Information Society and Media Directorate-General

Research Activities - Information and Communication Technologies

The European Union’s R&D Framework Programmes

European Research policy is geared towards the realisation of the Lisbon objectives to transform the European Union into a competitive and dynamic knowledge based economy, capable of sustainable economic growth. Investing in knowledge and R&D is the best way for the European Union to deliver on the Lisbon goals, and the Framework Programmes (FPs) are the key instruments of the Research Policy. They have been implemented since 1984, and cover a period of five years with the last year of one FP and the first year of the following FP overlapping.

The current Framework Programme, the 6th (FP6), brings together all the different lines of research pursued by the European Union from 2003 until 2006. The bulk of expenditure under the sixth framework programme is centred on major research projects that are structured so as to have an integrating effect on Europe’s research resources.

The research is focused on specific themes (or Thematic Priorities) that are strategically important to Europe’s future. The themes have been devised in the light of political debate, expert advice, and public consultation. They are not structured from the starting point of traditional research disciplines, but as strategic themes that will be achieved through combinations of scientific disciplines.

In March 2005, the European Commission, recognising the need for additional structural changes of the EU’s R&D, presented a proposal for the new Framework programme, the 7th (FP7) , to strengthen public research funding and improve the ‘framework conditions’ for private investment in R&D and the swift exploitation of discoveries and inventions.

The themes identified for this programme correspond to major fields in the progress of knowledge and technology, where research must be supported and strengthened.

The IST Thematic Priority or the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Theme

This R&D portfolio commonly referred to as the ‘IST Thematic Priority’ or ‘Information and Communications Technologies’ (ICT) theme has received from the Union 3,625 Mio € for R&D between 2003 and 2006 and a budget 9,050 Mio € is allocated for the period 2007-2013.

Its objective is to help realise the benefits of information technologies for Europe, and in particular to ensure European leadership in the generic and applied technologies at the heart of the knowledge economy. It aims to drive and stimulate innovation through ICT use and ensure that ICT progress is transformed into benefits for all European citizens, businesses, industry and governments.

The need for continuous and systematic evaluation and monitoring

Both the increasing importance of the changes in the policy context and the objectives of and the proposed level of investment in the future EU’s R&D activities result to the need to further improve and strengthen the monitoring and evaluation functions in order to best meet the public requirements for increased transparency, accountability and cost-effectiveness.

Evaluation strategy

The management of the ICT R&D activities is subject to continuous and systematic monitoring and evaluation. Each key aspect of the programme (e.g. evaluation and selection of proposals, use of instruments, networks of collaboration between participants, etc.) is also subject to periodic evaluation. Adequate resources are given to this process, in particular for the description of the ICT R&D intervention logic and the causality links between the higher level outcome objectives and the supported activities; for the development of a coherent set of results and impact indicators; for the systematic, structured, and coherent analysis of the impact of completed actions ; and for the provision of high quality evidence, which is necessary for the monitoring and evaluation tasks .

DG INFSO has developed a coherent evaluation framework for the ICT research activities, in which the required milestone evaluations, core methodologies and content specifications are clearly identified together with the background supporting material in relation to both the FP6 and FP7 schedules and deadlines.

Multi-annual Evaluation Plan pdf - 798 KB [798 KB]  

Evaluations

Monitoring of the IST research implementation

Studies in support of the IST-RTD Monitoring and evaluation

International collaboration initiatives

Additional information

For more information on this matter, please contact:

Mr Jörgen GREN
Directorate General Information Society and Media
Policy Coordination and Strategy
Evaluation and Monitoring
Tel no.:  +32 2 295 73 94
Fax no.:  +32 2 296 66 13
email: infso-c3 in the domain ec.europa.eu

Last update: 07/05/2012 | Top