERA - namely a better balance between the push-side and pull-side activities. Currently it is a bit out of balance and the pull side should be taken into account more. 

You also recommend countries and regions to build on individual strengths and increasing interdisciplinary collaboration. Can you be more precise? 

There are countries and places in regions which are very good at specific things and have deep knowledge of a particular topic. We should elaborate and build on the existing knowledge - whether we are close to or remote from it. We should not start building the same strengths in other places, because then you are spending money on something that is not necessary as somebody else can do it for you.

Regarding interdisciplinary research, researchers who have deep knowledge of a particular subject should start looking around. They should have different activities, and different disciplines should work together more than they are doing today. This is necessary when we move more towards application of research, not so much in basic research activities. 

How engaged is business in European initiatives such as the European Institute of Technology (EIT)? 

Industry is interested in the EIT, but we need to see what it will deliver before engaging. We do not pay for something if we don't know what it will be like. We are committed to the European innovation agenda, which now has a bigger focus on technology transfer. We are ready to join the EIT and other initiatives when we see that they work and if we can get some value for our money. 

How do you want business to be taken more into account in the ERA? 

We are not saying that business should say what should be done. We are asking that the challenges we have in Europe - linked to areas such as energy, health, environment and climate - should be reflected in research policy and research policy should be an integrated part of all policies. Currently research policy is running its own show a bit. 

Research has been on the political agenda for a long time, but it is not in people's minds. Newspapers do not write much about research. What makes the news is what politicians and public authorities do and are interested in. 

As member states are very slow to implement any Commission recommendations on building the ERA - be it 'push' or 'pull' side - what can the business world do? How can you contribute to the ERA? 

We can encourage member states to work together by saying it is stupid not to do so. It is stupid to build up the same things in all countries. We can say that and repeat it, but we can't decide of course, and we should not be able to decide. But we can try to influence.