Commission adopts proposal for the next European Research Area Policy Agenda 2025-2027

On February 28, the European Commission adopted its proposal for a Council Recommendation on the Policy Agenda for the European Research Area (ERA) 2025-2027.

The proposal is the result of close coordination between the European Commission, the Member States (with Portugal represented by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) and ANI), the associated countries and European stakeholders, who collaboratively shaped the content of the next ERA policy agenda at the respective Forum.

Like the first ERA Policy Agenda for 2022-2024, the activities outlined for the ERA act as a three-year roadmap, coordinating efforts to achieve progress on a range of topics, from promoting the principles of open science to reforming research evaluation. Their aim is to translate the priority areas for joint action of the Pact for Research and Innovation (R&I) into tangible results, contributing to the EU countries' long-term vision for cooperation in this field.

The ERA's next Political Agenda is organized around three key elements:

• The political contextualization, which sets the scene for the broader goals and ambitions and highlights the achievements and results;
• The description of the ERA's structural policies, which are long-term policies integrated into national and European policies, such as open science, research infrastructures and research careers. Concise actions are defined, geared towards ERA policies and objectives, which aim to provide added value to the EU, member states and stakeholders in areas and challenges where joint action is needed, such as artificial intelligence in science, research security and science for policy support, among others.
• A work plan for each proposed policy and structural action (annex to the recommendation).

The adoption of the next ERA Policy Agenda for 2025-27 by the Council of the European Union is expected to take place next May, during the Polish Presidency of the Council.