Erik Arnold

What the evaluation record tells us about European Union Framework Programme performance

The European Unions (EUs) Framework Programmes of Research and Technological Development are subject to increasingly systematic evaluation. This paper reviews available evalua-tion evidence from the period 1999 to 2004, and concludes that the Framework Programmes appear to bring many benefits for their participants. In a broad sense, they promote Frameworks high-level goals of supporting the European scientific and industrial base. However, the way the Framework is planned ensures that links between low- and high-level goals are unclear, and many goals are actually undemanding. Framework needs more clearly and continuously to be linked to developments in EU policy as part of a more systemic approach to evaluation and strategic intelligence in the Commission. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.

Contribution of basic research to the Irish national innovation system

This paper reports a study to test whether the linkage mechanisms between basic research and industry that are evident in large countries were also observable in a small one. The Republic of Ireland has experienced a period of rapid industrial and economic growth and now enjoys per capita incomes on a par with the European Union average. Until recently basic research has had little policy priority. The study largely confirmed that the linkage mechanisms identified elsewhere also operated in Ireland, and identified an additional mechanism. It supported the idea that increasing national expenditure on basic and strategic research to a level more comparable with other OECD economies ought to yield economic benefits. It helped to underpin the recent decision to invest £1 2 billion (euro 2.5 billion) over seven years in basic and strategic research and in the research infrastructure. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.