29th ERA Forum discusses advancing the ERA Policy Agenda from political agreement to implementation

The 29th meeting of the ERA Forum Expert Group took place on 4 June 2025 in Brussels. Opening the session, Jean-David Malo thanked the Forum members for their efforts in working on and reaching a political agreement on the new ERA Policy Agenda at the recent Council Competitiveness. The ERA is currently going through a highly dynamic period, with the upcoming ERA Monitoring, the work on designing the ERA Act, and the rollout of the next ERA Policy Agenda (all information on the ERA Policy Agenda 2025-2027 is now officially launched on the European Research Area Platform).

A central topic of the meeting was the practical implementation of the ERA Policy Agenda 2025-27. The discussion focused on how sponsorship of the ERA Actions and Structural Policies can work best, e.g., how potential tripartite sponsorships — Member States, the European Commission, and stakeholders—could be organised most effectively. The Forum also discussed how to achieve the goal of 50% Member State participation for each policy, without resorting to another commitment survey. In general, each ERA Action and Structural Policy will establish its own governance structure, while Member States are encouraged to provide contact details for the responsible policy officers for the initiatives in which they wish to participate.

The second discussion revolved around the major future project called the ERA Act, and examined next steps for its development and the upcoming “call for evidence”. Following recent ERAC debates, the ERA Forum workshop, and a Commission inter-service steering group, current reflections focus on identifying the most relevant topics and areas suited for EU legislation as well potential legal issues involved. ERA Forum members stressed the importance of maintaining a collaborative approach—both with Member States and within the Commission.

The meeting continued with a presentation of the latest ERA monitoring reports (see link below) and an open discussion on revising the ERA Monitoring Mechanism to align with the new ERA Policy Agenda. National updates followed, with Austria presenting its approach to the national implementation of the EPA, and the UK highlighting its initiatives on Open Science. Furthermore, two initiatives under the ERA Policy Agenda were officially launched: the Structural Policy for ‘Gender Equality and Inclusiveness’ and the ERA Action on ‘European Science for Policy’.

Second ERA EU-level monitoring report launched today | ERA Platform