The Assembly,
Copenhagen 15-16 June 1988
Ministers from nineteen European countries and the Vice-President of the Commission of the European Communities met at the invitation of the Government of Denmark for the 6th Eureka Ministerial Conference in Copenhagen on 15 and 16 June 1988.
The main conclusions were as follows:
The conference was chaired by the Danish Minister for Education and Research, Mr Bertel Haarder. The Prime Minister of Denmark, Mr Poul Schlüter, delivered the opening address. The opening ceremony was attended by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Regent.
1. The ministers and the Vice-President of the Commission announced 54 new Eureka projects estimated at a total value of 360 million ECU and noted the five sub-projects of an already announced project listed in the annex.
The continuing flow of new projects, the progress being made on the 160 already existing projects and the increased participation by SMEs and research institutions demonstrate the growing importance European industry and research attach to Eureka.
More than 800 organisations are participating in the 160 projects announced by previous ministerial conferences, involving about 950 different collaborative linkages within Europe. Some 50% of the industrial participants are SMEs. Research institutions are participating in 39% and universities in 28% of the projects. Some patents have been applied for and were obtained. The growing number of related projects in specific areas of technology (for example, flexible manufacturing) was noted, as was the synergy such projects provide. In this context, further initiatives in the field of so-called ‘‘umbrella projects'' were welcomed.
Three projects (FAMOS, HDTV and EUROTRAC) were described by the project participants to the conference of ministers.
2. The ministers and the Vice-President of the Commission have:
In the area of road transport, they endorsed the work on improving the coherence among the Eureka road transport projects and achieving improved co-ordination with the programmes and policies outside Eureka. They stressed the importance of further strengthening the existing synergy between the Eureka road transport projects and the R & D programmes of the European Communities and welcomed the suggestion of the incoming Austrian Chair to establish the adequate co-ordination structure.
In the area of digital cartography, they welcomed the progress made so far, notably through the ‘‘evaluation field test'', which will serve as a European pilot project in which project participants as well as cartographic services have joined forces.
In the area of high power lasers, they noted the survey work that has been started, at national level and on an international scale, by project participants in safety regulations and standards with a view, notably, to the so-called preventive safety approach.
In the area of high definition television, they underlined the desirability of developing common standards and stressed the importance of the industry and governments concerned and the European Communities undertaking common promotional efforts. They also underlined the necessity to create the proper framework conditions for the implementation of HDTV as developed in the Eureka HDTV project, which aims to provide the television viewer with a higher level of excellence in picture quality.
They noted the significance of the COSINE project for improving the data networking of all collaborativeR & D activities in Europe and for creating market opportunities for the information technology industry. They underlined the need for harmonised national and Communityactions by all departments and organisations concerned with R & D, and expressed support for steps to make the implementation of the COSINE project effective.
They concluded that further work on supportive measures should have top priority in the coming years.
In this context they noted the paper submitted by the Commission on supportive measures currently undertaken by the European Communities in the implementation of the European Communities internal market programme as well as in co-operation with the EFTA countries.
3. The ministers and the Vice-President of the Commission agreed on the importance of strengthening the appropriate co-operation between industry and research institutions:
4. The ministers and the Vice-President of the Commission took note of the work undertaken at the initiative of several members in order to provide technical assistance to participants in Eureka projects, namely removing obstacles to international co-operation in R & D activities and in particular to the involvement of SMEs where, in fact, further assistance by a qualitative analysis of their role is necessary to improve and stimulate their contribution, the strengthening of project management, and assistance in drafting international R & D agreements.
5. The ministers and the Vice-President of the Commission reaffirmed the importance of private external capital for Eureka projects.
They took note of the ongoing links between Eureka projects and several financial organisations as well as the initiative to explore methods to insure part of the financial risks in liaison with work undertaken by the CEC.
6. The ministers and the Vice-President of the Commission welcomed the fact that the Council of Research Ministers of the European Communities has underlined the need for the clearest possible definition of the interface between the two frameworks for R & D so as to avoid overlap and to encourage the maximum synergy.
7. The ministers and the Vice-President of the Commission stressed the importance of continuity for the Eureka Initiative and noted the desirability to develop a medium-term plan agenda for Eureka work and to discuss a proposal to this effect at their next conference.
8. The Government of Austria was welcomed to the Chair of Eureka and the invitation accepted to attend the 7th Eureka Ministerial Conference in Vienna in June 1989.