Science must be free! The Alliance of Science Organisations’ proposals for the reduction of bureaucracy

Preamble

Scientific discoveries are of central importance in strengthening the German economy as it competes on a global level, as well as for successfully overcoming social challenges. The science organisations represented in the Alliance make a significant contribution to these objectives. Political leaders at the federal and state levels, as well as the heads of the Alliance organisations, agree that the success of German science is based not only on constitutionally guaranteed academic freedom, but also on other concrete freedoms which enable us to make breakthroughs to new discoveries, consolidate knowledge and transfer this knowledge into practical application.

These freedoms, which are expressed in the Academic Freedom Act, are being increasingly countered by a high degree of regulation. The regulations, which often go beyond what is necessary, tie up the institutions’ resources, resources which should be used for scientific work. They also have a demotivating and inhibiting effect on researchers’ efforts to break new scientific and technological ground. In addition to these regulations, it is also important to take a critical view of the numerous documentation and reporting obligations. A reduction of these to the minimum required would greatly support the work of scientific organisations.

The Alliance of Science Organisations, under the leadership of the MPG, has this year made the reduction of particularly burdensome bureaucracy a priority, and developed concrete proposals for cutting red tape.

Close dialogue with policymakers (federal ministries and on the state (Länder) level) is key to developing promising solutions. The Alliance emphatically welcomes the current political initiatives at federal and state level to reduce bureaucracy and aims to continue its close exchange with politicians in this area. As a first step, talks between the BMBF, the BMEL and the BMWK have already resulted in clarifications and simplifications in the proposed amendment of the legal basis for approval procedures for animal experiments and in the application of the Act on Corporate Due Diligence Obligations in Supply Chains.

The tabular overview available for download here contains further concrete proposals for reducing bureaucratic hurdles in science and research which the Secretaries General of the Alliance organisations consider to be particularly pressing. The list is in alphabetical order. The order does not reflect any prioritisation of the proposals.