Enhanced dialogue in Germany

Marc Lemaitre, Director-General for Research and Innovation, led a delegation to meet his German counterpart Sabine Döring, Secretary of State of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), on the 20^th and 21^st of February in Bonn. The purpose of the meetings was to strengthen the collaboration and align EU and national efforts in R&I policy. Joanna Drake, deputy Director General and Anna Panagopoulou, Director for ERA and Innovation, along with Armin Reinartz, Director General of the Department of European and International cooperation and other officials from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) from Berlin and Bonn participated in the discussions. The selection of topics covered included: The European Research Area Policy Agenda, Reforms and Investments for R&I, Researchers’ Careers, Science Communication, Missions and FP10.

Marc Lemaître highlighted in his opening speech:

“Our aim is to engage in high-quality in-depth exchanges on all the issues around our priorities to ensure that the EU is at the forefront of Research and Innovation on the global stage, which is essential to build a more sustainable and resilient Union”.

Sabine Döring, Secretary of State underlined:

“The enhanced dialogue on both national and European R&I priorities allows us to reaffirm Germany’s commitment to work together with the Commission to make the European Research Area a reality and reinforce areas where Europe offers added value.”

Each session began with interventions from both the Commission and the BMBF, setting the stage for the exchange of perspectives, lively discussions and the generation of ideas for subsequent actions. The discussions led to very interesting learnings about the key aspects of the R&I system, the mission-oriented approach and the tenure track initiative, and also the importance of the Policy Support Facility Mutual Learning Exercises have been to exchange best practices and experience with other Member States. Along this line, and unique to this Enhanced Dialogue, for the session on mission, a representative from Austria was present to share their approach to R&I missions.

Overall, both Commission and German parties expressed their contentment with the openness of the exchanges.

Given the breadth of topics covered, it was mutually agreed to organise follow-up meetings. The participants committed to maintaining close collaboration, focusing on operational discussions and shared objectives, and such as:

• new developments and future priorities for the next European Research Area Policy agenda
• mutual learning and sharing experiences on policies to promote and strengthen researchers’ careers
• scaling up science communication activities at EU level and exploring ways to measure impact and outcomes.
• On the future of missions and its governance approach

Background

Enhanced dialogues with EU countries are a new, bottom-up channel of cooperation with the European Commission. The goal of these dialogues is to create a country-tailored approach to foster Research and Innovation in the participating EU country. They are organised on a voluntary basis and built around topics depending on the interests of the country.

Germany is the 12^th Member State to take part in an Enhanced Dialogue.