Total amount, structure and related policies of scientific and technological human resources in EU

Based on the data of Eurostat, this paper analyzes the flow of scientific and technological human resources in the EU. It is found that the job mobility of scientific and technological human resources in EU is increasing year by year, and the proportion of young scientific and technological human resources is relatively high, but there is no obvious difference between male and female scientific and technological human resources mobility, manufacturing and service industries, knowledge-intensive service industries and other service industries. It is also found that the EU has issued a series of policies to remove obstacles to the flow of scientific and technological human resources within the EU, but the restrictions on non-EU citizens are still strict. With the escalation of trade disputes between China and the United States, China and Europe have the possibility of cooperation in many fields.

As a major economic and technological force in the world, the European Union has always attached importance to the cultivation and attraction of scientific and technological human resources. The modern scientific revolution and several industrial revolutions all originated in Europe. The Renaissance, which began in Italy, brought Europe out of the dark Middle Ages and brought a scientific and artistic revolution to the world. Subsequently, France, Britain, and Germany have successively won the ears of science and technology and contributed countless scientific masters to mankind. It was not until the rise of American science and technology after World War II that Europe was the undisputed world science center.

1. EU's definition of scientific and technological human resources

Human resources with scientific and technological education background, that is, successfully completing higher education in the field of science and technology and obtaining corresponding degrees (HRSTE);

Human resources engaged in science and technology occupation, that is, although they do not have the above qualifications, the work they are engaged in belongs to the field of science and technology, and the work they are engaged in at the same time generally requires the above qualifications (HRSTO).

As can be seen from the definition of the European Union, the scientific and technological human resources it counts are a very broad concept, including most people who have received higher education and worked in related industries, compared with R&D personnel (Total R&: D personnel) more, not quite the same as the employees in the technology industry.

2. The total amount and structure of scientific and technological human resources in the EU

According to Eurostat data, in 20 18, the total number of scientific and technological human resources in the EU was13100000, which was more than 26 million more than150000 in 2009. From the perspective of gender structure, the proportion of women in the EU's scientific and technological human resources is higher than that of men. In 20 18, there were 63.08 million males and 68.35 million females in the EU (figure 1). The EU has also made special statistics on the number of scientists and engineers, including those in the fields of science, engineering, health and information and communication technology. In 20 18 years, there were about18.34 million scientists and engineers in the European Union, including about10.48 million men, more than women. In terms of regional distribution, Germany has the most scientific and technological human resources in the EU, with 23.56 million in 20 18, followed by Britain with 20.99 million, and France ranked third with18.06 million.

According to the statistics of Eurostat, the scientific and technological human resources who have received higher education and continue to engage in scientific and technological undertakings are generally concentrated in the metropolis and its surrounding areas, in the headquarters of top universities, research institutions and large enterprises, or in the gathering areas where R&D institutions of large enterprises have been established. In 20 17, among the 25 regions with the highest proportion of scientific and technological human resources in the EU, 15 were capital cities. Among them, inner london (where the Bank of England and the London Stock Exchange are located) ranks first. It is a world-famous metropolis, and its scientific and technological human resources account for 46.2% of its active workforce. Although compared with 20 16, this ratio has decreased by 3.2%, but it is still the highest in the EU. This was followed by Osloog Akershus (37.8%), Helsinki-Usima (36.4%) and Stockholm (35.3%). The top ranked regions also include some regions and research centers with top universities, such as brabant, Utrecht, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire.

3. Changes in the work of scientific and technological human resources in the EU

The EU defines the flow of scientific and technological human resources as two categories, one is inflow and the other is outflow. Inflow refers to a certain kind of people who do not meet any definition requirements of scientific and technological human resources at the initial time node, but meet at least one requirement of scientific and technological human resources at the end of a certain period of time; Outflow means that at the beginning of a certain period, some people meet one or several requirements of scientific and technological human resources, but at the end of this period, they no longer meet these requirements. For example, some students graduate from universities in a country and become electrical engineers, so we can think that these students have become a part of scientific and technological human resources.

In principle, mobility refers to the inflow or outflow of scientific and technological human resources. However, it is also meaningful to consider the internal flow of scientific and technological human resources, that is, the characteristics of some scientific and technological human resources groups have changed in a certain period of time, but they have not lost their core characteristics of being included in scientific and technological human resources. For example, some people have changed their departments of work, or studied in higher education and obtained degrees.

