Evolution of European Union Research policies

Achilleas Mitsos described the evolution of European Union (EU) research policies, beginning from the 1950s to the present. The first stage was a centralized approach, with the funding of a "super laboratory" in the hope that it would influence research. The 1970s saw the implementation of the idea of inter-governmental collaboration, in which each member government contributed to research. However, the disadvantage of this method was that governments expected to get out of the research as much as they had contributed — the idea of "juste retour." In the 1980s, a Public Framework Program was set in place, but it never received more than 5% of the total public funds devoted to research in the Community.

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