Archive:Science, technology and digital society statistics introduced

YEARBOOK 2013 - 4.10.2012
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Latest update of text: October 2012

Science is part of almost every aspect of our lives: at the flick of a switch, we have light; when we are ill, medicines help us get better; when we want to talk to a friend we just pick up the telephone or send a text message or e-mail. Europe has a long tradition of excellence in research and innovation, having been the birthplace of the industrial revolution. The European Union (EU) is a world leader in a range of cutting-edge industrial sectors – for example, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications or aerospace.

Research and development (R & D) is often considered as one of the driving forces behind growth and job creation. However, its influence extends well beyond the economic sphere, as it can potentially resolve environmental or international security threats, ensure safer food, or lead to the development of new medicines to fight illness and disease.

Framework programmes

While most research within the EU is funded on a national level by private and public sources, since their launch in 1984, the EU’s framework programmes for research have played a leading role in multidisciplinary research activities. The seventh framework programme for research and technological development (FP7) is the EU’s main instrument for funding research across Europe; it runs from 2007 to 2013 and has a total budget of EUR 50 521 million, with an additional EUR 2 751 million for 2007 to 2011 for nuclear research and training activities to be carried out under the Euratom Treaty. This money is generally intended to finance grants to research actors all over Europe, usually through co-financing research, technological development and demonstration projects. FP7 is made up of four broad programmes – cooperation (collaborative research), ideas (the European Research Council), people (human potential) and capacities (research capacity). Through these programmes, FP7 aims to create European ‘poles of excellence’ across a wide array of scientific themes, such as information technologies, energy and climate change, health, food, and social sciences. FP7 also foresees direct research at the European Commission’s own research institute (the Joint Research Centre (JRC)), whose activities are divided into 17 policy agendas, with an emphasis on understanding the relationship between the environment and health, internal and external security, and support for Europe’s 2020 growth strategy.

Horizon 2020 is planned as the framework programme for research and innovation for the period running from 2014 through to 2020, building upon FP7, the competitiveness and innovation framework programme (CIP) and the European institute of innovation and technology (EIT). A Green paper titled ‘From challenges to opportunities: towards a common strategic framework for EU research and innovation funding’ (COM(2011) 48 final) was adopted by the European Commission in February 2011 and proposed major changes to EU research and innovation funding to make participation easier, increase scientific and economic impact and provide better value for money. Preparatory work to bring about the new framework programme advanced during 2011, as the European Commission made a number of proposals, including proposals for Regulations of the European Parliament and Council to establish the framework programme (COM(2011) 809 final) and to lay down rules for the participation and dissemination of Horizon 2020 (COM(2011) 810 final), a proposal for a Council Decision establishing the specific programme implementing Horizon 2020 (COM(2011) 811 final) and a proposal for a Council Regulation on the research and training programme of the European Atomic Energy Community (2014-2018) complementing Horizon 2020 (COM(2011) 812 final).

European Research Area

The European Research Area (ERA) was launched at the Lisbon European Council in March 2000. ERA aims to ensure open and transparent trade in scientific and technical skills, ideas and know-how. Europe’s research efforts are often described as being fragmented along national and institutional lines. Indeed, individual EU Member States may find it difficult to play a leading role in important areas of scientific and technological advance as research is increasingly complex, interdisciplinary and expensive.

The ERA was given new impetus in April 2007 with the European Commission’s Green paper on the European research area: new perspectives (COM(2007) 161 final). In May 2008, the ERA was re-launched as part of what has become known as the Ljubljana process, including specific initiatives for five different areas: researchers’ careers and mobility; research infrastructures; knowledge sharing; research programmes; and international science and technology cooperation. As a result, in the years through to 2020 the ERA will aim to establish a single European labour market for researchers, as well as single markets for knowledge and for innovative goods and services. Furthermore, the ERA should aim to: encourage trust and dialogue between society and the scientific and technological community; benefit from a strong publicly-supported research and technology base and world-class research infrastructures and capacities across Europe; provide for the joint design of research, education and innovation policies; address major challenges through strategic partnerships; and enable Europe to speak with one voice to its main international partners.

International cooperation forms an integral part of the EU’s scientific policy, which includes programmes to enhance Europe’s access to worldwide scientific expertise, attract top scientists to work in Europe, contribute to international responses to shared problems, and put research at the service of EU external and development policies. In December 2008, the Competitiveness Council adopted a 2020 vision for the ERA, which foresees the introduction of a ‘fifth freedom’ for the EU’s internal market – namely, the free circulation of researchers, knowledge and technology.

In July 2012, a Communication from the European Commission titled ‘A reinforced European Research Area Partnership for Excellence and Growth’ (COM(2012) 392 final) was released. This aims to promote a significant improvement in Europe's research performance, stimulating growth and job creation. The measures in the Communication are designed to ensure the completion of the ERA by 2014, through various measures which need to be implemented by EU Member States, the European Commission and research organisations.

Innovation union

In October 2010, the European Commission launched a Europe 2020 flagship initiative, titled ‘Innovation union’ (COM(2010) 546 final) which sets out a strategic approach to a range of challenges like climate change, energy and food security, health and an ageing population. The proposals seek to use public sector intervention to stimulate the private sector and to remove bottlenecks which stop ideas reaching the market (such as access to finance, fragmented research systems and markets, under-use of public procurement for innovation, and speeding-up harmonised standards and technical specifications). In December 2011, the European Commission released the ‘State of the innovation union 2011’ (COM(2011) 849 final), which reviewed progress made with respect to the 34 commitments made in the innovation union. European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs) also form part of the innovation union and are designed to act as a framework to address major societal challenges, bringing together activities and policies from basic research through to market-oriented solutions – for more information, see the article on innovation statistics.

International statistics

Official European statistics on science and technology provide a leading example of cooperation activities between international statistical organisations. In the domain of R & D statistics a joint survey produced by the OECD and Eurostat has been introduced, which is based on the collection of information following guidelines laid out in the Frascati manual. As regards human capital, Eurostat participated in the first two rounds (2006 and 2009) of a joint international survey – with the OECD and UNESCO aimed at developing internationally comparable indicators on the careers and mobility of doctorate (PhD) holders (CDH statistics). Within the domain of innovation statistics, Eurostat conducts a Community innovation survey, which is based on the guidelines laid out within the Oslo manual (jointly produced with other European Commission services and the OECD). In the framework of the International Patent Statistics Task Force (gathering the European Patent Office (EPO), the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), the OECD, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Japan Patent Office (JPO), the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) and the United States National Science Foundation (NSF)), Eurostat has worked towards the improvement of PATSTAT, a harmonised database held by EPO and covering EPO patent applications and USPTO patents granted.

The innovation scoreboard used for assessing innovation performance in the EU Member States has been reworked to improve international comparability and to include a number of research-oriented indicators in line with the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the innovation union; it has been renamed the innovation union scoreboard. This revised tool aims to provide a comparative assessment of the performance of the EU Member States and ten global competitors and the relative strengths and weaknesses of their research and innovation systems. The 2011 scoreboard is based on 25 research and innovation-related indicators grouped into three main categories and eight innovation dimensions, covering:

enablers such as human resources, finance and support, open, excellent and attractive research systems;
activities of enterprises, such as investment, linkages and entrepreneurship or intellectual assets; and
outputs, such as innovators and economic effects.

Further Eurostat information

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Science, technology and innovation