Mission Europe pour la Recherche (MER) travels to Brussels (March 17-20): immersion at the heart of Europe!
From March 17 to 20, Mission Europe pour la Recherche (MER) travelled to Brussels as part of an Erasmus+ training mobility program (STT), at the invitation of Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot Curie. The trip, which involved 18 team members, was aimed at gaining a better understanding of European research and innovation ecosystems, exchanging views with key players and identifying strategic levers with a view to future framework programs, while strengthening team cohesion.
This dense and structuring stay enabled them to cross institutional, operational and strategic perspectives, while promoting the dynamics of the Aix-Marseille site and its research potential.
Over the course of four days, the MER teams met with numerous French and European institutional players:
- Maison Irène et Frédéric Joliot Curie: exchanges with representatives of France Universités (Carle Bonafous-Murat), CNRS (Jean-Stéphane Dhersin and Cristel Hertrich-Cochet), Inserm (Cécile Hériard) and IRD (Vincent Fautrel), enabling them to gain a better understanding of their actions in Brussels, their influence and their interactions with European institutions.
- Permanent Representation of France to the EU: interview with Antoine Mercier, Science and Technology Advisor, on French priorities, current negotiations and prospects for the future FP10 framework program.
- European Innovation Council (EIC / EISMEA): exchanges with Anne-Marie Sassen and Andreas Lymberis on the functioning of the EIC, the portfolio approach, evaluation criteria and key success factors for projects in Horizon Europe.
- European Commission (DG COM and DG RTD) : presentations by Telmo Baltazar and Isidro Laso Ballesteros, shedding light on the future of Europe and the evolution of research and innovation framework programs.
- European Parliament: tour of the hemicycle, presentation and discussions on the workings of this central institution in the European decision-making process.
- Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) - a Civis alliance partner: discussions with the Europe Unit (Rachel Leproult and her team) on how the unit operates, how projects are organized, the support offered to researchers, institutional strategies and best practices for boosting participation in European funding.
- ERCEA (European Research Council): meeting with Isabelle Ortmans, Christine Courillon, David Kurz, Nicolas Voilley and Telma Cavahlo, to discuss evaluation processes, particularly for Synergy Grants, and expectations in terms of scientific excellence.
These meetings enabled us to gain a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of influence in Brussels, institutional strategies and prospects for the future FP10 program.
The MER would like to express its sincere thanks to all the partners and participants for the quality of their welcome and the richness of their exchanges.
This mobility is a structuring step to reinforce the MER's European strategy, consolidate its institutional network and better support the actors of the Aix-Marseille site in their participation in European research and innovation programs.
