While pursuing strict austerity policies and hastening structural adjustments,the EU member states put an emphasis on the role of Innovation and Research as effective strategic tools for job creation and economic growth in order to get rid of the debt crisis.Within the framework of the Innovation Union as one of the seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 Strategy,the EU has implemented a number of concrete actions on the Innovation Partnerships on raw materials,agriculture and healthy ageing.However,it is difficult to forecast whether the European Research Area (ERA) will be successfully completed in 2014,due to the existing barriers in areas including the international mobility of researchers,research infrastructure,knowledge sharing and transfer,research systems and integration of resources like research funding. <<