The research and innovation framework programmes of the European Union (EU) are the largest programmes in the world for international research collaboration. Repeated reports point to the issue of under-performance in the framework programmes by the EU13 Member States – the countries that joined the EU in and after 2004 – in comparison with the EU15 Member States – which had entered the EU before 2004. This paper explores the background of various challenges in research and development faced by the EU13 in comparison to the EU15, in order to investigate the gap between the two groups. A set of hypotheses, divided into five domains, are tested empirically. This includes research and innovation system structure; scientific level of research institutions and quality of proposals; quantity of submitted proposals; level of international collaboration and other factors related to the framework programmes.
The weak positions of most EU13 Member States on several of the indicators analysed show that the field of research in EU13 Member States requires further structural changes. This report concludes with various policy options that would help to mitigate the innovation gap in Europe