In 20 19, the number of scientific and technological human resources in the whole EU was 8.46 million, while in 20 10, the number of job changes was only 4.86 million. From the overall trend, the transformation of scientific and technological human resources in EU countries is becoming more and more common.

Judging from the situation of various countries, the human resources of science and technology in Germany and Britain have changed more frequently, with 6,543,800+0,870 in Germany; The second in the UK is 654.38+0.82 million; France ranks third with 1 163000 people; In all other countries, the population is less than 6,543.8+0,000 (Table 654.38+0).

From the perspective of gender, the changing trend of human resources for science and technology between men and women is basically the same. In 20 19, nearly 4.3 million female scientific and technological human resources in EU * * * changed jobs. In 20 15, the number was 24 10000, which exceeded 3 million for the first time, and then the number increased rapidly. In 20 19 years, the male-related data was 4170,000. Its changing trend is similar to that of women, which is 2.44 million in 20 10, and the data rises rapidly in the following years (Figure 2).

Judging from the age distribution, the scientific and technological human resources of young people change frequently. In 20 19, 3.7 million scientific and technological human resources aged 25-34 changed jobs, compared with 233 10 in 20 10, and the data fluctuated slightly in the following years; However, only 2.27 million scientific and technological human resources aged 45-64 have changed jobs. In 2065438, this figure was119000 (Figure 3). From a country perspective, Britain and Germany rank in the top two, Britain ranks first in the age group of 25-34, and Germany ranks first in the age group of 45-64.

From different industries, 919 * * * people quit their jobs (accounting for 7.5% of all manufacturing employees), 6.899 million people quit their jobs in service industry and 5.048 million people quit their jobs in knowledge-intensive service industry (accounting for 7.9% of all knowledge-intensive service employees). In the service industry with low knowledge intensity, 1855438+0000 people quit (accounting for 9.5% of all employees in the service industry with low knowledge intensity).

4. EU plans and policies to promote open innovation and the flow of scientific and technological human resources.

4. 1 Open innovation strategy encourages enterprises to use external ideas and technologies.

The concept of open innovation was first put forward in 2003 by Henry W. Chesbrough, a professor at Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, in his book "Open Innovation: New Innovation to Create Technology and Benefit from It". According to Professor Che Sabrou, open innovation "describes such a phenomenon: enterprises pay more and more attention to the use of ideas and technologies outside the enterprise in their own business activities, and at the same time, they will let ideas and technologies that are not used inside the enterprise flow outside the enterprise for other enterprises to use". Professor Che Sabrou compared two different innovation models of Lucent Technology and Cisco. The former invests a lot of resources to explore the application of new materials and products made with cutting-edge technology, while the latter chooses to buy technology from outside.

This kind of open innovation emphasizes the knowledge flow between organizations (mainly enterprises), breaks the obstacles of knowledge flow in the past, crosses the boundaries of enterprises, and greatly promotes the contribution of knowledge and the sharing of technology, thus strengthening the exchange of personnel between different enterprises and promoting the flow and integration of scientific and technological human resources between enterprises. This is a very effective method, which can help researchers in research institutions and R&D personnel in enterprises to realize their personal value by job-hopping.

4.2 Horizon 2020 supports international scientific and technological cooperation and exchanges.

Horizon 2020 is the largest research and innovation program in the history of the European Union. During the seven years from 20 14 to 2020, Horizon 2020 will provide nearly 80 billion euros of R&D funds, which does not include the large amount of private investment that may be attracted. Its purpose is to ensure Europe's leading position in the field of global scientific and technological innovation. This is the flagship plan of Europe in 2020, and it is also a very effective financial support tool.

Horizon 2020 is regarded as a powerful means to promote economic growth and create employment opportunities, and has received political support from European leaders and the European Parliament. They all believe that research is an investment in the future, so scientific research must be placed at the core of Europe's development blueprint.

201710/0 On October 27th, the European Union issued the Horizon 2020 R&D Plan from 20 18 to 2020, which is the third and last planned project since the implementation of 20 14. According to the current plan, the EU will invest 30 billion euros in technology research and development in the next three years. The main investment fields and amounts are: outstanding science 65.438+0.04565 billion euros, social challenges 7999/KLOC-0.00 billion euros, industrial leaders 4.5359 billion euros, and pilot projects of the European Innovation Commission 2.6482 billion euros. In terms of international cooperation, the EU has allocated a budget of 654.38 billion euros to carry out scientific and technological cooperation with non-EU countries in the form of flagship plans. Horizon 2020 will be implemented in two stages from 20 14. The first phase is 20 14-20 15 and the second phase is 20 16-20 17. * * More than 14000 cooperative research projects have been supported. Some Horizon 2020 projects will especially encourage non-EU partners to participate when soliciting applicants.

