The European Commission announced in Brussels in recent days the first results of Net-Era, the plan aimed at networking national research programmes that share the same objectives. The plan, funded by the EU with a budget of 148 million euros, will contribute to the establishment of the European research space by promoting the coordination of regional, national and European research programmes in specific sectors and the pooling of human and financial resources. The aim is to help member states to overcome the fragmentation and duplication of their research activities. In the first phase, 32 promising cross-border projects have been selected as beneficiaries of EU funding. They include projects for the coordination of emergency first aid throughout Europe, research on human ageing and on marine sciences in the Baltic Sea. Participants in the plan include those responsible for running programmes of the ministries and funding agencies at the national level. So far 422 funding agencies have presented proposals. The invitation to present proposals, published on 17 December 2002, has met with a positive response and remains open to new ideas. The European Commissioner for Research Philippe Busquin has himself declared that “the first results of Net-Era are encouraging and lead us to believe that we are entering a new era”.
