With the European Commission pushing for a doubling of its research budget in the 7th Framework program, a question often raised is where on earth all these researchers are going to come from. As the US, Europe and Japan is seeing falling numbers of science and engineering graduates, the old quick fix of throwing money at the problem wont work this time around.
In Brussels last week, the European Commission convened a number of experts to address this issue.
What was particularly encouraging is the fact that researchers from around the world participated in the meeting. While the workshop was organised in Brussels, the problem is global. The Commission assures us that the findings and conclusions will be made public once the outcomes of the various working groups have been distilled.