• In 2011, the European Commission (EC) launched a public consultation in order to identify main bottlenecks in creating a genuine single market for knowledge, research and innovation. The European Research Area (ERA) should according to the Europe 2020 strategy be realised by 2014. • Based on approximately 700 responses or contributions, the EC analysed the areas of potential for the development of the ERA. On July 17 2012, the EC launched the ERA Communication «A Reinforced European Research Area Partnership for Excellence and Growth», defining five priority areas: – more effective national research systems – transnational co-operation and competition – open labour market for researchers – gender equality and mainstreaming – optimal circulation, access to and transfer of knowledge • The European Commission invited five stakeholder organisations to sign a Joint Statement to work in partnership in achieving the ERA. The signing organisations were European University Association (EUA), League of European Universities (LERU), European Association of Research and Technology Organizations (EARTO), Science Europe and NordForsk. • EUA, EARTO, LERU and NordForsk also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Commission. All MoUs were tailored to the stakeholder organizations respectively, defining actions to be carried out by the end of 2013. Science Europe produced a unilateral statement. The Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research (CESAER) joined the Stakeholder Platform at a later stage. The stakeholder organisations form a Stakeholder Platform, with meetings regularly. • As a working method, five doers’ networks were established to engage more directly in the implementation of the MoUs: open access, gender, communicating ERA, monitoring and research infrastructure. • In July 2013, the Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn invited all stakeholders to a one-year celebration and progress report. The MoUs last until the end of 2013, and the Stakeholder Platform is currently being negotiated for a continuation into 2014.
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