This paper describes and analyses the role played in the development of bibliometric indicators-and the use made of bibliometric indicators for policy purposesby the European Commission's Directorate-General Research in the period 1990-2005. Keywords European Commission From input to output indicatorsThe post-World War II period can be divided into several periods as far as public science and technology (S&T) policies are concerned. Godin (2002), for instance, makes a distinction between a first period focusing on capacities and a second one focusing on research. S&T indicators reflect S&T policies: a particular set of S&T policies demands its own set of S&T indicators. That is why the post-war evolution in terms of S&T policies caused an evolution in terms of S&T indicators as well.An important post-war evolution in terms of S&T indicators was that from input indicators to output indicators (OECD 2007). Input indicators concern, for instance, R&D investment and human resources. Output indicators concern, for instance, patents, the technology balance of payments (TBP), high-tech trade, and scientific publications. InputThe information and views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Commission.
While the EU has over ten years of experience with the formal ex-post evaluation of the Framework Programmes (FP), its experience with the ex-ante impact assessment (IA) of those programmes is much more recent. In 2005, the Commission published the ex-ante IA of FP7, which runs from 2007 to 2013 and has a budget of about €50 billion. It was the first ex-ante IA ever of a FP and in fact of any EU policy initiative in the field of research. This paper first briefly discusses the origin of EU IA, and how it compares to regulatory IA elsewhere. It then goes on to answer the following questions regarding the FP7 IA: What conclusions were reached on the possible impact of FP7? Through what methodologies was evidence collected? And what lessons were learned?
[fre] Au cours de ces dix dernières années, de nombreux spécialistes ont souligné la faiblesse des performances technologiques de l'Union européenne au regard aussi bien de ses propres performances scientifiques que des performances technologiques des États-Unis. Il existe aujourd'hui en Europe un certain consensus pour expliquer cette faiblesse essentiellement par des facteurs organisationnels, politiques ou culturels. L'auteur propose une approche complémentaire dans cette contribution : tout en reconnaissant l'importance des autres facteurs, il met en avant l'allocation inefficiente des fonds comme facteur explicatif du faible rendement du système européen de recherche et d'innovation. Il procède à une analyse comparative des investissements effectués en Europe et aux États-Unis en matière de recherche, d'innovation et de diffusion technologique au cours de ces trente dernières années. Après avoir observé des écarts d'investissement croissants entre les États-Unis et l'UE dans de nombreux domaines et secteurs, il conclut que l'optimisation de l'organisation du système européen de recherche et d'innovation peut avoir d'effet positif sur les performances technologiques que si l'on modifie en même temps l'ampleur et la répartition des investissements européens effectués dans ce domaine. [eng] During the last ten years, many specialists have emphasised the weakness of the EU's technological performance both relative to its scientific performance and to the technological performance of the United States. There is a consensus today in Europe that the explanation for this weakness lies essentially in organisational, political or cultural factors. The author proposes in this paper a complementary explanation : while he recognises the importance of all these factors, he suggests that inefficient allocation of funds is an explicative factor for the low level of return obtained from the European research and innovation system. He carries out a comparative analysis of investments made in EU and in the US in research, innovation and dissemination of results during the last three decades. Having observed increasing investment gaps between US and EU in different sectors and domains, he concludes that the optimisation of the system's organisation will only have a positive effect on technological performance if at one and the same time, the inadequate level and the inappropriate distribution of European investment in these fields is addressed.
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