Primeri, Ε. (2015) “Opening of national research programs: different national answers to international pressures?“, Europe of Knowledge Blog, Ideas on Europe, 16 January.
In a funding and policy context as deeply changed as the European one, the opening of national research programs has become an important instrument for national governments and funding agencies to increase international collaboration and to improve the quality and efficiency of scientific research. The opening of national research programs refers to the fact that actors who do not belong to a national research space can participate in research funding programs as applicants or co-applicants, whether or not they receive complementary funding (Primeri et al. 2014; Reale et al. 2013) and it represents a complex and multidimensional issue that can assume different forms above and beyond channelling national funding abroad.
In the paper “Measuring the opening of national R&D programs: what indicators for what purposes?” (Primeri et al. 2014), I provide an exploratory analysis of the opening of national research programs in Italy, France and Switzerland, based on data collected within the JOREP (Joint and Open Research Programmes) project. It addresses the following questions: Why and for what purposes national governments decide to open their national research programs to foreign participants? Under what conditions this occurs and how relevant this phenomenon is within the frame of national project funding instruments? Does opening triggers (further) integration of national research systems?
Why the opening of national research programs matters?
Most R&D funding is currently channelled through national programs and the participation of foreign partners in national funding opportunities can be used to promote international research collaboration and to increase the quality of European research via more integration of competences and stronger competition moving beyond the limitations of ‘closed’ national research systems (Barré et al. 2013; Nedeva 2013). In the European Commission’s view, opening helps to reduce the fragmentation of research at the EU level and to support the creation of a truly integrated European Research Area and a European market of knowledge (Optimat 2005; EC 2008).
Relevant posts:
- Gaillard, E. & Straathof, B. (2015) “Will R&D tax incentives get Europe growing again?“, VoxEU Organisation, 20 January.
- European Commission (2014) Researchers’ Report 2014, DG Research and Innovation, Deloitte, September.
- Veugelers, R. (2014) “Is Europe saving away its future? European public funding for research in the era of fiscal consolidation“, VoxEU Organisation, 28 August.