I3U “Investigating the Impact of the Innovation Union“
Kick off meeting - 10 March 2015
Venue: ISIS – Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems
Largo dei Lombardi, 4
00186 Rome, Italy
This project is co-funded
by the European Union
WP 2: ERA-EU Funds – EIT
• WP 2 main objective: to evaluate direct and the dynamic effects of the EU policy
instruments that promote a stronger European dimension of R&D base in individual
Member States, and the EU as a whole.
• Specific objectives
1. Assessment of direct and indirect effects of the European Research Area with regard to the quality of doctoral
training, cross-border mobility and cooperation of researchers.
2. Evaluation of the advancement in the construction of the priority European research infrastructures and their
contribution to innovation performance in the EU.
3. Analysis showing whether the objectives of the EU research and innovation programmes have industry-driven
priorities and address societal challenges, to what extent the design and the implementation of these
programmes guarantee stronger involvement of SMEs and have an impact on innovation.
4. Assessment of the contribution of Joint Research Centre and European Forum on Forward Looking Activities to
devising comprehensive and pro-active European research & innovation policies.
5. Evaluation of the role of EIT in stimulating innovation in Europe by integration of education, research and
innovation and contribution to excellence of European science through introduction of the “EIT Degree”.
WP 2: ERA-EU Funds – EIT
Innovation Union Commitments in WP2 and responsible organisation
• Commitment 4. European Research Area Communication (TIK)
• Commitment 5. Construct the priority European Research Infrastructures (WERI)
• Commitment 6. EU Research and Innovation Programmes (WERI)
• Commitment 7. SMEs in Research and Innovation Programmes (EIZ)
• Commitment 8. Strength. science base for policy making through JRC; Forum on FLA (WERI)
• Commitment 9. Set out EIT strategic agenda (WERI)
WP 2: ERA-EU Funds – EIT
• Tasks description
• Task 2.1. Defining the problems addressed by the Innovation Union commitments that focus on
strengthening European dimension of R&D (commitments #4-9) and identifying potential impact
channels on the basis of a relevant literature review.
• Six commitments in WP2 have an impact on innovation systems by introducing changes in:
1) Institutions (e.g., creation of integrated framework conditions common for the entire EU)
2) Organisations (e.g., creation of new organizations like EIT, or European priority research infrastructures)
3) Governance (e.g., coordination of programmes objectives at the EU level and at the national levels),
4) Finance (e.g., direct R&D funding from the common EU budget)
5) ...
Initial commitment map – an example
(for Commitment 5. Construct the priority European Research Infrastructures)
WP 2: ERA-EU Funds – EIT
• Task 2.2. Selecting indicators and collecting available data relevant for measuring the impact of
Innovation Union commitments on innovation – planned data sources:
 Eurostat, OECD, World Bank, World Intellectual Property Organisation databases
 Data from the Community Innovation Survey (CIS)
 Amadeus database
 Commitment-specific reports and databases
 Primary data collected during interviews and focus groups meetings
• Task 2.3. Evaluating direct and dynamic effects of the EU policy instruments that promote a
stronger European dimension for R&D and innovation – the possible approaches and methods:
 Contribution analysis that allows assessing the performance of policies and programmes toward
outcomes (that can be used for impact assessment of such commitments as #5, #8 and #9)
 Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) analysis (used for impact assessment of such commitments as #6 and #7)
 Quantitative methods, such as the surveys using highly structured questionnaire (e.g., commitment #6)
 Qualitative methods, such as focus groups (e.g., commitments #5, #8 and #9)
WP 2: ERA-EU Funds – EIT
• Task 2.4. Conclusions on measurable impacts of researched commitments on
innovation and specification of an evoked set of indicators and data as inputs into
the aggregate model
1. Answering the question of whether each of the commitments was successful in
delivering solutions to the stated problems, i.e. specific reasons, objectives for their
creation.
2. Estimating the impact (based on the results of task 2.3) of each of the examined
commitments on innovation, GDP, employment, etc. (to the extent of data
availability – on micro- or macro-levels using qualitative or quantitative analysis).
3. Selecting a set of indicators describing each of the commitments and its impact
(from the results of task 2.2), and refining the data.
Deliverables
D2.1 – Literature Review and Data Collection (Month 10)
D2.2 – State of Implementation and Direct Impact Assessment (Month 22)
D2.3 – Integration in the Eco-System (Month 30)
Relation with other workpackages
• Inputs / assistance provided to other workpackages:
- WP 9: Integration – The European Innovation System
- WP 10: Macro-Sectoral Economic Modelling (indicators and data for the aggregate
model)
• Inputs /assistance needed from other workpackages: -
Resources
 UM-MERIT: 1.5 person/months
 SEURECO: 2 person/months
 The University of Oslo, The Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK): 5 person/months
(Commitment 4)
 The Institute of Economics, Zagreb (EIZ): 6 person/months (Commitment 7)
 Warsaw School of Economics, World Economy Research Institute (WERI): 23 person/months
(WP2 coordination and Commitment 5, 6, 8, 9)
 Subcontract costs for WP2: 16,000 €
Immediate actions
• Describing the economic rationale of commitments #4-9 (June 2015)
• Prepearing initial commitment map (June 2015)
• Characteristics of mechanisms and channels of their impact – a literature review (September
2015)
• Selecting (developing) relevant indicators (October 2015)
• Gathering information about available databases (November 2015)
• Prepearing final reports on literature review for particular commitments #4-9 and synthesis
report for WP 2 and Data Collection (December 2015)
Open points
• Sharing data (project databases)
• Communication between partners
• IPR, possible publications of the research results by partners
• Need for more information on macro-sectoral econometric model NEMESIS,
what type of date are needed:
 For how many periods?
 By country?
 Horizontal or sectoral approach, etc.?
• Hierarchy, structure and volume of the reports:
 Seperate reports for particular commitments and WPs?
 Common template/layout?
 Desirable size of the reports?
Thank you
WP 2: ERA-EU Funds – EIT
• Example: the use of contribution analysis
Defining the attribution
problem to be
addressed
Developing a theory of
change or a logic model
Seeking out additional
evidence
Gathering evidence on
the theory of change or
data
Assembling and assessing
the
contribution/performance
story, and challenges to it
Based on Mayne, J. (2008) Contribution Analysis: An approach to exploring cause and effect, ILAC methodological brief.
Resources
• Warsaw School of Economics, World Economy Research Institute (WERI)
 Continuous access to over 24 extensive data sources covering a wide time and topic span, from
which the data on the Poland and the World can be extracted
 School’s library (over a million titles)
 Continuous access to circa 20 international (e.g., Proquest, EBSCO, Emerald Fulltext, JSTOR,
Science Direct, Source OECD) and national databases
 Involvent in 18 international networks via various educational, economic and management
initiatives
 Access to the required hardware and statistical software library (SPSS, SAS, EViews)
Resources
• The Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture (TIK), an interdisciplinary
centre at the University of Oslo:
 Leading centre in Norway for research, education and communication in the field of science,
technology and innovation
 25 staff members and offers postgraduate education (Masters and PhD) in innovation studies
 Participation in a number of international research networks
• The Institute of Economics, Zagreb (EIZ):
 Offices
 IT equipment
 Internet access
 Access to major databases of peer-review literature