ERAWATCH Country Report 2008 - An Assessment of Research System and Policies: United Kingdom

The main objective of ERAWATCH country reports 2008 is to characterise and assess the performance of national research systems and related policies in a structured manner that is comparable across countries. The reports are produced for each EU Member State to support the mutual learning process and the monitoring of Member States' efforts by DG Research in the context of the Lisbon Strategy and the European Research Area. In order to do so, the system analysis focuses on key processes relevant for system performance. Four policy-relevant domains of the research system are distinguished, namely resource mobilisation, knowledge demand, knowledge production and knowledge circulation. The reports are based on a synthesis of information from the ERAWATCH Research Inventory and other important available information sources.JRC.J.3-Knowledge for Growt

Challenges in transnational research programming: the role of NETWATCH

For Europe to meet the dual objectives of increased competitiveness and addressing societal challenges, joining efforts at all levels in Research and Innovation is high on the policy agenda. The EU can play a role in fostering and facilitating increased collaboration. The NETWATCH information platform on transnational collaboration is among the tools available to support this role. This brief explores the current use and future potential of NETWATCH and other related platforms in guiding and monitoring transnational R&I programming towards increased societal impact and competitiveness. It proposes ways to make better use of existing data, as well as avenues for future development.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Facilitating EU-Russian Scientific and Societal Engagement: Joint Efforts to Tackle Grand Challenges

The cooperative activities in science pursued between the European Union and Russian Federation are explained. Building on a base of decades of scientific interaction, a Delphi Study and a series of workshops were conducted to better understand past and future interactions between Russian and European Union scientists. This input was used as a basis for a joint call to tackle Grand Challenges that both sides are facing. These activities not only bring scientists together, but create a better understanding of what challenges are jointly faced and can be tackled together – a move towards exchange and integration between governments and peoples.JRC.J.2 - Knowledge for Growt

Measuring progress in transnational coordination of research programming in Europe

Cooperation in the EU between Member States and with Associated Countries on national public research programming has received a lot of attention in recent years, and will continue to do so under Europe 2020. This NETWATCH Policy Brief looks at the current policy context and rationales for transnational coordination of research programming, and aims to measure progress made so far in doing so. It looks both at coordination of public national research budgets and at cooperation between nations under the framework programmes, Horizon 2020 and Cohesion policy.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

NETWATCH Mapping and Monitoring: Second and Third Exercises

The work presented in this report is based on mapping exercises providing a descriptive analysis of the networks included in the NETWATCH database (i.e. active ERA-NETs, ERA-NET Plus, Article 169/185s and self-sustaining networks). Building on previous reports, with the addition of a time dimension, through periodic collection and analysis of network data, the report monitors the landscape of schemes and provides an analysis of key aspects of the evolution of research programme cooperation within Europe. These findings aim to support policy makers to make informed decisions on the future design and implementation of related initiatives.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

An assessment of the impact of the FP7 ERA-NET scheme on organisations and research systems

The NETWATCH online platform collects and presents information to support the analysis of transnational research programme cooperation. Its content centres on the participants and activities of ERA-NETs and ERA-NET Plus. Building on these data, this report sets out an assessment of the impact of the FP7 ERA-NET scheme on stakeholder organisations and on the research systems in which they operate. In July 2012, the European Commission's ERA Communication gave renewed impetus to the realisation of ERA, targeting its completion in 2014. Transnational coordination of research at the programming level was identified as playing a prominent role in this, with ERA-NETs being a key instrument. These developments highlight the need to understand better the impact of the ERA-NET scheme. NETWATCH has accumulated substantial information on transnational research programme collaboration, which provides a solid basis for this impact assessment, together with complementary data from various secondary sources and additional data collection by JRC-IPTS. The issues addressed by the current report are threefold: -The direct impact of the ERA-NET scheme on the collaborative dimensions of national research programming practices, reflecting the extent to which the scheme is meeting its core objectives ; -The impact of the scheme on the behaviour of participating organisations and; -The overall impact on the national and European research landscape, particularly the nature and level of transnational collaborative behaviour.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

NETWATCH Policy Brief Series – Brief Nº3 - Added value of transnational research programming: lessons from longstanding programme collaborations in Europe

This brief explores the wide variety of objectives, activities and outcomes of transnational research programming in Europe. Going beyond the goal of mobilising shared research funds, it examines how collaborative networks can contribute to the achievement of a broad range of objectives related to research and innovation. It centres on the development of an analytical framework, focusing on the key motivations for establishing and participating in collaborative networks and the subsequent outcomes.Case studies are used to explore how collaborative research programming networks can contribute to a broad set of objectives related to research and innovation, ranging from the primary aims that are at the core of the programme collaboration to secondary aims with regard to research and even tertiary network aims going beyond research policies.The results have relevance for the way progress to the ERA is measured, for developing indicators for measuring impact of programme collaboration networks, for reviewing the research and innovation partnering instruments at European level, for seeing research programming networks as catalysts for collaboration in related areas, and for making barriers to programme collaboration more explicit and thus easier to address.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Facing the Future: Time for the EU to meet Global Challenges

