Interview: A time for science

Surveying the past, present and future of EU research with Jean-Eric Paquet

The European Commission’s top R&D official, Jean-Eric Paquet, appears on video for his Research Europe interview with a colourful ‘director-general for research and innovation’ banner in the background, flying the flag for his department while obscuring anything personal that might have crept into shot.

This, it soon transpires, is very deliberate. Asked towards the end of our interview for highlights of his three years as the head of the Commission’s directorate general for research and innovation—or DG RTD as it is generally known—he says, “I don’t want to make the interview too personal, so I think I’ll stop there.”