While  "programme  managers"  are  national  or  regional  research  councils  and  funding agencies  managing  research  programmes,  "programme  owners" are national  ministries and regional authorities defining research programmes.
They are a critical stakeholder in the European Research Area - ERA not only in their capacity of research managers and policy  makers,  but  also  for  strategic  reasons.  Currently,  the  vast  bulk  of  research programmes in Europe are run in an isolated way, leading to unwanted fragmentation or ineffectiveness.  However,  major  societal  challenges  require  a  more  coordinated  action, national programme managers and owners, therefore, are crucial to pool national research efforts and resources  to tackle common European challenges  more effectively in  a  few key areas.  Thus, programme managers and owners of the different Member States play a crucial  role  if  the  development  of  joint  programming  initiatives and in the ERA-NETs and ERA-NETs +. Furthermore they can also be beneficiaries of the calls for proposals organised by the Joint Technology Initiatives - JTIs.