Marie Curie project is one of the most influential and well-known funded projects in Horizon 2020, which belongs to the "excellent science" part of the first pillar of Horizon 2020. Through the research on the implementing agency (REA), the plan has obtained 6 billion euros of funds. From 1996 to 20 17, * * * more than 100000 people received funding from this program.

By inviting international partners to participate, Horizon 2020 has realized the cooperation, exchange and mutual visits between EU and non-EU scientific and technological human resources, and greatly expanded the scope of intellectual support and human support for EU scientific and technological plans and projects.

4.3 "European Research Area" is conducive to inclusion and personnel flow.

The "European Research Area" is a scientific research plan that integrates the scientific resources of the European Union. The program began in 2000, and its focus is to promote multinational cooperation in the fields of medicine, environmental protection, industry and socio-economic research. The "European Research Area" can be regarded as the equivalent plan of European goods and services and the market in the field of research and innovation. Its purpose is to enhance the competitiveness of European research institutions by uniting them and encouraging more inclusive working methods, which is similar to what some research institutions in North America and Japan are trying to do.

The main goal of "European Research Area" is to improve the mobility of knowledge workers and deepen international cooperation at the level of research institutions. The plan aims to solve the obstacles that hinder the flow of scientific and technological human resources, gender equality and research, and ultimately enhance the attractiveness of scientific research careers. The "European Research Area" believes that providing research funds to non-nationals and non-residents and making these funds flow across borders relatively easily is a way to improve the mobility of scientific and technological human resources. The European Union has designed a "money follows researchers" program, that is, if a researcher leaves his country or research institution, his research funding will not be interrupted. Research shows that this practice promotes the transnational flow of scientific and technological human resources.

It is found that from 20 12 to 20 14, the number of research posts published through the relevant plan of "European research area" increased by 7.8% every year. An open, transparent and performance-based recruitment plan is more important to young scientific and technological human resources. Therefore, the European Research Area is promoting such a recruitment plan in the EU.

5. The EU has issued a series of policies to remove the obstacles to the flow of scientific and technological human resources.

The EU is committed to removing the obstacles of personnel flow within the EU and establishing a * * * big market. An important policy concept is "equal access to the labor market". Under this great policy concept, there are six main policy sub-areas, namely, skills, education and lifelong learning, flexible and safe labor contracts, career change protection, active support for employment, gender equality and life-work balance, and providing equal employment opportunities.

5. 1 Enhance the correlation between education and employment and promote equal opportunities.

In 20 14, 27 member States of the European Union designed strategies to improve learning efficiency in an all-round way. The strategy recognizes that individuals may possess a variety of skills and abilities, some of which are acquired from the formal education system and some from outside the system. At present, the number of vocational education graduates in the EU is small, so it is hoped that modular or short-term courses can be designed to meet the needs of workers.

5.2 Provide protection for career change

Work is becoming more and more diversified, including different types of work and employment forms. Career will be disturbed or even interrupted by various factors, and a person's mobility and career change will become more and more frequent in his life. In order to make full use of technological changes and the rapidly changing labor market, measures need to be taken to better support career and job changes and adapt to routine technological upgrading.

In 20 19, the research report "Towards 2020: Data of Vocal Music Education and Training Policy" released by the European Union showed that according to the survey, in 20 18, * * *, 10.7% of unemployed adults in the European Union participated in relevant education and training, that is, the lifelong learning plan organized by the European Union. How to intervene purposefully and quickly in the early stage of unemployment, or provide protection for workers to change jobs, is still a challenge faced by most EU member States. How to ensure that some benefits of the original job, such as occupational annuity and unemployment allowance, can be effectively transferred to the next job, especially when workers become self-employed, is also a huge challenge. The EU is designing policies to solve this problem.

Various employment security policies are closely related to the flow of scientific and technological human resources. At the same time, the field of science and technology is changing at a faster speed. The EU encourages the flow of scientific and technological human resources through the * * * policy for all the labor force mentioned in this paper and some special plans for researchers mentioned above, thus protecting the basic rights and interests of scientific and technological human resources.

