Current progress in US-EU Science and Technology Cooperation

Remarks by Ambassador Hugo Paemen

National Academy of Sciences

May 27, 1999

On the occasion of the release of the

National Academy of Sciences report on the first US-EU conference on

“New Vistas in Transatlantic Science and Technology Cooperation”

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a real pleasure to be able to be here today at this event that celebrates some outstanding concrete achievements in the cooperation between the United States and the European Union in the area of Science and Technology.

Returning to the National Academy of Sciences, I am reminded of the rich and vibrant relationship between the United States and European Union in science and technology. Today’s event is clear proof of that. Despite the daily barrage of headlines, our relationship is certainly not limited to trade and investment issues across the Atlantic. In fact, our relations are characterized by a high degree of interdependency, diversification, and integration, spanning beyond the commercial arena with deep ties in the social, cultural, educational and scientific realms.

The nature of the research process and the complexity of our governmental procedures –on both sides of the Atlantic! – has made progress slower than we might wish, but remarkable all the same. Our institutional frameworks are now adapting to new realities and new opportunities. The Agreement between the European Commission and the United States for a programme on cooperation in Science and Technology, was three years in the making as differences in perspective and procedure were bridged. However, since the agreement was initialed by both sides in December 1997, significant progress has been achieved. The necessary approvals by both the European Council and the European Parliament were obtained and at the end of December 1998, the 5th European Framework Programme in Research and Development was launched. The fruits of these labours are now apparent. We are pleased to report that we have issued the first wave of calls for proposals open to participation by the US research enterprise, and next month we will be busy evaluating some of these proposals. This is concrete progress.

In parallel interested researchers and officials on both sides have been paving the way to produce the kind of useful scientific cooperation that we all recognize is essential to face the challenges of the 21st century. The conference, “New Vistas in Transatlantic Science and Technology Cooperation,” hosted by the National Academy of Sciences Board on Science Technology and Economic Policy, took place last year in this very same building. In retrospect, it is clear that the conference, was an important step in the right direction, and today we reap the benefits of such a successful event.

Many exciting cooperative research projects, lending themselves to the well being of our societies and our futures, can be traced back to last June’s conference. As some of these early projects develop, the processes by which we work together are also being defined. As in high technology industry, we are “learning by doing”. As these procedures are tested and validated, we hope they can be generalized and used by agencies on both sides to cover all common domains of interest.

Let me take a few moments to cite some of these early examples of cooperation that I personally think are particularly relevant:

° In March of this year we launched the first coordinated call for proposals between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and DG13 of the European Commission, in the area of Multilingual Information Access and Management. The seminal discussion on this topic took place at last year’s conference. In June of this year we hope to start the selection process on both sides and eventually co-fund the best of the proposals put forth. As you may know, the area of multilingual information is one where we, the Europeans, feel that we have a competitive advantage and strong initial conditions. By linking our know-how with the strong Information Technology savvy of the US, better results will clearly emerge.

° Work is also underway in the area of Endocrine Disrupters between the relevant agencies on both sides (the Joint Research Center in Ispra, Italy, DG 12 of the European Commission and on the US side, agencies such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency). Again, this is also a direct result of the “New Vistas I” conference. The topic is vital to our future as we try to understand the impact of chemicals on the environment, as well as, the impacts on both human health and wildlife.

The list of common projects is growing larger everyday with common plans being laid out already in areas such as:

To demonstrate how dynamic this cooperation in S & T is becoming, let me mention that “New Vistas I” will be followed next month by a second conference to be held in Stuttgart, Germany on June 21-22, where a whole new set of research topics will be discussed. We wish them the same success as this first conference had.

As mentioned before, the press tends to focus on the transatlantic trade disputes probably because it makes good copy. What is often obscured is how much trade takes place, every day, without dispute and without tension of any sort. Moreover, I am convinced that for every one of these frictional issues, we can find a large number of very strong cooperation initiatives of value to us all.. The next hour or so should give you an opportunity to explore some of these success stories and, in a cooperative spirit, address the challenges that emerge as we learn to work even more closely together.

PA