Economic and financial planning from 2007 to 2013 shows significant progress compared to the recent past. However, Europe must invest more in technology, research and innovation. This is written in the Lisbon strategy. The challenge is the “modernisation” of the EU, with a balance that fully corresponds to today’s world and with stimuli for competition. We must be able to invest in the future and forget its past and present composed of various forms of nationalistic egoism and of exorbitant contributions to agricultural policy. We are working towards a European area of research.

European research has entered a new phase and, more than ever before, innovation has been recognised as a priority in government actions. In many of the Member States, small and medium enterprises are beginning to draw advantage from the efforts that have been made to promote the launching of new production activities and removing the obstacles to growth in business development. In this globalised age, researchers’ mobility and the exchange of knowledge are the two main factors contributing to the progress of technological and scientific knowledge throughout the world. If Mediterranean countries are involved in this kind of process, sure advantages can be expected, especially in view of the major scientific traditions in some of these countries. Currently, national research programmes are still very independent of each other. In order to avoid this isolation, all players must respect the principle of national programmes being open to each other. This integrated research system must be organised in such a way as to anticipate and take into account the requirements in the various phases of implementation of public policies.

In general, Mediterranean countries are now devoting limited means to research and their research structures are certainly not on the same level as ours. They need to be made to correspond to the requirements of the application of knowledge for economic and social purposes. Hence it is indispensable to promote the integration of scientific communities.