What will the world look like in 2025? What are the possible future disruptive global challenges? And how can the EU position itself to take an active role in shaping a response to them? This publication offers possible answers to these questions through the identification of three main challenges and potential responses to these, and concludes that the main policy issues to be considered at EU level are: policy alignment towards sustainability; social diversity and the use of ICT for citizen empowerment; and the need to embed capabilities for anticipating future challenges to enable these to become new opportunities. The methodology applied combines widely accepted quantified trends by 2025 and beyond with the opinions of experts and policy makers on the likely consequences of these trends and wild cards. A multi-criteria quantitative analysis (Robust Portfolio Modelling) was used as a novel element to prioritise issues as a basis for discussion with selected experts and policy makers. This work has been undertaken in close cooperation with the Bureau of European Policy Advisors of the European Commission.JRC.DDG.J.3-Knowledge for Growt

European Parliament Preparatory Action: "Actual and desired state of the economic potential in regions outside the Greek capital Athens" Final Report

This is the final report of the European Parliament Preparatory Action: "Actual and desired state of the economic potential in regions outside the Greek capital Athens" (hereafter Preparatory Action or PA). It reviews the key activities of this preparatory action, its impacts, the remaining barriers to RIS3 implementation and presents a perspective on the way forward. Providing hands-on support to the refinement and implementation of the RIS3 strategy in the Greek Region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace (REMTh) has entailed the following activities: • Mutual learning: this has at core element of the preparatory action, and has offered a unique opportunity to all the stakeholders involved to share experiences and build a common understanding of RIS3, its potential and the real challenges to its implementation. • Optimisation of the Entrepreneurial Discovery Process (EDP) – the design, implementation and adaptation of a systematic participatory methodology for the EDP, centred on thematic focus groups. These events enabled the generation and articulation of innovation ideas and initiated the first necessary steps towards concrete projects. • Capacity building - two dedicated working groups were organised: one centred on issues of human resources mobility and one on RIS3 governance. Relevant stakeholders, under the guidance of an expert, discussed and formulated plans on how to tackle the different challenges at stake. • Identification of bottlenecks and systemic failures in RIS3 implementation - the region has good potential for diversification, but faces a wide set of legal and administrative barriers, which need to be addressed to enable the allocation of structural funds and other resources to support RIS3 implementation in an optimal way. • Communication and codification of activities - with the aim of replicating or adapting the activities of the preparatory action and the emerging learning opportunities for other regions, outcomes of all the events have been published on-line, as have methodological guidelines for the EDP process. Furthermore, further publications from these activities are foreseen in the near future. • Supporting tools for internationalisation and collaboration. The preparatory action has developed a set of online resources that aim at guiding the region in increasing its international outlook to RIS3 and its collaboration between research and industry. The Preparatory Action generated some very concrete impacts on the regions, among which the main ones are: • The mobilisation of a critical mass of researchers and business people (600+ people), which actively participated to the EDP focus groups and PDL events. This bottom-up process has increased mutual trust, created a 'momentum' in initiating change and increased the understanding of what RIS3 can contribute to this change. • The appreciation of networking and research-business collaboration across stakeholders and especially between research and business. Indeed, some informal networks have been organised, for instance in the wine and marble sector. • The creation of an action plan for both RIS3 governance and mobility of human resources. • Both the Managing Authority and regional stakeholders have better access to international counterparts, both in governance of RIS3 and in performing research and innovation. • The project has also determined a shift in perception as far as the European Commission is concerned, which is now perceived more as a collaborator. • The PA has stimulated and accelerated a discussion between the EC, regional and national authorities which has help to clarify – for the whole country – several aspects of RIS3 and Structural Funds. • The preparatory action has significantly influenced the way to design and implement the development strategy for the Region by engaging all relevant stakeholders from the outset.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

Deliverable 3.3.1 Options for Assessing the Impact of the ERA-NET Scheme: an exploration of methodological approaches

The NETWATCH on-line platform collects information in support of analysis of transnational research programme cooperation. Its content centres on ERA-NETs and ERA-NET Plus, however, information is also collected on Article 185s and networks that continue but no longer receive EU support (known as self-sustaining networks). The information collected is used to map and monitor the transnational research programme landscape and to produce policy briefs on issues pertinent to the policy debate, which are also published on the platform. This report constitutes the first NETWATCH impact assessment and focuses on ERA-NETs and the development of an approach to assess their impact against the policy goals, including wider European Research Area (ERA) objectives.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt