The turn of the millennium was a time of optimistic ideas of change. European heads of state agreed to establish a Utopian cross-border system that would allow the free exchange of ideas, technology and, most crucially, researchers themselves. According to the official timetable, this European Research Area (ERA) should be in place by next year. Fat chance. Writing in this publication last month, Paul Boyle, the president of Science Europe, the Brussels-based organization of research councils, outlined the not inconsiderable obstacles to putting some of the apparently simple changes into practice, and argued that the timetable imposed was much too short (P. Boyle Nature 501,157-158; 2013).
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