European Union appoints new head of research and innovation

Jean-Eric Paquet, a French national who has served for 23 years in various roles within the European Union, will become the European Commission’s director general for research and innovation, the EC announced on Feb. 21. Currently deputy secretary general, Paquet previously worked on clean energy and industrial strategy. From 2002 to 2004, he served as deputy head of cabinet for the European commissioner for research policy. He has an undergraduate degree in international and public policy from Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg and master’s degrees in European administration from the College of Europe and in German studies from Robert Schuman. Paquet will assume his new role on April 1, replacing Robert Jan Smits. Smits oversaw an increase in Europe’s research budget from €55 billion in 2010 to the current €80 billion and launched Horizon 2020, a seven-year program for research and development that began in 2014. Smits will now become a special envoy on open science at the European Commission, with the goal of making all publicly funded research results freely available by 2020.