5.3 EU immigration policy is conducive to the flow of scientific and technological human resources within the EU, but it has more restrictions on foreign immigrants.

EU immigration policy includes two themes: the management of free movement of EU citizens within the EU and the management and control of non-EU citizens entering the EU. EU immigration policy gives EU citizenship further meaning and related rights, and also has a great impact on the management and control of citizens from non-EU countries.

As for EU citizens, according to the Maastricht Treaty, people who have the citizenship of EU member states are naturally regarded as EU citizens. EU citizenship is a supplement to national citizenship, not a substitute. This identity consists of a series of basic rights and obligations, which are sacred and inviolable in the relevant EU treaties, among which it is particularly important to emphasize that a person should not be discriminated against because of his nationality. This means that anyone who becomes a national of an EU member state will be granted EU citizenship at the same time. Although this kind of EU citizenship will not be separated from national citizenship, it has priority and allows individuals to have corresponding rights in any EU member state. For example, a Polish citizen who emigrated to Spain and retired there can live in Spain and vote there. It can be considered that there are basically no corresponding legal obstacles for EU citizens to move within the EU, and they can get the national treatment of the host country.

For citizens of non-EU countries, it is currently mainly applicable to the "blue card" program implemented by the EU. The EU's "blue card" system is similar to the US's "green card" system. In 2007, the EU launched the "Blue Card" program, which took an important step in introducing high-tech talents and promoted the formation and establishment of the EU immigration policy.

According to EU regulations, the main conditions for applying for a blue card include the following aspects:

Must have a qualified diploma;

At least three years of professional experience;

Having a work contract of not less than one year;

The position must be held by an EU citizen;

The salary must be more than three times the legal minimum wage in the country where he goes to work;

Young applicants under the age of 30 will be given priority.

"Blue card" holders can get the same treatment as the nationals of the receiving country except applying for subsidies, housing and social assistance. For example, holders of "blue cards" enjoy the same rights and interests as citizens of EU member States in social security, employment, education and salary, and are also given the right of family reunion and the treatment of providing jobs for their spouses. In addition, the "blue card" program also provides procedural protection for applicants: 90 days after the application for "blue card" is filed, the competent authorities of member States shall adopt a complete application decision. Any decision to reject or cancel the EU "blue card" application will be questioned by the laws of the relevant member States. Of course, getting the EU's "blue card" only means getting a work and residence permit valid for two to four years, which needs to be extended after the expiration. It can be said that the "blue card" plan is not a real plan to open the door, but a plan to screen talents with strict standards.

6. Summary

As the cradle of modern human civilization, the development of science and technology in Europe has been at the forefront of the world since the Renaissance. The EU has a unique advantage in scientific and technological innovation, and its emphasis on scientific and technological human resources has also helped Europe to accumulate and form a huge talent pool. A comprehensive understanding of the scientific and technological human resources of the European Union is of great significance for China to benchmark the world's leading level and find its own gap.

Through flagship plans such as Horizon 2020, the EU promotes the accelerated flow of scientific and technological human resources within the EU and attracts high-level scientific and technological human resources from outside the EU to work and study in the EU. More than 80 million people aged 0/5-74 in 28 EU countries work in the field of science and technology, of which about 20% are scientists and engineers. Science and technology professionals who have received higher education are generally concentrated in metropolis and its surrounding areas, in areas with top universities and research institutions, or in areas where large enterprises are headquartered and R&D institutions have been established. In almost all EU member states, the number of women receiving university education is basically equal to that of men, and the number of female doctoral students is growing faster than that of men.

On the whole, the job mobility of scientific and technological human resources in the EU is increasing year by year, especially in countries with relatively developed science and technology, such as Britain and Germany. There is no obvious difference in the mobility of scientific and technological human resources between men and women. The proportion of job changes of young scientific and technological human resources is high, but there is no obvious difference between manufacturing and service industries, knowledge-intensive service industries and other service industries.

This paper is based on the relevant data and conclusions in Chapter 15 "Flow and Policy of Scientific and Technological Human Resources in the European Union" of the Research Report on the Development of Scientific and Technological Human Resources in China (2018). The data is quoted from the website of Eurostat, and the content has been updated.

References: ellipsis

Author: Fu Zhenyu, Innovation Strategy Research Institute of China Association for Science and Technology.

This article is reproduced from WeChat official account scientist, Keyuan No.7 today, 2020.

Submit an email to :nais-research@cnais.org.cn.