Romania hosted its Enhanced Dialogue with the European Commission in Bucharest on 6–7 October, bringing together national authorities and a European Commission delegation led by Marc Lemaître, Director-General for Research and Innovation.
Hosted by the University POLITEHNICA of Bucharest the Enhanced Dialogue structured around three sessions: accelerating innovation and boosting competitiveness in Romania and Europe; research and innovation reforms, developments and the road ahead; and preparing for the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the European Competitiveness Fund and research and innovation framework programme. The day closed with a dinner with national authorities hosted by Mr Andrei Alexandru, President of Romania’s National Research Authority.
Throughout the discussions, the European Commission underlined that investment in research infrastructures must go hand in hand with a clear, long-term strategy and sustainable funding. This means, maximising European added value by strengthening Romania’s participation in European research infrastructures and partnerships and preparing for the future through a coherent national roadmap, aligned with European priorities and backed by sustainable multiannual financing.
The event also included a tour of three research facilities. The participants visited MARS (Măgurele Atmosphere and Radiation Site), part of the pan-European research infrastructure ACTRIS, as well as the Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP), the nuclear physics pillar of the pan-European Extreme Light Infrastructure, and University POLITEHNICA’s NuScale small modular reactor simulator. The sites illustrate Romania’s role as host of major European research infrastructures.
On the second day, the delegation took part in a panel discussion at the How to Web conference and met representatives of Romania’s start-up ecosystem at ROStartup, before further meetings with national authorities and representatives of the National Research Authority.
Background
Enhanced dialogues with EU countries are a new, bottom-up channel of cooperation with the European Commission. These dialogues aim at creating a country-tailored approach to foster research and innovation in the participating EU country. They are organised on a voluntary basis and built around topics matching the interests of the country. Romania is one of the countries having an enhanced dialogue with DG Research & Innovation.
