The European Union's multi-billion research funding programme is supposed to help society meet the grand challenges it faces. But there is concern that the participation of large corporations is skewing research agendas towards narrow interest, and leading to the substitution of public for private funding. Will the EU's new Research Program, Horizon 2020, avoid these pitfalls?
Comment piece published in Public Service Europe on December 8 2011.
Despite well-publicised concerns about the damaging social and environmental impacts of large-scale agrofuel production, the European Union continues to provide incentives to promote their development, including through public funding for research. This article highlights how industry is now benefiting from research funding, having helped the EU write its Strategic Research Agenda, setting the criteria for research.
Brussels, 7 December 2010 – Funding for the European think tanks promoting denialist views on the science of climate change remains clouded in secrecy, a new investigation by Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) published today has revealed [1].
Late in the afternoon of 31st May, on the 7th floor in the European Parliament in Brussels, the biotech lobby group EuropaBio organised a lobbying event on “The Bioeconomy for Europe – Innovating for Sustainability”. The meeting was chaired by the right-wing Finnish MEP Sirpa Pietikäinen (EPP). The audience was mostly composed of Commission officials, MEP assistants and EuropaBio members.
Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a research and campaign group working to expose and challenge the privileged access and influence enjoyed by corporations and their lobby groups in EU policy making.
