Claus Madsen is Senior Counsellor for International Relations. He has served
as coordinator of relations between ESO, Europe’s intergovernmental astronomy
organisation, and the EU and played a strong role in the establishment of
the EIROforum partnership. He has participated in several working groups at
European level on science policy, served as chairman of the EIROforum Working
Group on European Affairs, was rapporteur for the first EURAB Working Group
on Research Infrastructures, and has represented his organisation at the United
Nations.
Born in 1951 in Copenhagen, he joined ESO in 1980, initially working on scientific
imaging techniques in astronomy. Since 1986, he has become increasingly engaged
in science and society issues, organising exhibitions, producing films, giving
public lectures, and writing about astronomy, science communication and education,
and science policy issues.
by Claus Madsen
Publication date: April 2010 • ISBN 978-1-907132-15-5 • ix +
252pp £37.50/euro 45
In March 2000 Europe’s leaders decided on a new and forward looking strategy for the European Union, aiming to develop a competitive knowledge-based economy. A main tool was the creation of a ‘European Research Area’. Exactly ten years on Claus Madsen examines how European cooperation in research has developed in the light of this political initiative. What has worked? What has failed? And what do we need to do in the future to strengthen Europe’s position in the world of scientific research? As the Portuguese Minister for Science, Jose Mariano Gago says in his foreword, “Claus Madsen took the time and energy to write an important book on the future of science policy in Europe”: important, and also illuminating and stimulating for all those concerned with the vital issues of science policy and politics.
“This is a well informed book in which readers will
find a consistent narrative as only a true insider – I would even add:
a true believer – can provide and enunciate correctly.”
José Mariano Gago,
Portuguese Minister for Science and Technology
“Claus Madsen provides a deep and exciting insight into
the thinking and the political processes behind the development of the European
Research Area.”
Bertel Haarder,
Danish Minister for Education
“Writing with wisdom and elegance, Claus Madsen makes
us profit from his keen understanding of the various steps and processes.
He truly succeeds in making us share his enthusiasm for the integration of
science in Europe, despite setbacks and disappointments.”
Catherine Cesarsky,
French High Commissioner for Atomic Energy
Author’s Preface – Aux Armes, Chercheurs….
The ERA: A Flag, foreword by José Mariano Gago
Prologue
Chapter 1: Going, Going, Gone – Europe’s loss of scientific pre-eminence
Chapter 2: But why ‘do’ Science?
Chapter 3: The Come Back
Chapter 4: “The glittering jewel on its mountain top”
Chapter 5: Towards a European-level Research Policy – Caminante, no hay
camino; se hace camino al andar
Chapter 6: The Watershed
Chapter 7: The Lisbon Strategy and the ERA
Chapter 8: The Step Change – FP-6 and FP-7
Chapter 9: New Voices in the Choir – New Kids on the Block
Chapter 10: The Pawn: Research Infrastructures
Chapter 11: We, the People…
Chapter 12: ERA or ERIA – First Class Scientists, Second Class Innovators?
Chapter 13: Science in Society
Chapter 14: Rerouting
Chapter 15: The ERA Future – bound by our Imagination?
Chapter 16: After all, a Flat World
Chapter 17: Conclusions
Epilogue