The European Council call for the creation of a ‘fifth freedom’ to remove barriers to the free movement of knowledge in the European Union (EU).
The heads of states and governments of the European Union concluded at a meeting in Brussels (March 2008) that the ‘fifth freedom’ should be based on enhancing the cross-border mobility of researchers, students, scientists, and university teaching staff. The ‘fifth freedom’ should make the labour market for European researchers more open and competitive, provide better career structures, transparency and family-friendly policies; further implementing HE reforms.
The ‘fifth freedom’ should facilitate and promote the optimal use of intellectual property (IP) created in public research organisations so as to increase knowledge transfer to industry. In particular, through an ‘IP Charter’ to be adopted before the end of the year, it should:
- encourage open access to knowledge and open innovation
- foster scientific excellence
- launch a new generation of world-class research facilities
- promote the mutual recognition of qualifications.
Read the press release
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