Building nests in the EU

Related tags Seventh framework programme European union

The new and emerging science and technology (NEST) programme from
the European Commission is an opportunity for the research
community to communicate what is important, said William Cannell,
head of unit for NEST in the Commission's Research DG, this week

The new and emerging science and technology (NEST) programme from the European Commission is an opportunity for the research community to communicate what is important, said William Cannell, head of unit for NEST in the Commission's Research DG, this week.

NEST, a new feature of the European research landscape, is aimed at exploring new avenues of science and technology as well as consolidating and accelerating the development of European capabilities in emerging research fields.

Commenting on the impetus of the programme, Cannell told European Commissions news journal CORDIS News​ that NEST reflects the overall tendency of the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) which has moved towards an opportunity led programme rather than a purely demand led one.

"There has been a tendency to fix our objectives according to some notion of social and economic need which is of course extremely valid but has in the past tended to give the impression to researchers that [...] their projects must respond to a whole series of different objectives,"​ he commented.

"I think it is important to say that NEST is a significant achievement from the point of view of Community research strategy because for the first time we have an activity which is basically flexible in implementation."

Cannell added that instead of defining research topics which must be followed come what may during the course of the framework programme, NEST's mandate is to respond to opportunities and needs as they happen.

Cannell went on to describe NEST as having two modes of operation: one mode is purely bottom up, where researchers can come forward with the challenges and the opportunities that they think are interesting. The projects for consideration in this area are ADVENTURE projects, for new opportunities that could in principle make advances in science, and INSIGHT projects, designed to look at possible new risks identified by scientific discoveries.

The second operational mode will be brought in during the course of the programme. "We will try to confer a larger critical mass to the research that we are doing [...]. Here the logic is to think in terms of the European scale and the opportunity to build European capabilities."​ The PATHFINDER initiative will build upon newly discovered areas for research.

With regard to the timeframe in which NEST is to run, Cannell said : "We are attempting to work actively with the research community on an ongoing basis to identify new topics. We are in a continual process of actively searching for new research areas."

The head of the unit went on to explain that the ADVENTURE and INSIGHT projects will have a call deadline every six months. At the same time, PATHFINDER initiatives will most likely be carried out on a yearly basis so that they work in parallel.

In terms of response to the first calls for proposals, published recently, Cannell said that while it is too early to say, feedback from the ground has been positive. Using a network of national contact points (NCPs) specific to NEST, the Commission is ensuring that the research community are aware of the defined evaluation criteria which is very specific to the requirements of NEST​ projects.

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