Hands-off management, bold political ambition, and fewer, bigger grants are the signatures of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6), the blueprint for European science funding for the years 2003–06. In the new program, the traditional framework goal of fostering cross-border connections among Europe’s scientists is magnified. And, in a departure from the EC’s infamous micromanagement style, scientists can look forward to less bureaucracy and more autonomy.
With a budget of €17.5 billion (roughly $17.2 billion), FP6 got a 17% boost over the previous framework program. Framework funding still makes up only 5–6% of Europe’s total public investment in R&D; the rest comes from various national bodies. But the EC aims to use FP6 to mold Europe’s scattered research enterprise into “the most successful and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world,” as European Commissioner for Research Philippe Busquin envisions for his European Research Area (ERA).
“Europe is becoming increasingly less technologically competitive,”...
