The DFG's Involvement in Europe: Aims and Outlook
The DFG actively supports the establishment and development of a common European Research Area. It sees its most important role in overcoming the national fragmentation that still exists in the European research landscape by means of close cooperation with its partner organisations in the context of EUROHORCs and through joint funding of international research projects. This is leading to a situation where the European Science Foundation (ESF) is increasingly assuming the role of the executive body for such cooperation. The primary objectives are to ensure increased mobility across Europe, to create consistent quality standards by implementing common peer review processes, and to create joint funding mechanisms. These joint actions by the national funding organisations simultaneously constitute the counterpart to the EU actions under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). In this respect, the newly established European Research Council (ERC), which was created as part of FP7 and is the first pan-European instrument for funding basic research, is of particular importance. This coexistence of strong national funding bodies and a pan-European EU funding instrument represents a unique opportunity for the funding of basic research in Europe. Productive collaboration, balanced between cooperation and competition, will boost the European Research Area, making it more attractive and thus fitter for competition.
