The Competitiveness Council reached an agreement on the launching of a Joint Programming in research. This programming includes five initiatives on Healthy and Productive sea and Oceans, Challenges and Solutions of an urban Europe, Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe, Water Challenges for a Changing World and the Microbial Challenge.

Competitiveness Ministers met in Brussels and reached an agreement on the Joint Programming in research. They agreed that Joint Programming in research in the areas of the five proposed initiatives (Healthy and Productive sea and Oceans, Urban Europe – Global Urban Challenges, Joint European Solutions, Connecting Climate Knowledge for Europe, Water Challenges for a Changing World, and The Microbial Challenge - An Emerging Threat to Human Health) will contribute to the reduction of fragmentation of research efforts of Member States and will step up the mobilisation of skills, knowledge and resources, with a view to advancing and strengthening Europe's leadership and competitiveness of research and innovation in these fields.

The Council therefore invites the Member States participating in the framework of the five initiatives to develop a common vision, based on a multidisciplinary approach, on how cooperation and coordination in the field of research at the European level can improve addressing the challenges presented in the initiatives in order to ensure the efficiency of the joint efforts of Member States.

In addition, the Council also offers support in the implementation of these initiatives while facilitating complementarity with other relevant programmes and initiatives, in particular the Framework Programme and the upcoming Horizon 2020, which was recently presented by the Commission.