Research, higher education and innovation: redesigning multi-level governance within Europe in a period of crisis
Jo Ritzen & Luc Soete
#2011-056
In this paper we present a vision for the course Europe should take in
its research and higher education policies in order to fully live up to
the expectations of its citizens to provide a safe, comfortable,
affluent and sustainable environment in this period of considerable
financial restraint on the part of EU governments. In particular we
focus on the division of labour between the EU, Member States and
regions. We first provide a brief historical overview of the origins of
research policy in Europe. Second, we give our vision for investments in
research and higher education for economic growth and hence also for
solving many of the "big challenges" Europe is being confronted with
already today but increasingly so in the coming years. Third, we fit out
our vision onto the history to derive a perspective on how our vision
could be transferred in budgetary and regulatory terms according to an
optimum interplay between the EU, member states and regions.
JEL: I23, I25, I28, O15, O16, O31, O33
Keywords: Higher education, research and development, eduction,
innovation, economic development, economic growth, government policy,
governance